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
January's lull must have been a fluke. The agendas are booking out a couple months in advance again.
Applications on the February Agenda:
- Union Bluff Function Hall Parking Lot Amendments. Modifications to the parking lot on Ridge Road.
- Ocean View Village Parking Lot Expansion. Minor changes to the approved plan for condos off of Freeman Street in the Beach.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. The board continued discussion of this Preliminary Review.
- Brixham Grange Change of Use. Review proposed change of use, as required by the deed.
- PHN Subdivision Amendment. Two very minor boundary line adjustments to the approved subdivision off of Pine Hill Road North.
- Ledgewood Park (formerly J&B LLC). Application for a Route 1 Use Permit to construct a new commercial building across Route 1 from Wild Willy's.
- Scudiere Non-Conforming Lot Split. Review an application to re-split combined non-conforming lots. This is the first time the Planning Board has reviewed one of these under the new rules.
- Whippoorwill Amendment. Approved a minor boundary line adjustment between two developed lots.
- Anchorage Motel. Conditionally approved minor amendments to new annex and changes to the pool at the main site.
- Union Bluff Amendments. Approved modifications to the main site.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. Continued discussion of this Preliminary Review without reaching a decision.
- Borkowski. The board provided direction to this applicant about joint meetings with the Kittery Planning Board. This will be a subdivision of land in Kittery but accessed through York, off the end of Woodside Meadow Road.
- 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.
- Fazio/Woodbridge Square. Preliminary approval granted for a new office building.
- Scott and Barbara Perkins. A three-lot subdivision of a 10-acre lot off Pine Hill Road.
- Camp Eaton Master Plan. Board discussed long range plans for changes at Camp Eaton.
- 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.
- OYHS/Jefferds Tavern. Conceptual direction provided for new barn and connector. I anticipate receipt of a complete application later this winter.
- Public Works Department. Conceptual discussion about submittal requirements for a minor expansion of the public works barn.
- Wild Willy's Burgers. I've received an application for a minor amendment to the site - an outdoor walk-in cooler. I haven't reviewed the materials yet.
- Atlantic House Amendments. This project is moving forward, but their engineer has told me they will be bringing forward several amendments. I haven't received the application yet.
- American Legion Function Hall. This is a new plan for their site adjacent to Hannaford. It is scaled back from the earlier plans which received preliminary approval before being abandoned. I haven't reviewed the plans yet.
- Danis Cluster Subdivision. This is the anticipated cluster subdivision in the vicinity of Josiah Norton and Berwick roads. I still haven't received clear firsthand information on this, but the applicant is seeking property for a second access, which indicates it will be a subdivision of 15 or more lots.
- Spur Road and Route One. I haven't heard a thing about this one recently.
- Cragin/Currier Logging Road Subdivision. I haven't heard anything on this one since October.
- 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. To date, the applicant still hasn't provided follow-up information.
- Peter Weare. Six-unit residential development of land in the Route 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, but I've heard the surveyors are working in the area, so who knows?
- York's Wild Kingdom. 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. No contact from them in recent months.
- Maine DOT. Barrie Hobbins, Esq., met with me on June 12 about a new tower on the MDOT maintenance garage on Route 1 across from Wild Willy's, for an MDOT communications antennas and possible commercial co-location. Nothing has come of this since last summer.
- Small Commercial Site on Route 1. 908 U.S. Route 1, 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 has released a relatively simple internet mapping system for the Mount Agamenticus to the Sea Conservation Initiative. This is a collaborative effort to promote conservation goals in the six-town region of Kittery, Eliot, South Berwick, Wells, Ogunquit and York. York voters endorsed the Conservation Plan at the November General Referendum, and this is something Brett and I thought we should do to assist in the effort. The information provided on the site is primarily the state's aerial photography and "Beginning With Habitat" data. There's some neat information available on this site, and it's nice to be able to look across town boundaries and see what's happening around York.
I will be speaking at a conference next month about ways communities can use the state's Beginning With Habitat data, so this will be a nice show piece for us. I am also hoping the folks at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will get the hint and will eventually host an internet mapping site of their own to better serve their data to the public. Early on we decided to keep our site simple - bare bones - because we don't want to divert too much of our time away from town issues. Inland Fisheries and Wildlife could do so much more with this sort of website, so let's hope they accept the challenge.
Historic Resources Chapter
This has been one of the most interesting projects I have undertaken during my time here in York. York's history is fascinating, and our history helps define our community today. York was the urban hub of Maine in the 1600s and early 1700s, but by the early 1800s the community had lost much of its prestige and faded into relative obscurity until tourism helped to redefine it. This chapter is intended to provide an overview of the town's history, and to document our knowledge about the presence of historic and pre-historic resources. We will be formally approaching several people and organizations to critique this chapter, and after we fine tune the draft we'll make it widely available for public review.
How about a few York history trivia questions to test your knowledge:
- Was 2002 really the Town's 350th anniversary?
- More people in 1830 or 1950?
- Which came first, York's first dog ordinance or the start of the Nixon presidency?
