03-26-2012 Council Work Session Minutes

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.z O a MINUTES OF THE ORONO CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION JOINT WORK SESSION Monday, March 26, 2012 • 5:00 o'clock p.m. ROLL CALL The Orono City Council and Planning Commission met on the above - mentioned date with the following members present: Mayor Lili Tod McMillan, Council Members Cynthia Bremer, Aaron Printup, and David Rahn; Planning Chair Loren Schoenzeit, Planning Commissioners Denise Leskinen and Lizz Levang. Representing Staff were City Administrator Jessica Loftus, Assistant City Administrator of Long -Term Strategic Planning Michael Gaffron, Planner Ben Gozola, Planning Assistant Christine Mattson, City Engineer/Public Works Director Jesse Struve, and Recorder Jackie Young. Mayor McMillan called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 1. HARDCOVER REGULATIONS DISCUSSION Ben Gozola provided an update on Orono's hardcover regulations. Gozola stated at the last work session in January, Staff was asked to draft up a new ordinance option for consideration. The three options for consideration tonight are keeping the existing ordinance in place, the revised prescriptive ordinance, and the new performance option that was reviewed at the last meeting. Staff is looking to obtain direction on which of the options should be pursued as the language is finalized. Gozola stated currently the City has hardcover regulations scattered throughout its code, it is difficult for residents to understand, there is a lack of consistency on the terms, almost everything is considered is hardcover, and the "hardcover by zones" approach requires advanced calculations and shifts bias from lot size to lot shape. Gozola stated one of the goals is to use consistent language throughout to avoid confusion. The revised prescriptive ordinance includes all regulations coordinated into one overlay district, which is the same option incorporated into the performance option. The prescriptive ordinance is designed to eliminate confusing issues like the overhang and bay window type penalties, provides for credit for the first 100 square feet of pervious pavers; 50 percent thereafter. No credit is being given for driveways. In addition, the zone concept is eliminated, with the parcels within the overlay district being assigned to specific protection tiers. For the lakeshore properties, or Tier I, no credit is being given for the 0 -75 foot zone to maintain consistency with the existing regulations. Gozola noted the parcels highlighted in yellow language signify a significant departure from the existing code. Gozola displayed the proposed overlay district map on the overhead. This is essentially the same map that was prepared for the performance option. The parcels primarily regulated at 25 percent hardcover today have been assigned to Tier I, parcels at 30 percent have been assigned to Tier II, Tier III is 35 percent, Tier IV is 40 percent, and Tier V is 85 percent, which essentially contains the industrial parcels. The new performance based option was crafted based on the initial direction from the City Council. This particular option has up to four ways to comply with code. A storm water management plan is required, incentives to eliminate legally nonconforming hardcover are provided, and it addresses concerns about long/large Lakeshore lots. Staff has made some changes to the proposed ordinance from the last meeting in that it now includes a provision to limit overall hardcover on long/large lakeshore lots. is Tier I has now been separated into two categories consisting of Tier IA and Tier 1B. Parcels with a depth of less than 500 feet are in Tier lA and parcels with a depth of 500 feet or more are in Tier 1B. Tier 113 calculates overall hardcover based on the area 0 -500 feet from the lake. Any hardcover beyond 500 feet Page 1 of 9