04-17-2017 Planning Commission Packet

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MINUTES OF THE ORONO PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING Monday,March 20,2017 6:30 o'clock p.m. State statutes permit cities to allow interim uses. Interim use is defined by statute as a temporary use of a property until a particular date, until the occurrence of a particular event,or until zoning regulations no longer permit it. The statutes indicate"the governing body(City Council)may grant permission for an interim use of property if: 1. The use conforms to the zoning regulations; 2. The date or event that will terminate the use can be identified with certainty; 3. Permission of the use will not impose additional costs on the public if it is necessary for the public to take the property in the future;and 4. The user agrees to any conditions that the governing body deems appropriate for permission of the use. Any interim use may be terminated by a change in the zoning regulations." Gaffron noted it is important to remember that a conditional use permit is permanent and runs with the land. In contrast,an interim use permit provides the tools necessary to `sunset' a use that may be appropriate for some temporary time period but is not generally appropriate on a permanent basis. Staff has long felt that an interim use ordinance would be a very useful tool for Orono because it provides flexibility with a high level of city control. A past example of where that type of ordinance would have been helpful was in the case of a daycare facility located at the corner of Highways 6 and 12. It sat empty for five years because the City did not have an Interim Use Permit. In order to allow the proposed staging use,the applicants are requesting the Code be amended. Staff recommends that an Interim Use section be added to the zoning code and that the RR-1B District be amended to include a list of allowed Interim Uses to include"Construction staging, materials and equipment storage and materials recycling"under specific conditions. Page 9 of 64