York Town News
Planning Department Monthly Report:
The Planning Department's monthly report of what's on the horizon...
By Town Planner Steve Burns
Town Planner Steve Burns
Applications waiting to go to the board are still backed up, but it appears we're only booked out about a month in advance.
Applications on the Dec. 7 agenda:
- Highland Farm Phase 2. The board will convene a special meeting devoted entirely to continued discussion of this Preliminary Review.
I have not yet finalized the agenda for this meeting, but I anticipate the board will review the following applications:
- Fazio/Woodbridge Square. Continued preliminary review of application for a new office building.
- Anchorage Motel. Minor amendments to new annex and changes to the pool at the main site.
- Scott & Barbara Perkins. Sketch review of a two-lot subdivision off of Pine Hill Road.
- Camp Eaton Master Plan. Board to discuss long range plans for changes at Camp Eaton.
- Davis Drive Subdivision Amendment. Minor amendments to correct existing deficiencies.
- Public Works Department. Conceptual discussion about submittal requirements for a minor expansion of the public works barn.
- Clay Hill Farm Subdivision Amendment. Approved a reduction from four lots to two.
- York Shores Subdivision Amendment. Minor boundary line change was approved.
- Sparhawk Subdivision Amendments. Withdrawn from this meeting to work out issues with neighbor.
- Woodbridge Square. Application to tear down the two old buildings adjacent to the Fazio's Restaurant building and develop a new office building was accepted for preliminary review. No decision yet.
- Highland Farm Phases 1 & 2. Continued review of the preliminary application and changes to the overall road design.
- Cape Neddick House. Proposal for commercial re-development received conditional approval.
Applications the Planning Board has formally reviewed, but still in the works.
- Campagna Subdivision Amendment. Boundary line adjustment not yet resolved because of a sight distance problem at the driveway.
- Marketplace. The town engineer is still waiting for the results of a meeting between the design engineer and Maine DEP.
- Bell Marsh Road. The Planning Board referred this issue to the Board of Selectmen in April 2006 without accepting the application.
- Twin Lights Subdivision Amendment. Minor lot line change considered, but on hold pending evaluation of violation complaints.
- Cottage Place Lighting Amendment. Awaiting follow-up by the applicant.
- Sparhawk Subdivision Amendments. Awaiting follow-up by the applicant.
Applications the Planning Board has seen, but with plans that are still at a conceptual level.
- Lost World Disc Golf. Conceptual discussion in November 2005 - no action since.
- 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 had been expecting to receive this application this summer, but it hasn't materialized yet.
- OYHS/Jefferds Tavern. Conceptual direction provided for new barn and connector.
New applications the Planning Board hasn't seen yet, incomplete submittals, rumored developments and stuff like that…
- Unknown name. 12- to 14-lot cluster subdivision in the vicinity of Josiah Norton Road. A rumor from Corner Post Surveying.
- Spur Road & Route One. The corner lot (across Route One from Stonewall Kitchen) is heating up. Based on a discussion with the applicant's representative, this may be coming to the board in the December/January timeframe for conceptual review.
- 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. I met with a potential buyer/developer in mid-October, but I can't get a good read on whether or not we're going to see this application proceed.
- 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. I received a call from a commercial broker inquiring about this site for a 300,000-square-foot indoor amusement facility, but nothing new from Berkshire Development.
- Cliff House. They are considering minor amendments to their approved expansion plans. Perhaps another pool and some minor changes to the buildings.
- Whippoorwill Amendment. Revised plans have been received in late November and should be reviewed soon.
- Maine DOT. Barrie Hobbins, Esq., met with me on June 12th 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.
- 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.
The voters approved all 13 comp plan amendments and 16 ordinance amendments on the ballot. I thank the voters of the town for their support of these amendments. I have updated the Town Clerk's vault with revised copies of the Comp Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and revised copies of all documents are available on the Web page. I have also submitted the Shoreland-related amendments to Maine DEP for their review and approval. Brett and I will be meeting with Mike Morse of DEP in mid-December to start discussing next year's Shoreland amendments, and I anticipate the State's approval by then.
Voter Guide for Land Use Amendments
I have completed a 3-page paper which explains the procedures we follow when we develop zoning and comprehensive plan amendments each year. This is in response to comments I've heard this year and in past years that our procedures aren't clear to the public. Most people don't know how early they can get involved, and they don't know the key times and places to get involved. This document is available on the Planning Department's web page (go to www.yorkmaine.org, navigate to the Planning Department, and click on the link entitled, "Land Use Amendment Voting Guide").
List Serve - Coming Soon
I received a great suggestion from a resident interested in getting earlier notice about zoning amendments. He suggested the town set up a list serve for zoning amendments. A list serve is a simple web-based tool which will broadcast an e-mail to anyone who has signed up to be on the list. The public will be able to sign up for list serve, or to remove themselves from the list serve, directly on our web page. When I have information to get out to the public about amendments, public hearings or the like, I'll broadcast an e-mail to everyone who has signed up. It will be a very efficient tool for us to share information with citizens who want to be more involved. I have asked Joe Knorr, our IT guy, to help me set up the list serve. I anticipate having this in place in early 2007, so stay tuned!
