York Town News
Planning Department Monthly Report:
What's on the horizon as of Aug. 1
By Town Planner Steve Burns
Town Planner Steve Burns
Applications on the August agenda:
TAGT. Discussed an addition and new building.
Highland Farm Phase 2. The board and applicant will continue to work through the basic design concepts.
Dianne Goodwin. Minor amendment of an old three-lot subdivision behind the Cape Neddick House-just proposing to eliminate a septic easement they claim is no longer needed.
Twin Lights Subdivision Amendment. First Step Land Development will propose a minor lot line change.
Actions taken at the July meeting:
Elks. The board accepted a revised landscaping plan to re-establish the front buffer that was mistakenly destroyed.
TAGT. Discussed an addition and new building, but final action not taken yet.
Highland Farm Phase 2. The board and applicant continued conceptual level work.
Applications in the works:
Campagna Subdivision Amendment. Boundary line adjustment not yet resolved because of a sight distance problem at the driveway.
Union Bluff. Preliminary approval granted in January to raze the theater in York Beach and replace it with a multi-use commercial building. A final application has been received but not yet reviewed.
Marketplace. The applicant and I are going around on water-related issues for this site. It is now in the hands of the town's review engineer for a reality check. The town engineer is waiting for the results of a meeting between the design engineer and Maine DEP.
Davis Drive Subdivision. Mr. Davis is now working on an application to convert the entire subdivision to cluster. Awaiting my review.
Bell Marsh Road. The Planning Board referred this issue to the Board of Selectmen in April without accepting the application.
Sketch-Review Applications completed earlier:
Lost World Disc Golf. Conceptual discussion in November - no action since.
OYHS/Jefferds Tavern. Proposed new barn and connector. No change.
Tony Valdez (Fiona's Porch property) received conceptual direction in March about a minor expansion on the back of the building. Review held up pending CEO evaluation of possible outdoor display violations.
Bob Cutts/Rumsey Road. There is a long-standing problem regarding road construction on this property, and Bob Cutts is proposing an option to permanently resolve this matter.
York Community Service Association. They're working on plans to expand the building and improve the site layout.
J&B LLC. Proposed new commercial building on Route One across from Wild Willy's. The applicants are actively working to develop and improve their plan. I expect this back before the Board within a couple months.
Applications on the radar screen … applications the Planning Board hasn't seen yet, incomplete submittals, rumored developments and stuff like that…
Cragin/Currier Logging Road Subdivision. I've briefly reviewed a plan that was originally submitted but not pursued in 1999 for a 40-lot subdivision on Logging Road. This is the 152+/- acre lot just south of Dave Linney's nursery lot. It's a very poor layout on a very wet lot.
Peter Weare. Office development of land in the Route 1-5 zone. We have received application materials for this site, but it wasn't yet complete.
Peter Weare. Six-unit residential development of land in the RT 1-6 zone. I haven't received an application yet.
Doug Gray. Four units of residential development in back land between Darcy Road and Edison Drive. Will probably need PB approval to amend the Darcy/Eldredge/Boban subdivision. I haven't received the application yet.
York's Wild Kingdom. Nothing new to report.
Cliff House. They are considering minor amendments to their approved expansion plans. Perhaps another pool and some minor changes to the buildings.
Whippoorwill Amendment. Application received to amend the original subdivision plans. Not yet complete.
Maine DOT. Barrie Hobbins, Esq., met with me on June 12 about a new tower on the MDOT maintenance garage on Route One across from Wild Willy's. The initial discussions I had with MDOT staff were only dealing with state communications antennas. Now we're dealing with a commercial co-location, too. I anticipate seeing this at the Planning Board in August.
Small Commercial Site on Route One. 908 U.S. Route One, just south of Whippoorwill. New owner has moved the old blue cape farther back on the lot and plans to eventually open a series of small businesses.
Cape Neddick House. New owner is looking to redevelop this property. I have met with the owner, but have not received an application yet.
Comprehensive Plan Amendments
Following the Planning Board's first public hearing, the Comp Plan policy amendments have been broken into 14 separate articles, as follows: Growth Policy Amendments; Public Water and Public Sewer Amendments; Timeframe for Implementation; Subdivision Policy; Net Buildable Lot Size Standards; Expand Use of Transfer of Development Rights Programs; Comprehensive Plan Update Policy; Manufactured Housing and Mobile Home Parks Policies; Establish Land Conservation Policy for Water Supply Areas; Establish a Water Supply Plan for Rural Fire Protection; Adopt a Local Road Classification System; Regional Coordination for the Mt. A to the Sea Conservation Initiative; Update Accomplishments, and Generalize Zone Recommendations.
