01-27-2014 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Monday, January 27, 2014 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 19 of 32 (5. #13-3637 WILLI ABBOTT ON BEHALF OF THE BROADWAY GROUP, LLC – 2350 WATERTOWN ROAD AND XXX WILLOW DRIVE NORTH – PRELIMINARY PLAT AND RPUD REZONING, Continued) Levang stated that may be true but what is being proposed in terms of houses will be very similar. Levang stated while there may be a little more room on each side, essentially this development is a duplicate of the Glendale Cove development. Levang noted Mr. Abbott referred to a small lot with a large house. Abbott stated they are trying to do larger lots with smaller homes, but by creating the outlot and increasing the setback, that will result in a smaller buildable area. Levang noted there are a number of wetlands on the site. Abbott stated there are some wetlands on the site and that the creek separates it from the wetland. Levang stated the house sizes are fairly large if you look at the square footages that are being proposed. Abbott stated the worst case scenario on a rambler was 2,100, 2,200 square feet, and on the two-story was somewhere between 1,000 to 1,500 square feet on one floor. Levang stated when those are added together, it results in a significant amount of footprint. Levang noted they are also proposing 3-car garages. Quinlan commented that is pretty standard today. Printup noted the City Council was discussing a little earlier tonight what is standard nowadays. Quinlan stated he has not constructed a two-stall garage since 2004 and that all of the $400,000 neighborhoods have 3-car garages. Quinlan stated the litmus standard should be what they are seeing in the market, and that what they are seeing in the market is 3-stall garages on new developments. McMillan stated she understands that is the desire, but that a 2-car garage is considered to be a functional garage in Orono. Abbott stated a 2,000 square foot rambler is not that big. Levang noted Mr. Abbott has indicated he will not be constructing ramblers. Gaffron illustrated the house drawings on the overhead. Gaffron noted the drawings have been scaled and some dimensions have been added to give an idea of the sizes. McMillan stated what was confusing is some language in Staff’s report that said they would limit all seven lots to 15 percent but then it said the home sizes would range in footprints between 2,600 to 5,100 square feet. McMillan noted the larger house sizes are not being proposed. Abbott indicated that is correct.