10-30-1979 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 7 Planning S Zoning Administrator DEVELOPMENT GROUP, INC. October 25, 1979 Page Three It is also my understanding that the purpose of a flood plain designation is to restrict the construction of occupied buildings within the flood plain so as to lessen the risk of property damage. The soil compositions of property within a flood plain may be clay or otherwise and have little, if any, water retension value and therefore, the same reasoning applicable to wetland may not apply to a f lood plain. Since this is the case, the purpose of the restriction in a flood plain is to require a developer of property to either fill the land that the structure is going to be place on, to an elevation above the flood plain designation or to use a type of construction so that the first floor of occupancy is at a designated level above the flood plain elevation. The requirement that a struc- ture and/or parking lot be set back from a flood plain contour line, has no logic when compared with the purpose that the flood plain was established for. An owner of property within a flood plain area should be able to construct a house on a parcel of land which has an elevation above the flood plain, placing his driveway in and out on an elevation which is within the flood plain and even build a tennis court or similar non-occupied structure within the flood plain. To prohibit these types of structures from being built within an area deaignated as flood plain but not designated as a wetland, would appear to be an unwarranted interference in the rights of a property owner without any off- setting public benefit. I feel that the protection that you are looking for, with reference to the pre- servation of the wetlands, is adequately covered by preserving the wetlands and restricting the construction within 26 feet of an area designated as a wetland. The developers are agreeable in granting to the City of Orono, an open space easement and/or conservation easement over the area designated as wetlands and are agreeable in consenting to a prohibition of any construction activities within 26 feet of this designated line. They are also agreeable to an easement which would prohibit them from constructing any structure designed for occupancy by humans within the area designated as a flood plain unless the structure so constructed was designed so that the occupied areas were above the designated elevation applicable to the flood plain in question. The developer would not want to put himself in a position that at a future date he could not construct a tennis court behind the office building for use by the occupsnts of the office building or aomeother similar type improvement. ltie