York Town News

Planning Department Monthly Report:

What's on the horizon for the York Planning Department this month

By Town Planner Steve Burns

Town Planner Steve Burns

Applications being reviewed by the Planning Board

There is still a pileup of applicants trying to get to the board. It's easily a two-month wait for new applicants.

Applications on the May Agenda:

  • Zacharias Farm/BBQ Festival. Proposal to hold the state championship BBQ festival in York in August. Yum!
  • Atlantic House Amendments. A series of minor changes to the approved plans.
  • Highland Farm Phase 2. Continuing preliminary consideration.
  • Scudiere Non-Conforming Lot Split. Continued consideration of re-splitting two adjacent non-conforming lots.
  • Jefferds' Tavern. Application for reconstruction of an old barn to be used for educational and museum space.
  • Amendments to the York Village Business Center. Continuing review of the relocation of the hotel and the new Rite-Aid building.

Actions taken at the April meeting:

  • Highland Farm Phase 2. Still in a holding pattern while the applicant negotiates possible conservation land deals.
  • PHN Subdivision Amendment. Boundary line adjustments approved.
  • Sparhawk Subdivision Amendments. Minor amendments approved.
  • Fazio/Woodbridge Square. Final plans approved.
  • Wild Willy's Burgers. Application withdrawn.
  • American Legion Function Hall. Conceptual direction provided for a new facility planned for their site adjacent to Hannaford.
  • Amendments to the York Village Business Center. Board reviewed the relocation of the hotel and the new Rite-Aid building, but no decision was reached.

Applications in the Works: Applications the Planning Board has formally reviewed, but still in the works.

  • Ocean View Village Parking Lot Expansion. Changes to correct past deficiencies. Awaiting further work by the applicant.
  • Campagna Subdivision Amendment. Boundary line adjustment not yet resolved because of a sight distance problem at the driveway. May be addressed as re-dividing of combined non-conforming lots.
  • Marketplace. Still waiting...
  • 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.

Sketch-Review Applications Completed Earlier: Applications the Planning Board has seen, but with plans that are still at a conceptual level.

  • Borkowski. Subdivision in Kittery, which would have sole access through York off the end of Woodside Meadow Road. I have received the application but have not yet reviewed it. 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. No word on this one recently.

Applications on the Radar Screen: New applications the Planning Board hasn't seen yet, incomplete submittals, rumored developments, and stuff like that...

  • A CVS-like Pharmacy(?). I have now heard from the applicant's attorney and expect to meet again about this concept some time in the coming month or two.
  • 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. I have received an application, but have not yet had the opportunity to review the materials.
  • Public Works Department. Application for minor expansion to the Public Works barn on Chases Pond Road. I have received the application but have not yet reviewed it.
  • Danis Cluster Subdivision. Nothing new in March about this one. It's a rumor about a cluster subdivision in the vicinity of Josiah Norton and Berwick roads.
  • Cragin/Currier Logging Road Subdivision. Nothing new to report this month.
  • York's Wild Kingdom. I met with Oscar Plotkin this month. He is still pondering the future of the properties he has under option. He briefly outlined a few concepts he's thought about, but he didn't get very specific. My impression is that he is actively evaluating marketing and site conditions, and that we will see a development proposal of some sort.

Ordinance Amendments: 108 pages and still growing

Work on ordinance amendments has dominated my month of April. Last year the major planning-related issues decided by the voters were amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. This year, the ordinance amendments are of greatest significance. This is, by far, the largest set of ordinance amendments I've worked on in my years here in York - 108 pages at this point and likely to get longer. What the Planning Board has received and reviewed is a package of 14 complete or near-complete amendments, and placeholders for four others that may yet materialize this year. The number of ballot questions won't be out of the ordinary for a general referendum, but the complexity and significance of the issues brought before the voters is great. Make no mistake, there are some weighty issues to be decided by the voters this year. The first public hearing will be held by the Planning Board on Thursday, May 24, at 7 p.m. at the library.

Joe Knorr, Town Hall's computer guru, is working with me to set up a list-serve function to help the public monitor ordinance and plan amendments. I will try to have this fully functional in May.

