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
People are lined up again to get to the board. There is easily a two-month wait at this time. Applications on the March Agenda:
- Fazio/Woodbridge Square. Coming in for final approval of a new office building.
- Scudiere Nonconforming Lot Split. Continued consideration of re-splitting combined nonconforming lots.
- Jefferds' Tavern. First consideration of an application to re-construct an historic barn at the museum (across York Street from the First Parish Church) to expand function and display capacity.
- Union Bluff Function Hall Parking Lot Amendments. Continued consideration of this application.
- Ledgewood Park. Continued consideration, probably leading to a final decision.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. Still in consideration of the Preliminary Application and in a holding pattern while the applicant negotiates possible property sales to Land for Maine's Future or the Kittery Water District.
- Union Bluff Function Hall Parking Lot Amendments. Continued discussion, but no decision yet.
- Ocean View Village Parking Lot Expansion. Minor changes that are more complex than they first appeared. No decision yet.
- Highland Farm Phase 2. Still waiting to hear about property negotiations - tabled to March.
- Brixham Grange Change of Use. Change of use approved.
- PHN Subdivision Amendment. Conceptual discussion only, but looks like it will be approved without any problems.
- Ledgewood Park (formerly J&B LLC). Continued discussions and significant progress, but no decision yet. Tabled to March.
- Scudiere Nonconforming Lot Split. The first application to re-split combined nonconforming lots. Again, more complicated than originally expected, and again tabled to March.
- Campagna Subdivision Amendment. Boundary line adjustment not yet resolved because of a sight distance problem at the driveway. I learned today (Feb. 28) that this may now be addressed as re-dividing of combined nonconforming lots.
- 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. I have received the long-awaited amendment materials requested by the board, but haven't reviewed them yet.
- Borkowski. Subdivision in Kittery, which would have sole access through York off the end of Woodside Meadow Road. I expect to receive a formal application in March. Kittery and York planning boards have agreed to each meet separately, but approval of both will be required for the subdivision to be approved.
- 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.
- Public Works Department. Conceptual discussion about submittal requirements for a minor expansion of the public works barn. I expect to receive an application in March.
- Amendments to the York Village Business Center. The owners are proposing two significant amendments. One would relocate the hotel so it will better face Route One. The other would replace two small mixed-use buildings with one larger retail building for a new Rite-Aid. I have the application in hand, but haven't gotten to it yet.
- CVS. Remember back in April 2006 when I first noted that Rite-Aid, CVS and Walgreens were all looking around for sites on Route One? Late this month a CVS representative contacted me to schedule a meeting to discuss a possible application to develop a pharmacy at York Corner.
- 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.
- 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, but it's still a big proposal. I haven't reviewed the plans 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.
- Danis Cluster Subdivision. Nothing new in February about this one. It's a rumor about a cluster subdivision in the vicinity of Josiah Norton and Berwick roads.
- 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, but in February I did hear from the applicant's engineer so I expect it will become active again very soon.
- Peter Weare. Six-unit residential development of land in the Route 1-6 zone. I haven't received an application yet.
- Doug Gray. It's been a long time since I've heard anything about this one.
- 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 many months.
- 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, 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 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.
- 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 amendment would limit subdivisions to not more than 10 new residential lots or units per year in the town's rural area.
- Findings of Fact. Applicants are required to prepare a legal document which details the application review process and decisions made during that process. This amendment provides clear guidelines for the format and content of this work.
- Road Design Standards. The Comprehensive Plan recommends smaller-scale neighborhood roads. This amendment 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 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 rural areas of York from large-scale development.
- Wildlife Habitat. The current standards for protection of wildlife habitat are narrowly focused, protecting threatened and endangered species but not much else. The Mount Agamenticus and Brave Boat Harbor areas have been identified by the state as having ecological values of state-wide significance. The new standards will take a much broader view of habitat conservation and are written to integrate with the state's Beginning with Habitat program.
- Historic and Archeological Resources. This is a simple amendment to clarify that the York Historic District Commission needs to review applications for possible impact to historic resources, and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission needs to review applications for possible impacts to archeological resources.