Subdivision Regulation Amendments in the Works
The Planning Board is considering an interesting series of amendments to their Site Plan and Subdivision Regulations. The subjects include the following:
- Phasing of Subdivisions in the Rural Area. The Comprehensive Plan recommends strong phasing controls in the rural areas of town to limit the pace of growth. This change would limit subdivisions of 10 or more units to not more than six new residential lots or units per year in the rural area. This is a policy follow-up on the growth/rural area amendment we recently made to the Comprehensive Plan.
- Findings of Fact. Applicants are required to prepare a legal document which details the application review process. At this time, I spend a great deal of time working on these because the applicants' drafts are generally poor to useless. This change will set guidelines for the format and content of this work, which should save a few hours of time of my time with each application review.
- Conventional-Design Subdivision Standards. This change is still in conceptual form at this time, but is intended to develop a realistic mechanism to require open space set-aside in conventional subdivisions in the Town's rural area.
- Road Design Standards. The Comprehensive Plan recommends the Planning Board permit smaller neighborhood roads. This change will create a new category of small roads which serve nine or fewer homes. This should improve the aesthetic quality of new subdivision roads, and will decrease the amount of storm water runoff from new subdivision roads. The change also sets new criteria for connection of larger roads into the existing road network, and in the long run this has tremendous potential to protect the more rural areas of York from large-scale development.
The Planning Board has started reviewing materials in advance of the November General Referendum. At our workshop this month we reviewed a series of Comp Plan and ordinance amendments. I will be making an effort to complete the final two chapters of the Inventory and Analysis Section of the plan, which has been a goal for several years now. The Historic and Archeological Resources Chapter is just about finished, but the Municipal Capacity Chapter is still not roughed out yet. I've also proposed a series of updates to the Natural Resources Chapter, and two policy amendments relating to watersheds and storm water management.
Ordinance work is lagging behind the Comp Plan work. I have outlined the work I anticipate in the coming months, but for the most part the amendments haven't been written yet. The following is a revised list of amendments on the radar screen. The more substantial changes are shown in bold.
- Density and Use Standards with Respect to Public Utilities. This is follow-up on the public utilities and rural/growth area amendments we made to the Comp Plan last November.
- Shoreland Amendments. These are required by new state rules.
- Low Impact Development Standards
- Storm Water Management Standards. This is follow-up on the Storm Water Management Plan.
- Prohibit New Construction Below Elevation 12' Behind the Dunes. This is follow-up on the Storm Water Management Plan.
- Vehicle Parking Limits in the RES-4 Zoning District
- Fix the Non-Conforming Lots Reference to RES-4
- Watershed Protection Overlay District
- Rural 1 Zoning District. The Planning Board wants to start working on the new zones called for in the Comp Plan.
- York Beach Zoning. This is work initiated by the Chamber's York Beach Renaissance Committee to implement the Comp Plan and help revitalize the beach.
- Road Acceptance Standards
- Transfer of Development Rights
- Altering Site Plan Review Jurisdiction
- Special Exceptions for Seasonal Conversions
Jon Discher is making progress on the mapping of sub-watersheds throughout York. This is a necessary first step in his analysis of impervious surfaces. After a couple false starts it appears that Jon has figured out the approach to be taken. It's fairly complex work, and I'm very happy with his progress. He has generated some rough sub-watershed maps, but will probably need some help from Brett to process the information because Jon's computer has reached its limits. Jon developed an interesting hill-shading map, which he presented to the Planning Board this month. This is a technique which gives maps an almost three-dimensional appearance, and can be added to many types of maps to enhance their appearance. I am hopeful that we'll have a working set of sub-watershed maps by the end of February.
Shoreland Amendments Approved
We have received approval of the commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for November's Zoning amendments relating to shoreland zoning. This is the one part of our ordinance over which the voters do not have the final say. But not to worry, we remain in the good graces of the state.
Off-Road Path
There is growing interest in developing a walking or multi-use path from York Village to the high school. This concept has evolved from the selectmen's discussions about what to do with the old Town Farm property. The town owns a string of properties, which extend from St. Christopher's Church on York Street over to the Town Farm and on to York High School. There are several road crossings, there is one gap in public ownership and there are certainly wetland/shoreland/floodplain issues if a trail of some sort is constructed. On Jan. 24 I met with Steve Workman of the Eastern Trails Alliance to discuss a process we could follow to engage the public on this issue. In the coming months I hope to prepare a report on this issue for the town manager.
Answers to the York History Trivia Questions
- No, the town was 361 years old in 2002, having been first chartered in 1641. The 350th anniversary was actually based on the third town charter, when the Puritans took over and renamed the place "York."
- 1830. The town's population grew steadily until 1830, when there were 3,485 people. Population declined for the following 60 years, and U.S. Census counts indicate it didn't climb past the 1830 benchmark level until 1960.
- This was an easy question. A first dog ordinance was adopted in 1734, pre-dating even George Washington's presidency. Apparently they had a problem with people bringing dogs to church on the Sabbath, so they passed a dog ordinance.
