HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-30-1982 Council Minutes !
City of Orono
7:00 P.M.
Regular Meeting of the Orono Council , December 3�1 , 1982
The Orono Council met on tt�e above date with the
following members present : Mayor Van Nest ,
Councilmember Butler , Councilmember Adams , and
Councilmember Hurr . Absent : Councilmember
Frahm. Also present : City Attorney Malkerson,
J. Diann Goetten�of the Planning Commission , John
Hammerel of the Planninq Commission, Charle�
Kelly of the Planning Commission, George Rovegno
of the Planning Commission, Ed Callahan of the
Planning Commission and Mr . Bill Sime newly
appointed Planning Commission member , City
Planner Alan Olson, and Deputy City Clerk Sandi
Woytcke .
CONSENT AGENDA*
Councilmember Butler znoved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded , to approve the Consent Agenda* as
presented . Motion , Ayes (4) - Nays (H) .
PUBLIC HEARING - LARE MI�INETONRA ISLAND ORDINANCE
Mayor Van Nest opened the Public Hearing at 7 : 33
P.M. explaining thecircumstancesof thismeeting
being rescheduled because of the blizzard of
December ?_8 .
City Planner Alan Olson then reviewed the �
Ordinance explaining i�hat since October 25 , 198?_
the rewritting consisted of changes that were
suggested by the public .
Mayor Van N�st then asked if there were any new
comments from the Public regarding this
ordinance.
Willie Crear 56 Westwood Drive , Long Lake stated
he is a new owner on Big Island . He purchased his
property from Mr . Roy Ahern who is a long term
property owner on Big Island . He owns 3 pieces of
property on the island ; the house that is his
current summer residence, identified as parcel
� #58 what is called the Snyder house , identified as
parcel �15 and also behinc3 the Snyder house on the
ather side of the road right of way there is
another piece of property. When this ordinance
came up those two pieces of property were
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE -2-
LAKE ORDINANCE CON'T. separated by a road riqht of way identified by the
, City of Orono as one building site , when in fact
when purchased by Mr . Ahern were two different
sites. For reasons I don ' t understand , under
your new ordinance, these were combined as one
building site even though they were divided by a
plated city street . It appeared the ordinance
intended to take all individual lots and cause
them to be buildable with exception of the ones you
talk about. In response to that it would appear
the ordinance would cause that a numb�r of lots
would become only one lot . Roy sold the lots
before this ordinance went into effect. The new
copy of the ordinance shows you have made changes ,
that changes the time of the ocaners of record for
tr,ese lots , and it is that portion of the
ordinance (the owners of record) that I would like
to take this opportunity to object to . Can I ask
why it was done?
Mayor Van Nest then asked Mr . Olson for the facts
on these lots. Mr . Olson stated the facts of the
matter : are that he has two separate
holdings.The way the ordinance is written. One is
number #58 and that lot is approximately . 32
acres , completely separate from the other
holdings Mr . Ahern had . This was declared
buildable because it has a house on it. Second
part is properties that we have combined �s #15
slightly north of thefirst property (separated by
John Dean ' s property) . Parcel #15 combined on
both sides of the right of way totals ?_ 1/2 acres .
Neither piece is 2 acr�s by itself , and so under
the current code,the 1974 code, it would be one
site , or would not be rebuildable . The cabin that
isonthatpropertyiscompletelydeteriorated and
is in hazardous condition at this point . There
was a permit issued at one time to rebuild it but
was never acted on, it is not being used and is not
habitable at this time. Mr . Olson stated that he
has talked to Mr . Ahern and Mr . Creer on this
matter in his office.
Mr . Roy Ahern stated that he had taken out the
building permitand hadbeen doing some remodeling
in the cabin up until the time he sold the
property.
Mayor Van Nest asked Mr . Ahern what had he sold ,
and Mr . Ahern stated that he sold because of the
� ordinance bei.ng passed , and he was not going to be
able to use any of that property, he sold all of it .
He stated he sold all of the parcels except for #58
because I was not qoing to be able to use any of the
property the way I wanted to under the ordinance .