In the grand scheme of things, these amendments to the Comprehensive Plan are far more important and more significant than the ordinance amendments. These amendments will improve the legal foundation for all the town's land use codes, integrate public water and public sewer policies with a newly-designated growth area, take an important step towards regional coordination of land use planning in the Mount Agamenticus area, and in general make policy improvements that will benefit the town. The next public hearing will be held by the Planning Board on Aug. 24. The posted draft is dated July 11, and is available from the Town Clerk and on our web page.
Ordinance Amendments
The Planning Board completed its second public hearing on 18 draft ordinance amendments last month, and a revised set of amendments have been prepared and posted for an August 21st public hearing by the Board of Selectmen. The posted amendments include: Historic Landmark Designation of Trinity Church; Landmark Designation for Historic Building Conversions; Shoreland Setback Variances; Board of Design Review; Contiguous Non-conforming Lots; Enlargement of Non-conforming Structures; Non-conforming Design; Expansion of Non-conforming Use; Bed & Breakfast Standards; Campground Regulations; Front, Side and Rear Lot Lines; Ordinance Clean-Up; Site Plan Review and Route One Use Permits; Large-Scale Retail in York Harbor; Propane and Oil Tank Anchoring; Workforce Housing; Accessory Dwelling Units in Overlay Districts, and Growth Ordinance Changes to Address LD 1535.
The posted draft is dated July 12, and is available from the Town Clerk and on our web page.
Growth Ordinance
The Board of Selectmen reviewed a proposal to revise the Residential Growth Ordinance to bring it into compliance with the new state law (L.D. 1535). Despite major concerns with the draft, they agreed to post it for a public hearing on Aug. 21 to solicit public input. The posted draft is part of the posted Ordinance Amendments dated July 12. The selectmen will also be meeting with a representative of the Maine Municipal Association on Aug. 14 to discuss L.D. 1535 and its affect on York.
Department Goals
I have finalized goals for the Planning Department with Rob Yandow. The goals we have set out are:
- Improve the IMS site. We haven't done much with our on-line mapping since it was first set up. We are looking to add two new features to the IMS:
Ability to access all scanned documents for a parcel by clicking the parcel map in IMS. This should simplify retrieval of scanned documents.
Ability to indicate whether property taxes have been paid on a parcel. This is a commonly requested piece of information. This will be a difficult technical challenge. - Write amendments to bring the Comp Plan and Zoning Ordinance into general consistency with one another. This is already drafted and posted for another public hearing, and if all goes well should be presented to the voters for consideration this coming November.
- Complete the Update of the Comp Plan Inventory & Analysis Section. This will require preparation of two chapters:
Municipal Capacity Chapter.
Historic and Archeological Resources Chapter
I have started to refine the outline of this Comp Plan chapter. Tad Baker provided extensive input, and agrees that it can adequately be handled in-house, with help from knowledgeable local sources. The current chapter in the Comp Plan will be updated and expanded upon, especially in the area of maps. To prepare myself for this task, I have started reading Banks' History of York, Maine.
Riparian Corridor Protection
I have Jon Discher working on this task, which is one of the five tasks to enhance water resources protection. I have organized this project into seven component parts, as follows:
- Analyze stream order, by stream segment, within each watershed in York.
- Analyze regulatory controls on each stream segment and summarize by order and by watershed.
- Analyze condition of riparian vegetated buffers on each stream segment and summarize by order and by watershed.
- Prepare an amendment to the Natural Resources Chapter (yes, the one we just adopted two months ago) to insert the new technical data generated in the first three steps of this project.
- Plan and implement some sort of public information/education/input program to raise public awareness of riparian corridor issues and to help develop a policy response.
- Evaluate the policies of the Policy Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan to ensure they are appropriate to manage resources for long-term sustainability, and propose amendments as appropriate.
- Evaluate the town's land use codes to see if they are consistent with the existing Comp Plan policies or with new policies if they are to be amended. Propose amendments to the land use codes as appropriate.
