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• <br /> MINUTES OF THE <br /> ORONO PLANNING COMMISSISON MEETING <br /> _ Monday,October 17,2011 <br /> , 6:30 o'clock p.m. .,� , ..;: - <br /> A similar request by the previous owners was made in 2006. The owners at that time were requesting a <br /> setback variance to allow a 40-foot setback where a 50-foot setback is required in order to construct a <br /> gazage addition. Staff and the Planning Commission recommended denial of the request. However,the <br /> City Council voted to approve the requested setback variance. The owners did not construct the addition <br /> and the variance has since expired. <br /> The applicants' property and the adjacent Outlot C are heavily vegetated. The proposed two-car garage <br /> addition would likely not be very visible from Outlot C nor Rainey Road. The property is currently � <br /> conforming and has a three-car attached garage. <br /> It has been City practice to require platting of road corridors to adjacent parcels when properties are <br /> subdivided. This practice is a requirement of the Orono Subdivision Ordinance Municipal code Section <br /> 82-2839h)(11). The City has required the platting of connecting corridors to adjoining properties in many <br /> instances,to provide access to adjacent properties and to provide for the potential to create"through" <br /> roads which are preferable for maintenance,circulation, and emergency access purposes,as compared to <br /> cul-de-sacs. <br /> Circumstances that might warrant such interconnection at some future date include,but are not limited to, <br /> neighborhood associations requesting the City to take over road maintenance;establishment of an <br /> interconnected public trail system between neighborhoods,a conclusion by the City or by its <br /> neighborhoods that connection of cul-de-sac roads will provide a necessary increase in public safety or <br /> decrease in emergency response time,or an area-wide rezoning that would allow for higher density and <br /> the need for addition access to property,on-street parking,etc. <br /> None of these circumstances are pending for Rainey Road or Gander Road,but they are all possibilities <br /> for the future. The City would be shortsighted if it began to eliminate these connection potentials by <br /> vacating the connecting corridors that the city required be created over the past 30 years. Likewise, <br /> allowing new construction to encroach on these future roadways could result in homes or structures <br /> perceived as too close to the sireet and not in character with the 50-foot standard for the two-acre zone. <br /> Planning Staff recommends denial of t he setback vaziance as requested. <br /> Thiesse asked if there are any legal lots still available in the neighborhood. <br /> Curtis indicated all the lots are developed. . <br /> Jason Smith,Applicant,stated one of the reasons they are looking for a variance is that their existing <br /> garage looks like a three-car garage from the outside but the depth of the garage is actually only 15 feet <br /> deep for one of the stalls due to the layout of the interior. Smith indicated currently they are required to <br /> park their vehicles at an angle if they want to fit both of them in there. There is an entrance to the house <br /> at the back of the garage and an entrance to the basement of the house also located at the back of the <br /> gazage. Smith indicated they are looking to add some more space so we can fit two large cars in the <br /> garage as well as storage space. <br /> Smith noted in the report was a concept drawing that depicts a small room above the garage. Smith <br /> indicated they will not be constructing that and it will only be storage up there. <br /> Levang asked if the gable would be eliminated. <br /> Page 2 <br />