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MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL MEETING Tuesday, November 12, 2013 7:00 o’clock p.m. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Page 22 of 36 (8. #13-3638 and 13-3639 SOURCE LAND CAPITAL, LLC (PAT HILLER) O/B/O GRANT WENKSTERN (LAKEVIEW GOLF), 405 NORTH ARM DRIVE, COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENT AND SKETCH PLAN REVIEW, Continued) Robyn Johnson, 4730 North Arm Drive, stated she is here to ask the City Council to uphold the recreational guidance for a golf course or delay the decision. The residents that are here tonight represent hundreds of acres of land that is worth millions of dollars and many of them are here because they feel the cart is before the horse. The residents know this is a lovely piece of land that is sandwiched between two bays of Lake Minnetonka which the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District currently classifies as a C plus or C minus in terms of water quality. The Watershed District restricts swimming and recreational activities in both of these bays at times due to the nitrogen content of the water. Both of these bays are within the 1,000 square foot restriction but they are actually within 100 to 200 feet of that. The topography is extraordinary. As the consultant said tonight, the data is preliminary and the residents have not known about the details of this project for more than 30 days. Johnson indicated she read on the City’s website that the City Council is elected to fashion policies that determine this community’s present and future well being, which extends to this moment in time and goes for this time and hundreds of years from now. Orono benefits today from significant tax revenue. The City receives seven million in taxable revenues with a balanced budget. Johnson stead she read in the paper last weekend that Orono is ranked towards the top in the country for median values due to a number of reasons. Johnson stated she does not believe there is a financial imperative that Orono’s housing be expanded immediately. Johnson stated the application that has been presented to the City Council is an investment backed exemption that would not stand up in a court of law if the City denied the property owner the right to sell. The application is based on a concept and not an engineered plan. The sketch plan has been described by the consultant as an illustration of an idea. The City Council’s decision will leave many unanswered questions relating to traffic safety, watershed and wetlands, water quality, aquifers, flooding stormwater management, lake pollution, population expansion, marketability of homes, depreciation of land values, city infrastructure, crime, and fire protection. Johnson stated the resulting aesthetics will be that the neighbors will be looking at the backside of these homes that will encroach into their skyline vision. Johnson stated this development will have an aesthetic impact no matter how much green space is around it. Johnson stated the citizens of Orono pay a premium to live here and that they benefit from the Community Management Plan. The citizens elected the members to the City Council to implement the objectives of the Community Management Plan. Johnson stated to her knowledge Orono has never developed a subdivision of this magnitude. Gaffron indicated there has not been a similar development. Johnson noted the Eagan development is not located between bodies of water and does not contain the same number of homes as what is being proposed. This property was never put on the market and nobody was given the opportunity to determine whether there is another use for it. Johnson stated there are a number of issues that need to be further explored prior to changing the zoning and that in her view this plan is not compatible with existing and future land uses or in the best interests of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Item #02 - CC Agenda - 11/25/2013 Approval of Council Minutes 11/12/2013 [Page 22 of 36]