Here's the list of what was provided to the Planning Board for their April 26 workshop:

  • Public Road Acceptance Ordinance - major revisions to the standards for the town to accept ownership of private roads. Bill Bray was instrumental in helping to rewrite this amendment. This amendment will clarify the process to be followed when a private road is offered to the town for public acceptance, and will help ensure that roads must be designed and constructed to high standards before they will be presented to the voters for acceptance.
  • Storm Water Management Standards - implement policy changes recommended in the Storm Water Management Plan. I am working with Steve Bradstreet, who wrote the Storm Water Management Plan, to craft new rules. These are still an incomplete work-in-progress.
  • Control New Construction Below Elevation 12' in the Beach - creation of locally-designated flood prone areas, based on recommendations in the Storm Water Management Plan. With help from Tim DeCoteau, this amendment has been written to permit construction in low-lying areas behind Short Sands and Long Sands beaches, but only in compliance with Floodplain Management Ordinance standards. Essentially, we're proposing to classify these areas as floodplain areas even though the federal government didn't.
  • Road and Right-of-Way Standards - revising the standards for private roads created outside of the Planning Board review process. Current standards are very weak for privately-created roads. The standards in place are not clearly written, and may not address all possible scenarios. This amendment establishes separate standards for rights-of-way and the roads. The physical standards for road width and material depth remain unchanged, but culvert size, road grades and drainage are more clearly addressed. Further, the storm water drainage system for all private roads to be built will need to be designed by a professional engineer to ensure there are no adverse impacts.
  • Supplemental Subsurface Waste Water Disposal Rules - update the town's septic design standards. The current regulations are out-of-date, and reference many state standards that no longer exist. Cayce Dalton, our new shoreland resource officer, wrote these amendments, which are long overdue.
  • Density and Use Standards With Respect to Public Utilities - implementing growth management policies relating to our designated rural and growth areas. Last year the voters changed the designated growth and rural areas, and the growth-related polices for each of these areas. This amendment implements those policies, removing density bonuses currently available in the rural areas for provision of public water and public sewer. This straightforward change will reduce growth pressures in the rural parts of town, north of the Cape Neddick River, south of the York River or west of the turnpike.
  • Watershed Protection Overlay District - adding more protection measures to safeguard York and Kittery's public water supplies. Ryan Lynch, the York Water District's treatment plant manager, provided a list of issues the district would like to see improved with our codes. The district wants to ensure our standards maximize protection of York and Kittery's water supplies, so these amendments were written with their help. Changes include increased buffers along streams, far more stringent standards for dealing with petroleum products and hazardous materials, requiring advanced waste water treatment for all new and replacement septic systems, clarifying authority to inspect properties and prohibiting the expansion of non-conforming uses in the Watershed Protection Overlay District.
  • Shoreland Amendments - response to a state mandate for every community to update its shoreland standards. There are 90 pages of rules dictating the changes we need to make. The text is almost complete. Brett Horr has prepared a new two-sheet Shoreland Map, but it still needs to be refined. Because of the scope of this amendment, the biggest challenge will be explaining its content to the public and impacted property owners. Cayce Dalton, our shoreland resource officer, and I will hold an informational workshop on the evening of May 17 to explain the shoreland amendment and to try to answer questions in advance of the May 24 public hearing. We have not yet picked a location for this workshop.
  • York Beach Zoning - implementing the Comprehensive Plan by creating new zones in the Short Sands area. The York Beach Renaissance Committee is still hard at work on this project. The basic ordinance provisions have been drafted, and are nearly complete with the significant exception of design standards. It looks like this amendment will go through the first public hearing incomplete - no design standards for buildings, sites and streetscapes. I am hopeful the committee will have draft design standards by the end of June, in time for all subsequent hearings.
  • Vehicle Parking Limits in the RES-4 Zoning District - tighten the standards to control excessive vehicle parking in the Eastern Point neighborhood. These standards will significantly limit the number of vehicles which can be parked on single-family residential lots in this Eastern Point neighborhood.
  • Board of Design Review - administrative changes to improve the function of this board. These changes were prepared last year, but were dropped because they were combined with a proposal to expand the jurisdiction of the board to include York Beach. These changes will bring the administrative standards into line with other boards and committees, and with Roberts Rules.
  • Special Exceptions - fix some vague and inconsistent language at the request of the Board of Appeals. A special exception is a standard zoning tool where certain uses can be permitted, but only if pre-determined conditions are met and after input at a public hearing is held. The current ordinance language needs to be improved to make it work properly.
  • Building on a Non-Conforming Lot - fix a glitch in the nonconforming lots language, which we amended last year. Last year we amended the requirements for combining adjacent nonconforming lots in common ownership, and provided exceptions to that rule to protect property rights. It has come to our attention that there is a separate standard, which has the effect of preventing the newly-created lots from being considered buildable. A simple cross reference to last year's amended standards will solve this problem.
  • Setback Rule in Existing Neighborhoods - to fix the language of the code to match past practices. The code currently permits the CEO to reduce front setbacks for homes in established residential neighborhoods to match historic patterns where they differ from zoning requirements. The language currently permits this only for new homes, but not for additions to existing homes. This amendment would allow additions to have the same setback options as a newly constructed home.