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE-3-
LAKE ORDINANCE CON'T. Mayor Van Nest asked at this time who he had sold
the parcel to , Mr . Ahern stated he sold it to
various people , Mayor Van Nest asked how marry
people , Mr . Al�ern stated he sold 6 lots to six
different peop_le. Mr . Ahern stated he had no use
for the property so he sold it. Mayor Van Nest
asked did you have lcnowlec�ge when you sold them
that this land �a�s not buildable? Mr . Ahern
stated his attorney said they were buildable as a
seasonal dwelling under the terms of this
ordinance the way it had been written. Mayor Van
Nest stated , " it would be ane building site .
There is not enough land there for two parcels on
that piece of land under our present code" .
Mr. Ahern again stated under the new ordinance ,
those are over 1/3 acre , they are all
approximat�ly 1/2 acre and the new owner should be
intitled to building riqhts just as Mr . Bacckus
should be intitled to building rights on his 1/?_
acre.
Mayor Van Nest then stzted , that he heard what Mr .
Ahern was saying but that he was not getting a
sympathetic ear from the City because he had
plenty of knowledgeknowingexactly whatwasgoing
on when he sold the parcels of land . The City is
going to be extremely resistant to issuing �
different building permits on those parcels.
Mr. Ahern stated that was between the new owners
and the City that he did not want to get involved .
Mayor Van Nest stated that he felt Mr . Ahern was
involved , because he had good enough knowledge of
what the situation was. Mr . Ahern stated he was
upset because he had to sell the land at a discount
to get rid of it becuase it is not worth as much now
with the n�w ord�nance pendinq .
Hurr stated that of the six lots were sold as
buildable why did he have to take a discount?
Mr . Willie Crear then stated the timing of the
addition of the lanquage to the ordinance appears
to be designed specifically to prohibit anymore
parcels in this piece.
Mr . Zane Scheftel of Excelsior , also present ,
commented that he wanted his year round residence
- grandfathered into the ordinance so that he would
not have any trouble continuing to live there full
time.
There followed discussion about the reasons for
' REGULAR MFETING OF THE ORONO COJNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE-4-
LAKE ORDINANCE CON'T. requiring full-time residence to have a
conditional use permit , including the higher
standards required for Septic Systems, private
fire protection, etc . Olson stated �hat the
Sheftel property is known to have been used full
time and that except for being 4 acres instead of
5 , the property sho�ild now meet or is capable of
meeting all requirem�nts for a principal
residence Conditional Use Permit. Olson recom-
mended granting the Schefetel property a
conceptual conditional �se permit and variance
with final approval awaiting completion of an
applicatian f_orm and preparation of the required
resolution to be recorded in the property title .
Mr . Roy Ahern, Barrie Road , Wayzata stated that he
felt the ordinance should be held over until
anothermeeting . Hefeltthepeo�leconcerned were
not given enough time to be present at this
meeting . The Deputy Clerk then pr�sented to Mr .
Ahern a record of all the owners that were notified
of the change of the meeting .
Of 77 names on the list , 42 were contacted directly
and messages were left for nine others. There was
no answer to repeated calls for nine persons , nine
others had unlisted numbers (or could not �e
lacated by the mailing address) , and five out of
town long distance c,�lis were not attempted .
Thus , ti9g of the o�aners have received telephone
notice of the meeting chanqe .
Mr . Roy Ahern request�d a Principal Residence
Conditional Use Permit for his parcel #58 . The
same as Mr . S��heftel . Mr . Olson stated that the
houseonthatparcelcertainlyappearedto qualify
but that staff had several ques�ions about the
location of the drainfield to serve the house; we
think it is on the neighboring property. We would
not �hus recommend a Conditional Use Permit at
this time until Aherncan providemoreinformation
to staff . Ahern had no response .
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded to adopt Ordinance #24h An Ordinance
Amending the Municipal Code of Orono By Changing
the Zoning District Designation and Performance
Standards Applied to Big Island , Mahpiyata
Island , and Deering Tsland , draft as amended in
Section 34 . 3ti3c regarding occasonial overnight
camping in a day use recreation area. Motion,
Ayes ( 4) - Nays ([�i) .
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE-5-
Councilmember Eiurr moved , Councilmember Butler
seconded to conceptually approve Mr . Sheftel ' s
variance and theconditional use permitwithfinal
approval to be by the council once it has the
resolution in f�ont of them to file with the chain
of title. Motion, Ayes (4) - Nays (0) .
