02-27-2012 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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-�� Richard Anderson 3205 Crystal Bay Rd. Orono, MN 55391 President and owner of North Shore Marina To whom: I am unable to attend tonights meeting but my thoughts as follows.. I have recently received a copy of the minutes from the city council in regards to the renting of dock slips in Orono, a long upstanding law that seems to work quite well. It is interesting that invested stakeholders were never notified when you were looking at this. Maybe that was not a big deal as the wording was just to clarify your position on dock renting, but, someone has spoken up to say that maybe we should abolish the code. In your application summary, you note that it is to preserve the character of residential neighborhoods and prevent competition with licensed marinas. Perfectly stated! I have been a lakeshore owner since 1978 and a marina owner since 1976 in Orono. I have raised both of our kids in this Orono residential environment and I like knowing who my neighbors are and who is in contact in our neighborhood with regards to our kids. If you allow rental of dockslips, we start to see Tom, Dick and Harry driving through our neighborhood, and who knows the background of Tom, Dick and Harry. Not what a residential neighborhood is. We know our neighbors!! Not somebody trying to find a cheap dockslip. We have constantly been aware of neighbors on Crystal Bay Road renting out dockslips and we don't know who they are let alone the hassle of trying to get through the road when they park on the side. Additionally, I am now in my fifth marina in Orono and have improved everyone of them because we are able to rent them up. I do not expect to be in competition with every lakeshore owner in Orono, that is changing the rules after I have invested my life savings, blood sweat and tears to have a business in Orono. The new wording included in the law(s) is the wording that allows Orono to do the job of enforcing the regulation. That is the problem with the LMCD in that you have to be of the highest payscale to interpret their rules and regulations. Additionally, they do not have the manpower to enforce. When you call them about a situation, the response will be "Well if they've had the dock there since "x" year then these rules apply and if they've had it since "x" year these rules apply. Additionally, they are not moved by much if the property owner next door is not complaining. I do not think we should put the burden of dock enforcement on the neighbor. The neighbor could be frustrated with people coming and going at all times of the day and not say anything do to the fact he has to live by and get along with his neighbor. I think that would create hard feelings and all you want to do is have a peaceful summer. Additionally, you do not a dock put on vacant land! That is wisdom! I can think of a situation where a guy gets a hunk of land with a lot of lakeshore, put up a dock and rent out three 40' boat slips and having numerous folks you don't know coming and going through the residential areas where young kids are growing up thereby putting them at risk. I strongly suggest and support the verbage put through by staff and voted on 6-0 at the planning commission. If you were to put this out to a vote a private residential Orono lakeshore owners, and made this meeting published to those residents, it would overwhelmingly, IMHO, be stated to go with the suggestions of staff and the planning commission. Thank you for your time on this important piece of Orono history..