re property and what they would like to do

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November 4, 2014 To Whom It May Concern/City of Orono, I am writing this letter to share my hopes for the property I recently purchased, 960 Ferndale Road West. I have lived at an adjacent property, 905 Ferndale Road West,for over 17 years, and have watched the 960 property deteriorate for much of that period. "960"was on the market for at least a few years and I watched patiently hoping a nice new neighbor would buy it and "clean it up." Unfortunately no one came along. Finally this summer l decided I needed to do something,so I put in an offer that was accepted by Wells Fargo, which had foreclosed on the property. I am now looking forward to turning it into attractive looking property more suitable for the neighborhood. I have already taken steps to do so. For example,almost immediately after closing I: 1. Cleaned up the landscaping along Ferndale(removing substantial amounts of buckthorn and dead arborvitae), 2. Removed most of dilapidated hand installed dock slips (the rest soon), 3. Removed a neglected, rusted mailbox, 4. Painted the garage, changing the color to an earth tone from glaring rust color, and 5. Repaired and painted structural damage to the eave at the front of the garage. In addition, since closing, my lawn service has been mowing the yard weekly and taking care of the leaves. I would like to continue to take steps to beautify the property and hold it for the long term. I have had extensive discussions with Excel energy about burying the overhead service that currently interFeres with the view of Browns Bay [for both 960 and 980 Ferndale (the neighbor to the west)].The poles along Ferndale are not particularly good looking either. Previous residents of 980 paid to have this done years ago. I'll need to coordinate with Mediacom, Century Link and Orono, but my hope is to have this done next spring.The cost to me is not insignificant, likely over$25,000. I have also talked to Gary Kraemer of John Kraemer and Sons about tearing down the existing house, removing the asphalt driveway and parking area and returning it to a more natural setting. I would be happy to submit a landscape plan for beautifying the property in the event I proceed to tear down the house. To ensure there was sufficient, attractive space for a future residence, I talked with Mike Gaffron to determine what the city needed with regard to setbacks. Because the property is a fairly narrow peninsula with some steep slopes and a pond, it was critical to understand my options before tearing down the house. Mark Gronberg conducted survey work to determine location of the ordinary high water(OHW) mark and identified the building pad with a 75 ft. setback from the OHW mark.When I