Mount Desert Comprehensive Plan Committee Minutes
Wednesday, October 26 2005, 4:00 PM Town Office Meeting Room
Present: Sam Fox; Corey Papadopoli; Brian Reilly; Sydney Roberts Rockefeller; Bob Collins; Jerry Suminsby;
Hope Rowan, Planning Assistant.
I. Updates
i. Hope gave a summary of Aram Calhoun's presentation on Vernal Pools at the previous Planning Board Meeting. Some of the important points she gave concerning how the town can use this information for planning include: the pools would be rated by different levels of significance; areas around the VP's would have directional buffers, in order to protect travel corridors between pools, and development could potentially occur in close proximity to a pool if it was deemed it wouldn't adversely impact it; the Planning Board will need to deal with the pools anyway, so it makes sense to map them ahead of time instead of dealing with them on a case by case basis, which could greatly hold up the Planning Board and the application process; the DEP will be stricter with large subdivisions than with
individuals developing their own land, who the DEP would try to work with to let them do what they want to do; if the pending legislation goes through.
The presentation was recorded, committee members should contact Darcel at the Town Office or let Hope know if they would like to listen to it.
II. Ordinance Review
i. Sewer Discrepancy
It had been discovered at the previous Planning Board meeting that there is some confusion about, and an apparent discrepancy between, the LUZO and the Subdivision Ordinance regarding sewer and plumbing utility setbacks, and that the ORC needed to clarify what was intended. The Subdivision Ordinance states that any subdivision within 1500 feet of a public sewer must be connected to that sewer, while the LUZO states any plumbing systems within only 200 feet of the sewer must be connected to it. The committee decided that this is not in fact a discrepancy, and that it is intentional, in order to encourage more subdivions to be connected to the sewer, and having stricter standards for subdivisions that for individual lot being developed. There is a precedence for this sort of language in
other towns, and the committee determined that no change to the language in the ordinance is necessary, but that the intentions of the ordinance should be explained to the Planning Board and Code Enforcement Officer in order to clarify this. Hope will do so at the next Planning Board meeting.
ii. Undevelopable Lands
Maps of wetlands and steep slopes were reviewed to continue the discussion from the previous meeting about having some areas in town where development would not be allowed. If wetland were to be included in this, it would be best to have all the wetlands professionally mapped, as existing data could be incomplete. Hope will talk with the Planning Board about the possibility of having this done. How development should be dealt with on steep slopes was discussed at length. It was decided the best way to deal with "undevelopable lands" may be not to entirely restrict development in these areas, but instead have "sensitive areas" where any development would either be under extra scrutiny, or where development would not be allowed unless the developer
could prove the development would not have an adverse impact upon the land, both of which situations would rely on performance standards. Camden has some good ordinance language concerning this, which might be a good place to start. Hope will find the section in Camden's ordinance about this.*
iii. Hope asked the committee if there were any other ordinances or issues to bring to the Planning Board, as she's the only on their agenda for the next meeting. Other things the committee thought should be brought to them are reducing the maximum building height to match the state requirements; having the ORC/CPC be responsible for public hearings related to the ordinance & comp plan instead of the Planning Board; and having a representative from the Planning Board sit on the CPC now that Sam is not longer a Planning Board member.
III. Comprehensive Plan
i. Transportation -- Sydney told the committee about the concerns the Transportation Committee has discussed that improving the roads for bikes -- improving their condition and wide shoulders -- will make them more dangerous for cars, as it will increase speeding, as that ways need to be found to increase safety. ii. Economy -- Jerry distributed changes to the Economy goal he had made. Hope suggested the committee think about creative ways to support a year-round economy, as that is the goal, and yet so far all that has
been discussed is tourism & summer people, and home businesses. Including something in the comp plan about working with the other island towns or non-governmental entities to support some sort of island health insurance might help encourage more home businesses.
IV. NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY NOV 9, 4:00 PM, TOWN OFFICE MEETING ROOM ____________________________________________________________________ *Corey has gotten this -- it has some elements that might be useful, although not the performance standards for developers to prove they won't have an adverse impact, I'll look around elsewhere for examples of this, please let me know if any of you know of towns that might have done this.
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