At their February workshop, the Planning Board continued reviewing materials in advance of the November General Referendum. The York Beach Renaissance Committee made a presentation to the Board about their work to date to create better zoning in the Short Sands area. The draft amendment is starting to come together quite nicely, and although there is still work remaining, it appears there will be a solid proposal ready in time for November. The board also reviewed new language for the following four draft amendments:
- Density and Use Standards with Respect to Public Utilities. This is straightforward implementation of Comprehensive Plan policies.
- Public Road Acceptance Ordinance. Bill Bray and I have prepared a major series of amendments to the Road Specifications, which would improve the manner in which people offer their private roads to the town for consideration of public acceptance.
- Special Exceptions for Seasonal Conversions. The Board of Appeals pointed out a problem with one of the special exceptions in our Zoning Ordinance. I found other related issues throughout the ordinance, so this amendment fixes a series of problems relating to these types of permits.
- Road and Right-of-Way Standards. This is a new amendment requested by Tim DeCoteau, who found a potential problem with the manner in which our current right-of-way standards are written.
Being the end of February, I am starting to stress over two of the November amendments that haven't really taken shape yet. Most notably, major revisions to the Shoreland Overlay District as required by the state and creation of a new rural zone are the two big amendments, but which have the least prep work completed at this time. There's still time, but March will be critical for both of these.
Draft Amendments on the Web
Want more information about zoning amendments? Yes, I know. For most people, reading an ordinance is about as interesting as watching paint dry. However, there are a few of us who find it interesting, and there are a few more who want or need to keep up-to-date on proposed ordinance changes. On the Planning Department's webpage I have posted a document with the draft amendments as they stood on Feb. 15. It's a rough work-in-progress, so don't expect too much. But it's exactly where each ordinance amendment stood on that date. I'll probably update it monthly until we get to the official postings required for public hearings. To find this document, go to www.yorkmaine.org, navigate to the Planning Department, and click on "works in progress."
Municipal Capacity Chapter of the Comp Plan
One of the two Comp Plan chapters I hope we can bring to the voters this coming November is the Municipal Capacity Chapter. This chapter will contain a general overview of the town's ability to deal with growth and development. It will include an inventory of all town land and facilities, and will then move on to provide a summary of the issues faced by each town department. I have completed the inventory of land and facilities, and now need to move into the department-by-department analysis. To do this, I'll be working with the town manager and department heads. My goal is to solicit the information without placing a significant burden on the other departments. If I come out of this writing process un-bruised at the end of April, then you'll know I was successful.
Sub-Watersheds
Jon Discher continues to make progress on this project. As expected, he has generated a working sub-watershed map for the town in February. We have just started to proof and analyze the new map. As I see the sub-watershed details unfolding clearly for the first time, I am getting a better idea of the challenges we now face in using this information to analyze impervious surfaces, and in turn to create more rational public policy for storm water management. To complete our proofing of the sub-watershed boundaries, we will probably need to revise our stream mapping. We are finding that streams, currently derived from USGS quad sheets, need to be adjusted in length and location to match our new, more accurate contour data. I don't know yet how big a challenge this is. I am also beginning to suspect we'll have problems using our buildings data layer as one of the inputs for impervious surfaces analysis. Streams and buildings are some of our oldest data layers, initially generated in late 1990s using less detailed aerial photography than we now have. I am reasonably certain that any change in our overall approach to regulating impervious surfaces won't happen until November 2008.
BWH Partners Workshop
On Feb. 9, I was a presenter at a workshop put together by the Beginning with Habitat program of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Beginning with Habitat is a program of outreach and education to improve habitat protection statewide, and this workshop was an opportunity for them to gather with their partner agencies and organizations and share ideas about what has been working and where they can make improvements. I was one of three presenters to share municipal experiences with the program. I hope my comments were helpful to the audience, but regardless, the day was well-spent because I came away from the workshop useful ideas we can use here in York:
- New links on the Planning Department webpage, including one to the Beginning with Habitat program.
- Proposed amendment to the Subdivision Regulations (listed above) to strengthen the standards and to build on the work of the state.
- Possible amendments to the Natural Resources Chapter.
