02/21/2012 Planning Commission Minutes

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Tuesday,February 21,2012 6:30 o'clock p.m. Gozola stated the subject property is located in the southwestern corner of the community near Lakeshore Drive and south of Baldur Park Road. There are two portions of the properly that are located in the 0-75 foot zone,with the remainder of the property being located in the 75-250 foot zone. Gozola displayed an aerial photograph of the area depicting the location of the house and the driveway. Gozola noted the path that was shown on the survey has been removed. Gozola stated the area in red is the existing home and driveway. The applicant is proposing to place a major addition on the existing legal nonconforming home. The proposed addition would expand living area within the dwelling and would include an attached two-car garage. The existing driveway and entry point onto County Road 51 would be eliminated in favor of a new driveway with an entry point on Baldur Park Road. In addition,a small area of patio has been proposed. It could also serve as a deck provided it is under 30 inches. The applicant has addressed all issues raised by Staff and Staff is comfortable with the hardcover numbers presented. The applicant is requesting a 0-75 foot zone hardcover variance to allow 5.4 percent hardcover where 0 percent currently exists and 0 percent is normally allowed except for driveways, stairways, lifts, landings, and lockboxes; and a 75-250 foot zone hardcover variance to allow 36.4 percent hardcover where 27.4 percent currently exists and 25 percent is normally allowed. Both variances requested are to accommodate construction of additions to the existing home on the property and relocation of the driveway. Staff believes this proposal can meet all requirements for a variance as outlined in the code provided the conditions outlined in Staffs report are met. Gozola noted the second variance is required due to the driveway being wider than eight feet and also being located in the 0-75 foot zone. With regards to structural coverage,the applicants are currently conforming at 8.6 percent. With the proposed additions, structural coverage will be at 13.85 percent. Staff's analysis of the requests is outlined on Pages 4 through 8 of Staff's report. Staff believes that each request is reasonable since the overall structure size is well within the City's requirements and the garage is logically placed given the constraints of the lot. The driveway is now accessing Baldur Park Road rather than the county road. As part of Staffs approval recommendation,there was some potential hardcover identified that could be reduced. The driveway apron could be reduced from 18 feet down to 15 feet,which is the minimum required by code. The second option to reduce hardcover would be to consider removal of the turnaround. The third option would be to reduce the overall width of this driveway from 12 feet down to 8 feet. The final option is the Planning Commission could require realignment of the driveway to meander around the 0-75 foot zone. Gozola stated if the Planning Commission requires removal of the turnaround,he would not recommend implementing options three or four since you would be requiring a driver to back up in the driveway approximately 100 feet to access Baldur Park Road. If the turnaround should remain,options three and four are reasonable. Implementing option four raises some concerns. Due to the area being very flat, if the driveway is reduced to eight feet,and because there is no parking on North Shore Drive,people will stack up in the driveway and will need to go in reverse to access the road. With a meandering driveway, they will likely drive off the driveway,and if that occurs often enough,a compacted path would develop in the grassy area. Gozola stated that is a good argument to make that the straight driveway configuration is sensible. Page 3