Public Hearing Flag Lot Issues 08/18/93

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PUBLIC HEARING ON FLAG LOT ISSUES • August 18, 1993 The Planning Commission of the City of Orono held a public hearing to discuss Flag Lot Issues pursuant to notice at 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 18, 1993 at the Orono Council Chambers. Chairman Charles Schroeder and Planning Commission members Candy Rowlette, Sandy Smith and Charles Nolan were present. Zoning Administrator Jeanne Mabusth, Assistant Planning & Zoning Administrator Michael Gaffron, and Recorder Lin Vee were present representing staff. Chairman Schroeder called the meeting to order explaining that the meeting was to discuss the issue of flag lots in general terms and asked Gaffron to provide some general information and history about flag lots in Orono. Gaffron defined flag lots from resource books, "Flag lots are permitted in rural and developing municipalities to permit development of back land areas while still maintaining their rural character. " A flag lot could be defined as typically separated from a public or private road by another lot which gains access to the public or private road via a narrow corridor that is typically 10' -50' in width. "The usual requirements for a flag lot are as follows: minimum lot area at least twice the area in the zone where located exclusive of the right -of -way connecting the lot with the public road; minimum front, side and rear yard requirements to be met on the portion excluding the right -of -way; minimum of 20' and maximum of 50' for right -of -way; not more than 1 flag lot for each right -of -way; rights -of -way should be a minimum distance apart • of at least the minimum lot width in the particular zone. " This definition does not necessarily relate to anything the City has done or is presently doing. Prior to our Shoreland Ordinance, there were a couple methods to look at subdivision of a narrow, long piece of property that was either on or off the lake and someone wanted to create a back and front lot. In a lakeshore situation, one method is to create a flag lot that abuts the lake and a back lot that abuts the street without lakeshore access. The opposite situation would never be allowed because the lake lot would need to have a shoreline width equal to the requirement for the district. The Code has said that lot width is measured at the front or street setback line from the side lot line. Gaffron illustrated these situations. Prior to the recent Shoreland Ordinance, the lot width for a lakeshore lot would be measured at the 75' setback and the street setback and a flag lot would require a variance. With the Shoreland Ordinance, the width is measured at the shoreline and at the 75' setback but at no other locations, making a flag lot a possibility. To avoid variances in the past, a private easement was granted to access the street. Another way was to create an outlot, typically a private driveway outlot, owned by the person who uses it. This allows the back lot to meet the width standard without a variance. The outlot area is not considered with the dedicated area for either the back or front lot. 40 1