Town of Buxton Planning Board
Minutes
June 27, 2011 at 7 pm
Recorded by Hilda Lynch
Board Members Present: John Vedral; David Savage, Sr.; Jeremiah Ross, III; Harry Kavouksorian; SuE Schaller; David Anderson
Board Members Absent: None
Others Present: Henry Huntley, Fred Farnham
Chairman Harry Kavouksorian called the June 27, 2011, meeting of the Buxton Planning Board together at 7:01 p.m.
Pledge of allegiance
Welcome new members, Susan Schaller and John Vadral
Harry welcomed John Vedral and mentioned that Sue Schaller has been sworn in and would perhaps join the Board later this evening. Sue came in shortly after the meeting started.
Review Planning Board By-Laws
Harry asked the Board if there were any changes that should be considered for the by-laws. David S asked about including the Pledge of Allegiance, and Harry agreed it should be added. Harry thinks it is required. It should be added to 7.10.
Motioned by David S, seconded by Jere, that the Board add the Pledge of Allegiance as the second item on the agenda. Five voted in favor. John thought that the By-Laws stated that they would have to wait one meeting to put a change in affect.
Discussion of Town Charter amendments
Harry thinks that the Charter states that anything adopted by secret ballot would need to be amended by secret ballot. From June 10, 2008, and thereafter, this would apply. There have been amendments several times on the floor of the town meeting in the past, Harry thought.
John’s understanding is that any modifications to the ordinance would need to be done prior to Town Meeting. He referred to 30.A of the Maine Revised statutes. Amending an ordinance would be prohibited on the floor of Town Meeting. Article 63 was amended on the floor of the Town Meeting. Harry said he would seek counsel from the Town Attorney regarding this.
Jere says that for the first page of the Buxton Zoning Ordinance, 85-90% of the amendments were done on the floor of the Town Meeting as they’ve been done for the last 30 years. John asked if they were changed after they were published. Jere said that they weren’t. They were presented and then voted up or down. John’s point is that they can’t deviate from what is published. Jere said that this is not what they’ve gotten from the Town’s attorney, the Town Clerk and Moderator. Harry said that he will look into it. Jere made the point that they’d have to go through all of the ordinances to see what was enacted by Secret Ballot and which were enacted at Town Meeting. The Selectmen are interpreting any amendments to ordinance changes from
June 10, 2008, forward to be done by Secret Ballot. John asked if this is the interpretation of the Selectmen. John mentioned this might be in conflict with some Charter changes of June 2008 that people were trying to put through this year. He finds that this part of the Charter states that anything that has passed by Secret Ballot would have to be amended by Secret Ballot.
Look into Tax Map Digitization
The Board has talked with some people from USM to digitize tax maps at no cost. Harry says that regardless of what happens there, he thinks they should look into having this done from this point forward and begin discussing this in August. David A says that most likely this would be through an article and not from Planning Board funds. Jere mentioned that some of this mapping would be used by Code Enforcement and some by the Assessor, so the cost may be shared. The Board may want to begin discussing this. Sue said that she’d want to see some standards for quality and accuracy. Harry asked if there are any standards. Sue says that there aren’t. Town maps are often inaccurate, so digitized maps aren’t always accurate for boundaries. Harry asked if she
had any experience with anyone. She says that SMRPC has done this, and we might ask them to provide us with some standards. Jere says that he thinks the problem was that because of boundary inaccuracies, there were problems with rights of way and things like that. Sue gave some explanations of real vs. distorted land masses. She thinks that some of Buxton’s maps were done with different standards applied. She thinks J.T. would be a good resource for the Board.
CEO Report
None this evening.
Approval of Minutes:
June 13, 2011 - postponed
Approval of Bills:
None at this time. David will put together a report for their next meeting after the break.
Communications:
Letter from Scarborough Land Trust - Harry asked if there were any comments from Board members. David A thought this might be the discrepancy he noted in their previous discussion regarding lot density. Jere thinks that the 8.9 acres is not reflected on the Buxton map. Sue asked how the tax maps get updated. Fred says they’re updated every year. If they didn’t receive a copy of the deed of something that happened in Scarborough, they wouldn’t have known this for the update. Jere says that this land is in Buxton. Fred asked if it was shown on the map that Berube submitted. Fred says he will look at the map and see if a correction needs to be made. Jere says the delineation between Buxton and Scarborough is not shown very well. He thinks it will
be shown better once the map is refined.