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Adams
seconded to approve Resolution #144£3 Approving an
Ordinance Summary for Publication RS-Seasonal
Recreational Zoning District . Motion, Ayes (4)
- Nays (0) .
*MINUTES
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded to approve the minutes of the Dece�ber
13, 19g2 meeting as presented . Motion, Ayes (4) -
Nays (�) .
*SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
ANNOUNCEMENT
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded Announcement of the Special Council
Meeting of January 5, 1983 at 7 : 04� P.M. Motion ,
Ayes (4) - Nays (d) .
*PUBLIC HEARING DATE FOR
OPEN BURNING ORDINANCE
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded to approve the setting of a Public
Hearing Date for January 10 , 1983 to consider the
a�option of an ordinance to allow issuance of open
burning permits . Motion, Ayes (4) - Nays ( ml .
*82-1 SANITARY SEWER CONSTRUCITON PAYMENT
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded to approve payment #1 for Nodland
Associates, Inc . in the amount of $44 , 575. 03 for
work completed on the 8?-1 sanitary sewer
construction project . Me,tion , Ayes (4) - Nays
(�) -
*BILLS
Councilmember �utler moved , Councilmember Hurr
seconded that the All Funds Accounts and the
Liquor Store Accounts , be paid . Motion , Ayes (4)
- Nays (0) .
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE-6-
LAKE ACCESS PARKING AGR�EMENT
NORTH ARM LATJDING
Mayor Brad Van Nest stated :
The Department of Natural Resources po�ition is
that every lake in this state shall provide one
boat in use for every l� acres of water .
Therefore if you take 20 acres of water there will
be 2 boats , one belonging to a land owner or
someone who lives on the lake or somebody who has
rented a slip at a marina. The other boat on the
20 acres shall have a free unrestricted pubZic
access that is open at all times and shall contain
one parking space for a car and boat trailer .
Lake Minnetonka would have to have 7�0 parkinq
spaces for cars with boat trailers that are open at
all times. The DNR has coun,ted about 150 parking
spaces on Lake Minnetonka , they feel parkinq for
another h00 cars and boat trailers to make Lake
Minnetonka comply with the state standard . We
know through our investigations that there are
upwards of 1 , �100 pa�king spaces available . There
are 137 parking spaces ajacent to North Arm
landing ,on the streets , that are determined to be
safeandwithinreasonablewalkingdistanceof the
launch ramp that are in use right now. The DNR
will not count these spaces because they are not on
site parking spaces . We feel there are spaces
available today, they may not meet their criteria
but we think it is better to use these spaces and
then take the launch ramps and make them more
efficient , maybe have less on the launch ramps,
double up on ramps themselves and double up on the
ability for the cars to get in , launch and get out ,
build some ready docks where you can tie your boat
up. The real congestion is getting your boat in
and out of the water , not trying to get your car
parked . We were not making any progress with the
DNR and we told the DNR and the LMCD that we thought
tha� we should have an actual count of whats really
in use even though it might not meet their on site
requirement , we never got the figure, they just
would not give us the figure, and the LMCD did not
seem to have the ability to get the figure, so Alan
Olson and Chief Kilbo , at Mayor Van Nest ' s request
counted North Arm Landing and Spring Park. When
the DNR really saw these figures that A1 and Mel
developed showing 54 spaces and we came with
additional 137 spaces so the City came up with over
2D1a parking spaces . When they saw these figures
the DNR realized the City of Orono was telling them
there are good parking spaces. The DNR committee
got together and decided the way to fight the City
would be by saying there had to be some lonq term
availability of parking before it could be
countable .
