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
There is no longer a significant backlog of applications waiting to get in front of the Planning Board.
Applications on the January agenda:
- Whippoorwill Amendment. A minor boundary line adjustment between two developed lots.
- Anchorage Motel. Continued discussion of minor amendments to new annex and changes to the pool at the main site.
- Union Bluff Amendments. Modifications to the main site, and addressing the Ridge Road parking lot.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. The board continued discussion of this Preliminary Review.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. The board continued discussion of this Preliminary Review.
- Scott & Barbara Perkins. Sketch review of a two-lot subdivision off Pine Hill Road.
- Lombardi/Cape Neddick House. Minor site amendment approved.
- Davis Drive Subdivision Amendment. Board agreed on directions to correct default situation.
- Anchorage Motel. Minor amendments to new annex, and changes to the pool at the main site discussed, but no decision was reached.
- Fazio/Woodbridge Square. Preliminary approval granted for a new office building.
- Camp Eaton Master Plan. Board discussed long range plans for changes at Camp Eaton.
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.
- Public Works Department. Conceptual discussion about submittal requirements for a minor expansion of the public works barn.
New applications the Planning Board hasn't seen yet, incomplete submittals, rumored developments and stuff like that…
- Danis Cluster Subdivision. We now have a name for this one. It will be a 12- to 14-lot cluster subdivision in the vicinity of Josiah Norton Road.
- Spur Road & Route One. The corner lot (across Route One from Stonewall Kitchen) was heating up, but has been cold for the past month or two. I expected this to be coming to the board in the December/January timeframe for conceptual review, but haven't had any recent follow-up.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Brett and I met with Mike Morse in early December to review our work to date on changes to the Shoreland Map and to discuss the other changes we're going to be working on soon. The state's new rules will require a significant amount of change on our part. Mike's initial reaction was very positive, so I'm confident we're on the right track so far. The Planning Board will be starting their discussions about the topic at their workshop on Jan. 25, so anyone interested should attend or tune in.
New IMS Page
Today Brett released the new and improved map site on the town web page. This is our fist significant update to the web-based mapping system since we initiated it almost four years ago. There are a variety of minor improvements, but most importantly is a new feature which allows a quick link into the scanned documents. When a user selects a parcel, there is a button which can be selected. It will automatically connect the user to the town's scanned documents for that property - deeds, building files and Planning Board files. To access the new mapping, get on the town's web page (www.yorkmaine.org), click on the "GIS Maps" link on the left side of the page and select "Show me the NEW maps" on the following page. And good news for everyone averse to change - the old system is still available. To access the old system, simply select the "Show Me the Maps" option instead of "Show Me the NEW Maps." There are still a couple bugs to be worked out on the new system, and it does not yet have the functionality to show the status of tax payments for a parcel. There are some significant database hurdles to be overcome before we can get to that next step. Overall, however, the new system looks great. As usual, Brett has done an excellent job pulling this together for us.
Mount A to the Sea Maps Still on the Way
We have offered to host an internet mapping service for the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative - to provide their regional mapping to Kittery, Eliot, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit and York. It will be seamless at the town boundaries, and should prove helpful in all six towns. We had hoped to have this up and running in December, but software challenges with this project and time needed to get York's own IMS updated have caused this to fall a bit behind schedule. Keep your fingers crossed for a January release.
2007 Comp Plan and Ordinance Amendments
I have been working on amendments for a couple months now, starting to get ready for November 2007. I'm trying to focus the Planning Board's workshop time on the big issues, like the Shoreland amendments, York Beach re-zoning and creating the new Rural One Zone. Here's a list of subjects I'm currently expecting we can have ready for this coming November:
Comprehensive Plan Historic & Archeological Resources Chapter; Municipal Capacity Chapter; Updates to the Natural Resources Chapter; Low Impact Design and Impervious Surfaces Policies, and Incorporate the Storm Water Drainage Study; Ordinance Amendments Implement CP #1.1.2 regarding density and public utilities with respect to the growth area; Shoreland revisions; Low Impact Development provisions; Overhaul impervious surfaces controls; Implement policies of the Storm Water Drainage Study; Vehicle parking limits in RES-4; Revise overall parking requirements; Fix error in non-conforming lots section; Strengthen the Watershed Protection Overlay District; Rural One Zone; York Beach zoning; Transfer of Development Rights using Mount A as a focus, and Road Acceptance Ordinance.
Implementing the Storm Water Management Plan
This past summer the town was presented with a Storm Water Management Plan, which was intended to show us how to reduce future flood damage. The plan contains recommendations for both structural and non-structural tasks. Structural tasks mean construction work, like installing pipes and pumps. Non-structural tasks include work which does not involve physical construction - things like writing new drainage policies and acquiring drainage easements. I have started work on these non-structural tasks. Specifically, I have started writing three ordinance amendments: driveway/culvert standards; drainage standards, and floodplain development standards. I need to spend some time with Bill Bray, Steve Bradstreet and Tim DeCoteau to refine my work on each of these topics. I anticipate each of these moving forward for a vote in November.
The other non-structural recommendation in the plan calls for the town to acquire drainage easements throughout the study area. Not only would this encompass easements on all wetlands and streams, but the surrounding upland areas as well. The engineers estimated this aspect of the project would cost on the order of $200,000. Before we move forward on that, I believe we need better information. In the coming few months Brett and I will design and prepare a GIS-based analysis of the affected areas so we can better understand the area. It will be important to find out how many lots, buildings and property owners will be affected in each watershed. This part of the work is still at the point of conceptual discussions, and will likely be pushed off until after the policy changes have been written.
Final Stream Corridors Report
Based on input at our public workshop in late November, Jon revised the stream corridors report and we have released a final version of the document. It's available on the Planning Department's web page. Jon Discher will now be working to refine the stream corridor presentation because we'll be repeating it two more times - once locally at a Planning Board workshop, and once regionally for the York River Steering Committee. These will probably both occur in late January.
Impervious Surfaces
This project is the next step on our way to watershed-based zoning. Jon Discher, now famous for his Stream Corridors Report, will be undertaking this project. Jon has just started his initial work, but it's starting to look like this will take more time than we had originally anticipated. Jon will not only have to create watershed boundaries, but will also have to quality-check the contour data as he does this work and will have to learn a new GIS software package. At this point, I expect we'll see the first results for new watershed boundaries some time in late February. Depending upon Jon's ability to complete the remaining work (which hopefully will be pretty straightforward), we could see an Impervious Surfaces Report in April. If that happens, then we should have time to incorporate the report and related policy changes into the Comprehensive Plan for this coming November. Code changes resulting from this work probably will have to wait until November 2008, although there's still a chance we could get something on the ballot this coming November.