Harry explained to John that Berube asked if he should do a cluster or standard subdivision at the previous meeting.
Sue asked about an article in the Shoreland Zoning Newsletter. She wondered if this affected what was voted on in Buxton. Harry said that it did not and that Buxton is still in compliance with the State. Harry gave some explanation regarding this - the removal of moderate and high value bird habitat from resource protection.
Other Business:
Election of Officers
Chairman
Jere motioned, David S seconded, that Harry Kavouksorian be nominated as Chair. (John stated he would abstain as he doesn’t know them well enough). Five voted in favor; John abstained.
Vice Chairman
Harry motioned, David S seconded, that Jere be nominated as Vice Chair. Five voted in favor; John abstained
Secretary
Harry motioned, Jere seconded, that Sue be nominated as Secretary. Five in favor; John abstained.
Jere nominated, Sue seconded, David A as treasurer. Five in favor; John abstained.
Review Ordinance Revisions
Under the Zoning map, 300 needs to be changed to 250 ft. - p. 3.1 (3.2.D.2) Jere asked if someone were going to be going through and making the changes necessary. Harry believes that Krystal has been doing this. The whole Shoreland Zoning map will need to be re-done as well. Jere asked if they should ask SMRPC to do this? Harry asked if they had any other viable options. Sue supports having SMRPC do this. Should it be done now or wait to see if there are any further changes from Augusta? Jere asked. Harry thinks it is worth a conversation with DEP and SMRPC. Jere asked if Fred had an issue with this - could he interpret the areas on applications for this? Fred doesn’t have an issue with interpretation of the old map until they get a new one. The only
question Sue has is whether the ordinance refers to the map or text as guidance. Jere mentioned that they haven’t had an updated map for 11 years, so he doesn’t think it is an issue. Since Fred is the one interpreting, he thinks they’re okay.
John asked if they were going to go back to discuss the articles that were discussed at Town Meeting. Harry says that they’re discussing suggested changes for next year’s Town Meeting. John would like to discuss Articles 60 - 65. Harry stated that what we’re discussing are proposed changes; they will not be continuing discussion about what happened at the Town Meeting two weeks ago. Jere says they were voted on. John is concerned about legal issues regarding the articles voted on at Town Meeting.
Harry stated that they’re reviewing the ordinance changes that came in their packets.
Harry asked if other ordinance changes - p. 2.2, Boarding, Rooming, or Lodging House not appearing in the Land Use Table - should be included. Sue believes this should be included in the Land Use Table. She mentioned that Section 9 is missing. Krystal will correct before the next meeting. She mentioned that we have single family, duplexes and multi-family. Harry mentioned that multi-family includes three or more. Harry thinks that motels, hotels and inns would encompass Boarding, Rooming or Lodging House. David A mentioned that Bed & Breakfast is included. Harry stated that they try to fit something into a land use that is listed as close as they can. An applicant would have to decide what they wanted to apply under. John mentioned that if a boarding house is
similar to a hotel or motel as a business, he thinks they would want that. John asked what bearing this would have on the public good. Jere mentioned, parking, noise, density in a particular zone, and such things.
10.7.C.3 - Is there a need for reference to handicapped ramps or spaces? John asked if anything they added would be redundant with State law? Harry thinks that people would want to look at the Buxton ordinances. John wonders if they would want to add it if State law already addresses it. Sue asked if he knew what law that is. She thinks that no one has the default answer, so it could be addressed in our ordinance. Harry says that they’re just reviewing this and probably will review them numerous additional times. John thinks they would need to investigate this.
Harry said that there has been discussion about a Mass Gathering ordinance or Adult Entertainment in the past. Some examples have been provided. He asked Board members to go through these materials and expect to discuss this at the next meeting. David S mentioned having the attorney involved and mentioned specifically the O’Brien test. Harry says the Town may put some requirements on this. Harry says he would appreciate folks taking time over the month of July to review these potential ordinances and bring up any others of interest.
During the town meeting, articles 62 - 65 were lumped together, John says.
John motioned, seconded by David S, that they send articles 62 - 65 to the voters for a new vote without amendments. John says that any articles may be voted up or down but may not be amended. He doesn’t believe they were passed lawfully. Harry maintains that this is his opinion. John in favor; four against; and Sue abstained.
Motioned by Jere, seconded by Sue, to adjourn the meeting at 7:58 p.m. Six voted in favor.
Approval Date: _8/8/11_
_________________________________ _______________
Harry Kavouksorian, Chairman Signature Date
| 