Here are a few amendments that haven't yet been written, but may still appear for November 2007:

  • Building Codes - the CEOs want York to switch the national building code for single- and two-family housing from CABO to IRC 2003. Because the town's building code is written in parallel to the CABO code, this amendment will be fairly involved.
  • Historic Landmark Designation of Town Farm - being considered by the HDC. I am not sure of the current status of this proposal.
  • The property owner of the Agamenticus School may request, through the HDC, that this property be removed from its designation as a local historic landmark because the property is in severe disrepair.
  • Amend the Growth Ordinance - bring into compliance with LD 1108. I anticipate that the amendments to the Growth Ordinance, already proposed for revision at the May Special General Referendum, will need to be revised yet again because of further changes to state law.
  • Workforce Housing - the selectmen's committee is working on this issue. It is my understanding that this committee expects to produce one or more draft amendments in time for the selectmen's final two public hearings on ordinance amendments.

Comp Plan amendments

These amendments are complete and ready for to be moved into the public hearing process. The amendments include two changes to the Inventory and Analysis section of the plan: a new Historic and Archeological Resources chapter and updates to the Natural Resources chapter. Additionally, there are three sets of policy amendments: watershed management policies, storm water management policies and unfragmented blocks policies. The first public hearing will be on Thursday, June 28, and a second public hearing will be held on Thursday, Aug. 23. Both of these hearings will be conducted by the Planning Board. By mid-May, I will have the text of these amendments, and the many associated maps, posted on the Planning Department's web page. 

GPS Upgrades were timely

While we were in the process of acquiring new global positioning system (GPS) software and equipment, the storm over Patriots Day weekend hit. The storm caused significant damage to public infrastructure around town. Brett Horr will be working with the Police and Public Works departments to use our new GPS equipment to document the location and extend of infrastructure damage. This will help expedite our reporting of storm damage to other agencies.

Our very first opportunity to use our new equipment was to document the precise location of the shipwreck on Short Sands. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission hadn't known the exact location of the wreck site. We figured we should document it now rather than wait another decade or two until the wreck re-emerges. Typical of the first time using complex equipment, we couldn't get the new GPS unit working in the field. Brett brought everything back to the office, figured out the problem and got everything working properly. He returned immediately to the wreck site to document its location. Unfortunately, the delay allowed the tide to come up to the site and Brett caught a few waves above the tops of his muck boots before he got the job wrapped up. Still, his efforts were a success and the state now has documentation of the exact location of this wreck. Of the 67 known shipwrecks in York, now the state has locations for 29.

Online mapping

Just a quick heads-up to let folks know that we know there are some problems with our new online mapping system - "Show Me the NEW Maps" - and that we're working to correct these problems. The ability to print to .pdf isn't working, and the print-to-scale isn't working well. We also had to address hardware limits because of the volume of GIS data and activity. (What a problem to have!) While we're working on these few problems, the system is still highly functional and the older system is also still available to those of us resistant to change.

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