.�.... ...... � _ - - - ----- -
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO C�UNCIL, DFCEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE -7-
To counteract that the City Attorney has drafted
an agreement that we would propose and would like
the City to consider and hopefully we would like
the City to conceptually approve. This is an
agreement between the City of Orono and LMCD, and
what it does is identify these parking spaces that
are in use today, that have been in �se for many
years, and , it says , here are the parking spaces ,
they are counted , we have a map and a list of
exactly where they are and then further in the
writing say the City is going to make these spaces
available and that in conjunction with the LMCD we
plan to put up some signs that say "available
parking for �he North Arm Launch Ramp" and that we
aqree that we are qoing to keep these servicable
except in cases of public safety problems. If we
get down the road a few years and all of sudden
there is a certain area that becomes an unsafe
situation, then our intent would be to work with
the LMCD and the County to solve that safety
problem without losinq the parking spaces , but we
do have the ability to change this agreement in the
event we come into a real public safety problem in
any of these areas .
It is an ability to identify what is here , get it
down on paper in black and white and commit the
City so that everybody knows that these spaces are
going to be available. If we do this at the North
Arm Launch Ramp, Spring Park , Deephaven ,
Minnetrista, anc3 get Mound to do this at the
Surfside we are going to come up with more than 760
parking spaces and therefore the main shot that
the DNR has that they have to have more access on
this lake is gone . If we don' t go along with
something like this we are going to get launch
ramps cramed right down our throat by the state
legislatur�.
Councilmember Butler moved , Mayor Van Nest
seconded to instruct our Staff to draft a letter to
the LMCD and a copy to all the other cities , that
the Orono City Council has conceptually adopted
this agreement and stand ready to execute it
provided that the LMCD is willing and that other
cities participate in similar type agreements.
Motion, Ayes (4) - Nays {�) .
FOREST ARMS MATTER
City Attorney Malkerson reviewed the Forest Arms
Matter with the Council concerning the purchase
agreement r,nat was brought back from the last
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO CUUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 PAGE -8-
courlcil meeting . He had sent a letter to Attorney
Dick Hassel stating some things that he shoulc�
includeandtheyhaveredraftedthatagreement and
attached various exhibits to it and this copy is
enclosed in the council packet for reviewal .
City Attorney Malkerson recommended that Council
approve it and the signing of it by the Mayor and
the City Clerk .
Mr . JamesGrabekrepresentativeof the ForestArms
Homeowners Association stated he had a few
comments regarding the language of the agreement .
l . Paragraph 8 - add the following phrase �fter
the word LMCD: �
"or City of Orono , whichever regulations are more
restrictive. "
2. Paragraph 1� - any reference to a mortgage on
Lots 1 and 2 should be stricken since the City is
purchasing the property on a contract for deed and
there is no need for a mortgaqe . There should be
language that in the event the mortgaqe on the
individual lot would cause the acceleration of a
previously existing mortgage , then the mortgage
contemplated herein need not be filed .
3 . Paragraph 11 requires liability insurance
naming the City of Orono as an insured during the
pendency of this contract but it does not state how
much . I suggest that the typical liability
coverage of 51014� , 000 and $30B , 4J�10 would be
sufficient .
4 . In Faragraph 14 since there is no earnest
money to be paid , the reference on the bottom of
page 4 to earnest money should be stricken.
5. In Paragraph 16 there should be language added
at the end of the last sentence of that paragraph ,
°'all subject to the Orono Zoning code in effect at
the time. "
5. This agreem�nt requires that if someone sells
his/her lot, that he/she then pays all the amount
al located to that lot o It was noted that in the
event of such a prepayment and a subsequent
default by the homeowners association on the
contract for deed , then the prepaying property
owner will have, in effect , forfeited money for
years in which that lot can no longer have the
benefit of this agreement . Therefore , this
agreement should be amended to provide that in the
event of � default , anyone who has paid more than
his/her fair share to the point in time , may upon
demand obtain that overpayment from the City
without interest .
REGULAR MEETING OF THE ORONO COUNCIL, DECEMBER 30 , 1982 F'AGE-9-
Councilmember Butler moved , Councilmember Ad��ms
seconded to approve the agreement being,aware of
the language changes discussed an�] that the staff
is authorized to make those changes and submit it
to the purchasers for their signature , and that
the Mayor and the Clerk be authorized to sign .
Motion, Ayes (4) - Nays (�) .
ADJOURAIMENT
Meeting was adjourned at approximately 9 : 30 P.M.
�
Mary C . Butle , Mayor � �
A T T E S T:__�0�//_T�"'_=dC- -���G�-
M. Sandi Woytcke, Deput City erk