Town of Mount Desert
Planning Board Workshop
Town Hall Meeting Room, Northeast Harbor
February 7, 2008
Public Present
Sam Coplon; David Irvin; Edd Hamor; Debbie Musetti; Debbie Deal
Board Members Present
James Clunan, Chairman; Schofeild Andrews III; Joseph Tracy; Gerard M. Miller, alt;
Rich Rothe, Planning Consultant;
I. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m.
II. Chairman Clunan began by addressing Mr. Suminsby's invitation for the Board to join the Comprehensive Plan Committee February 8, 2008 at 4:30pm. There was discussion as to the legality of the meeting due to no public notice.
III. The Board met with Planning Consultant Rich Rothe of Rothe Associates, to continue the discussions of amending the Land Use Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances.
Chairman Clunan summarized that the Board along with consultant Riche Rothe had been examining the entire LUZO to make it more workable. One of the first things the Board did was put the various standards that were scattered throughout the ordinance into one section (#6). Mr. Clunan then suggested reviewing the changes made last week.
Mr. Bright inquired as to the Road and Driveway standards. Mr. Rothe explained that they took the Street design standards from the Sub-division Ordinance. There were however, some changes made to Section 6.6 Driveway Construction concerning Stormwater runoff. The Board discussed further improving the standards regarding runoff technique and the Best Management Practices. Mr. Rothe suggested including a reference to the Best Management Practices. Mr. Bright also thought tightening up driveway standards including emergency vehicle access would help solve several of the issues at hand.
Mr. Rothe agreed with Mrs. Keene's procedural suggestion to first address the Conditional Use section tonight then if time allowed the Definitions as those were two sections containing the most substantial changes.
There was further discussion on the driveway standards and using language from the subdivision ordinance. Mr. Irvin gave the history of how and why the current standards came to be.
The Board and public then discussed what would constitute "developable area" in 6.13.4 Lots and decided to keep it simple.
The Board reviewed the new section 6.17 (Temporary) Mobile Homes, Campers, Trailers and Recreational Vehicles which simplifys the currents process into one step and avoids the Selectmen's review. They also decided to specify "for human habitation" and change the expiration period to 90 days to be more permissive.
The Board then reviewed Section 6.22 Stormwater part of which came form the existing ordinance 6.2.4.4 Erosion Standards. There was extensive discussion including the buffer and impact on public storm drains as much of this standard was new.
Mr. Rothe proposed a shortcut for Section 5. This would allow Kim to waive information that is not relevant to each application and shorten Section 5.2 as well as discussion. The Board decided to leave Section 5.2 as is and went on to discuss appeal procedures. Mr. Rothe suggested clearly and specifically detailing the role of the Appeals Board. Mr. Irvin thought outlining the role of the Appeals Board deserved more consideration and public input than could be allowed in the time frame for the Town Meeting. The Board also wanted time to discuss it further and decided to leave as is for now.
The Board wanted to wait until Kim was present to discuss Section 7 Code Enforcement and therefore moved onto Section 5 Conditional Use Approval (formerly permits). They discussed Conditional Use Approval procedures including dated receipting and application requirements and completeness. Holding a public hearing for input on those items was discussed. Mr. Irvin made a request to have draft minutes made available to the public as the time frame between the meetings and final approval and release of the minutes seemed inefficient in keeping the public up to date. There was brief discussion on semantics and it was decided to postpone review of Section 5.9 Standards.
There was review and discussion of goals for the Town meeting and issues to address at the next meeting. Mr. Rothe pointed out that we would have a good basic revised draft to present at the Town meeting but still had a way to go with the specifics that the Board wanted to look at in more detail such as, dark skys, slopes etc. Then perhaps look at the subdivision ordinance with Randall Arednt.
IV. Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m. The next scheduled meeting/public hearing(s) is at 5:00 p.m., Thursday February 14, 2008 in the Meeting Room, Town Hall, Northeast Harbor.
Respectfully submitted,
Patti Reilly, Secretary
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