Mount A to the Sea Maps on the Web
To help promote community use of regional mapping prepared by the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative, the Planning Department will host internet map service for this data. We have a great system to provide our maps to the public across the web, and it is a relatively easy matter for us to provide this same service for regional maps and aerial photography. The area to be covered will include Kittery, Eliot, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit and York. This should be helpful to all six communities, and will include mapping information not currently available on our town system. Brett is fine-tuning the data to get the system working properly, and we anticipate making this site available to the public in the next few weeks.
New IMS Page
Once Brett is finished with his work getting the Mount A to the Sea regional maps out on the web, he'll be finishing off work with our GIS contractor to upgrade our own page. When we unveiled our web-based mapping a few years ago it was state of the art. We have done very little to upgrade and improve the system since then, but it's time. We will be adding a couple useful functions. First, it will be possible to click on a parcel on the maps and automatically be linked to all the scanned documents we have in our system (assessing, code enforcement, planning board records). I've tried out the test version of this tool and it's great. It will make public access into our scanned records much simpler. Second, it will be possible to find the status of property tax payments on a parcel. I haven't seen the beta version of this feature yet, so I'll withhold judgment until I see the finished product. We're waiting for our contractor to deliver the final product, but we're hoping for a December release.
Public Forum on Riparian Corridor Protection
Jon Discher has completed the draft of his report on stream corridors. The department presented the report to the public at a workshop on Nov. 28 at the York Public Library. About a dozen and a half people attended, and the presentation was televised. Jon did a great job walking us through his research. When he wrapped up his presentation, we shifted to a discussion with the audience. In addition to answering questions, we got some great suggestions about follow-up work, which could enhance the report and future presentations. Specifically, audience members suggested we superimpose the output of Jon's stream analysis onto other existing maps like base zones, growth patterns, conservation lands and Beginning With Habitat maps. This is exactly the input we needed, and it will help us improve the report and make it more truly relevant to our work revising the Shoreland Map. Jon will work on that follow-up next, and will finalize the report in December.
I'll apologize if the TV coverage at the end of the meeting left a little to be desired. This was a result of my decision about how to conduct the meeting. The library meeting room is arranged for good coverage for a formal meeting, with a board sitting at the head table and the audience speaking one-at-a-time at the podium. Unfortunately, productive workshops don't work with that room set-up. I thought it was important to engage the audience in a meaningful discussion at the end of the meeting, so we moved the discussion back into the crowd and away from the TV cameras. The audio was probably fine, but the picture must have been poor. I'm still trying to figure out a good way to have interactive discussion sessions in that room while still making sure we have good TV coverage. I'm open for suggestions.
Impervious Surfaces
Once Jon Discher wraps up his work on stream corridors, he'll be taking on his next challenge - a town-wide assessment of impervious surfaces. Impervious surfaces are nothing more than non-porous surfaces like roofs, driveways, roads, sidewalks and parking lots. Scientific research has consistently shown that stream water quality declines sharply when impervious surfaces cover 10 percent or more of the area of a watershed. Along with our purchase of 2' contour data for our GIS, we also acquired data showing impervious surfaces. Using our new contour data and Jon's stream maps, he will first generate new watershed maps for the entire town at a level of detail similar to what has been provided in the Storm Water Management Plan. Once the sub-watersheds are mapped, Jon will analyze impervious cover in each sub-watershed. The watersheds will be categorized as currently being safe, at risk or in trouble. This research will ultimately provide the rational basis for revising our lot coverage regulations, which are applied in a somewhat random manner at this time. This will be one of the key components of watershed-based zoning.
Watershed Protection
Staff from the York Water District have approached me with ideas to improve our standards in the Watershed Protection Overlay District. This is the overlay district which is intended to protect York and Kittery's drinking water reservoirs and their sources. The district has concerns about current standards, which are not preventing certain activities that threaten York's water supply. I will be working with them in the coming months to see what changes can be proposed to address their concerns.
Tear Down the Old Schoolhouse?
The HDC was informed that the owner of the old Agamenticus School may seek a permit to demolish the building and construct a house on the site. This would require approval of the HDC because the building is a designated Historic Landmark per York's Zoning Ordinance. I don't know if an application has actually been submitted yet.
York Beach Zoning Revisions
The York Beach Renaissance Committee and I are still working on this proposal. We've hammered out a set of draft changes to the permitted uses, dimensional requirements and zoning map. In January we should begin working on the performance/design standards in earnest. This is the critical piece of the puzzle - if we can come up with workable design controls then we've got a decent shot at presenting a package of ordinance amendments that will enhance the vitality of the Beach as a commercial and tourism center while protecting the character of the community and the neighborhoods. It will be interesting to watch these standards evolve.
Zoning Archive
In the past I have created comprehensive archives of old versions of York's Comprehensive Plan and the Subdivision Regulations. I have now started archiving old Zoning Ordinances. It is vital that the town protect these historic documents, and this means organizing them and putting them in the Town Clerk's fireproof vault. There are probably many old editions stored somewhere in the depths of the vault, but I have now created a chronologically organized set of town zoning dating from the late 1980s to the current version (with the exceptions of a few versions I can't find). This doesn't sound like much material, but it completely fills two large boxes. I haven't started in earnest with the really old zoning documents - York Harbor dating back to 1926 and York Beach dating back to 1939. I also haven't started organizing the many zoning maps currently in the vault. There is much work left to do, but for now we have the most important documents protected.
