10-10-2016 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, October 10, 2016 7:00 o'clock p.m. 11. 416-3855 ERIC AND ANDREA LARSON, 690 BROW ROAD NORTH, SCOTT AND JEANNE MABUSTH, 740 BROWN ROAD NORTH — SKETCH PLAN REVIEW (continued) Goodrum indicated they will be cleaning that up by removing the cattail seeds, removing invasive species, restoring the banks, and re-establishing the wetland. Goodrum indicated there are a number of techniques that will work and that they have spoken with the Watershed District regarding that. Nelson stated they will restore the wetland back to its original condition. Nelson stated cattails are not original to wetlands and that those will be removed. McMillan asked what will be done to the creek area. Goodrum stated there are a lot of dead and fallen trees and buckthorn that will be removed McMillan asked if any natural vegetation will be planted. Goodrum indicated they will be planting some native vegetation or grass McMillan asked if the creek has an erosion problem into Long Lake. Rose Lorsung, ReCreate Real Estate, stated they have performed a full wetland delineation and that they are currently developing a plan in conjunction with the Watershed District for enhancing the wetlands. Lorsung noted the MCWD has analyzed the site using aerial photos and at one point the MCWD has said that most of the wetlands on the site are Class I or Manage I. Lorsung stated according to their field work, almost every wetland on the property is severely degraded, especially the wetlands that are adjacent to the creek. Lorsung stated their plan is to go from a Manage 3 class, which is what they were in the field, and bringing them up to a Manage 1. Lorsung stated one of the overall goals of the development is to have a low impact development which will include enhancing all the wetlands on the property by utilizing natural grasses, creating retention ponds or rain gardens, and removing buckthorn. Lorsung stated the current state of Dickey's Creek is part of the problem and that they have a huge opportunity with this development to improve that. Council Member Levang asked what people will see different about the wetlands five years from now. Levang asked if the enhancements will bring back wildlife to the area. Lorsung stated part of the management class of wetlands concerns the habitat and wildlife. Lorsung stated what usually happens is the contractor will go in there, dredge it out, which will remove what should not be there, and then plant the correct vegetation. Lorsung stated the homeowners association will need to maintain that over time or there will be penalties for that. In addition, signage will be erected and routine maintenance will need to be done. Lorsung indicated as part of the application, they will be taking before and after pictures, but since they are still in the early stages of the development, they have not done that yet. Lorsung stated following the restoration, it should be visually beautiful as well as enhancing it for the wildlife and improving the water quality. Goodrum stated there will also be buffers in place as well to protect the wetlands and creek. Those buffers will meet the standards of the MCWD and the City of Orono. Page 15 of 26