York Town News
Key projects on the agenda for the Planning Board this week
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - From the second phase of the Highland Farm subdivision to a proposal to raze the two buildings adjacent to Fazio's Restaurant to make way for an office building, the Planning Board will tackle a weighty agenda when it meets this week.The board's next meeting is scheduled for this Thursday, Nov. 9, and it promises to be a full one, including three high-profile projects: Highland Farm, the Fazio property and the former Cape Neddick House on Route 1.
Listed as Fazio/Woodbridge Square, the proposal for the Fazio's lot seeks preliminary Planning Board review for a major site plan application to remove the two buildings that share the site with the restaurant facility. The plan is to construct a new office building.
The Highland Farm agenda item includes action on requests related to both Phase 1, which was approved last year, and Phase 2, which is currently under review. The Phase 1 request relates to a change in the proposed access road to the subdivision. On Phase 2, the board will continue its preliminary review, which has been met with opposition from abutters and local conservationists who have repeatedly attended the board's meetings to discuss minimizing potential impact on wetlands and wildlife corridors.
The applicant and Planning Board have agreed to extend the review time for the application in order to address issues of the complexity of the site. The review to date has included many meetings as well as a site walk with the project team, Planning Board, Conservation Commission, abutters and others.
Another item of interest on Thursday's Planning Board agenda is a new lease on life for the Cape Neddick House on Route 1. This Victorian-era bed and breakfast closed within the past year when longtime owner, Dianne Goodwin, sold the business and relocated to another area of town. The agenda item, listed as Lombardi/Cape Neddick House, is an application for a Route 1 Use Permit to redevelop the commercial property.
And there may be more high-profile projects coming to the forefront in the months ahead, Town Planner Steve Burns confirmed.
While there has not yet been a formal application from Berkshire Development President Oscar Plotkin, who is seeking to redevelop the York's Wild Kingdom property, Burns confirmed he did receive a call from a national company seeking approximately 25 acres along Route 1 for a 300,000-square-foot indoor recreation facility. Burns said the facility is rumored to be an indoor water park.
"They were simply asking about the Wild Kingdom property because they'd read about Plotkin's plans in the newspapers," Burns said Monday of the call on the site.
Discussions are also continuing for the vacant Route 1 lot located across from Stonewall Kitchen and adjacent to the Spur Road, Burns confirmed, but added he has yet to see concrete plans that include a tenant for that site.
In the meantime, this Thursday's meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the York Public Library and time for public comment will be allotted.
Next week, the Planning Department will hold a public forum on what is known as "Riparian Corridor Protection," a review of stream corridors throughout town with an eye toward how to best protect them, on Tuesday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at the library. As Burns said in his most recent Planning Department report, these efforts directly relate to such key local concerns as flooding and drainage.
"Protection of water quality is a goal for the town. The two most important controls the town can impose to protect water quality are the protection of riparian corridors and control of impervious surfaces," he wrote in his report. "… Together, these two projects will enable us to make informed decisions about our land use controls and their impact on water quality. And with respect to water volumes (flooding), we have the new Storm Water Management Plan. We've talked about watershed-based zoning, and all this work together is the foundation on which that will be based."
For more on what's in the works for future planning, visit www.yorkmaine.org.
