05-26-1998 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FOR MAY 26, 1998 CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT ( #21) WOODHILL GOLF COURSE ALTERNATE ACCESS (Council Member Kelley did not participate in discussion of this issue.) Moorse reported that Woodhill Country Club is proposing to open an alternative access to the Country Club using Woodhill Avenue because traffic and construction on County Road 15 make it difficult and unsafe to exit onto County Road 15. The Woodhill Avenue access has been used at various times in the history of the Country Club, most recently from 1978 -80. Concerns were raised by the residents of Woodhill Avenue the last time the access was open. Those concerns included speed, volume of traffic and how the access was controlled by the Country Club. Letters from the residents have been submitted in strong opposition to the plan to open the access. Concerns of the neighbors are focused on safety in relation to the increased volume and speed of the traffic that would use their road. a Moorse gave a brief review of the legal background. Woodl -0 Country Club is a conditional use in a residential zone, which is permitted subject to conditions the City places on the use. The City Attorney has indicated that the addition of the alternative access should be dealt with through an amendment to the conditional use permit. If Council determines that the current . access onto County Road 15 is a significant safety issue, it would be possible to temporarily address the problem outside of the conditional use permit. The Woodhill Country Club believes they have a continuing right to the Woodhill Avenue access based on their historical use of the access. The Woodhill Country Club has estimated use of the alternative access at 20 trips per day during the weekdays and 60 trips on weekend days. The traffic level on County Road 15 is approximately 20,000 cars per day, which is high in relation to the design of the road and is the reason for reconstruction. Moorse summarized that opening the Woodhill Avenue access would provide benefits to safety in exiting onto County Road 15, but those benefits need to be weighed against the impacts on Woodhill Avenue. Mr. Dayton, representative of Woodhill Country Club, stated the only reason they are before Council is because of the extremely dangerous condition of egress and ingress onto County Road 15. There are poor sight lines and the speed limit has changed from 35 mph to 40 mph. Numerous Club members have requested help with this situation. The simple solution was to open the back road onto Woodhill Avenue. He explained that the Country Club was built in 1917 and had full access to Woodhill Avenue via the back entrance until 1980, except for short periods of time. In 1980, because of vandalism from young people driving cars onto the golf course, the Woodhill Board voluntarily closed the back road. They did not give up their rights to the road, but closed the road by putting a chain across the entrance. 16