Wales Planning Board

Public Hearing on Revised Town Ordinances

March 8, 2005

Public Hearing Record

 

 

In Attendance:

 

Planning Board – Ed MacDonald, Chair; Lori Blier, Secretary; Alice DiPaolo

Town Citizens – Paul Burgess (Selectman), Bryan Doyle, Dave Tardiff

 

Materials Distributed:  Draft Subdivision Ordinance, Draft Road Ordinance, Draft Shoreland Zoning Ordinance, Draft Floodplain Management Ordinance, Draft Site Plan Review Ordinance, Draft Land Use Ordinance, Telecommunications Siting Ordinance, Definitions Ordinance, Highlights of Specific Changes to Town of Wales Ordinances, Proposed Amendments to the Wales Comprehensive Plan.

 

Ø      The meeting opened at 7:05.  While the Planning Board Members waited to see if any other town’s people would show up, the board reviewed and approved the minutes from the February 22^nd meeting as written.  It should be noted that the weather was not conducive to a large turnout; therefore, we will likely present these ordinances again at the public hearing scheduled for April 12 on the proposed comprehensive plan amendments.

Ø      Ed opened the formal meeting.  He explained that the board had been working on revisions to the town’s ordinances to reflect the goals and recommendations in the Comprehensive Plan adopted by the town at the 2004 Town Meeting.  He introduced Lori to begin the presentation on the specific changes made to the ordinances.

Ø      Lori indicated that the board had created one new ordinance, the definitions ordinance, in an effort to eliminate the redundancy of the definitions across ordinances.  She also indicated that this particular ordinance would have to be last on the town warrant as the other revised ordinances need to be adopted in order for this one to be valid.

Ø      Lori went over the minor changes that were made to the Shoreland Zoning, Site Plan Review, Floodplain Management, and Telecommunications Siting Ordinances.  She indicated that all of the ordinances had the definitions removed and added to the definitions document and that structure changes to the format of the ordinances were made in an attempt to make the ordinance consistent in appearance and order of content.  Other specific changes sited were:  removal of coastal and river references in the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance along with changed reflecting the amendments made to the state Shoreland Zoning Laws over the last 6 years as recommended by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection; the addition of the previously omitted flood map and date to the Floodplain Management Ordinance as required by FEMA to remain in the National Flood Insurance Program; and some minor revisions as recommended in the latest state Telecommunications Siting Ordinance template as indicated by the highlighted sections of the draft ordinance.

Ø      The hearing then moved on to the changes to the Land Use Ordinance.  Lori went down through the list of major changes highlighting the addition of the land use districts established in the comp plan (Growth, General Use, and Limited Rural).  The reduction of the right of way for frontage requirements for common driveways from 60 to 30 feet generated some discussion.  It was clarified that the same right of way would be utilized if that backlot/common driveway later turned into a larger subdivision but that any additional requirements or standards in the subdivision ordinance would have to be met.  There was general agreement that 30 feet was plenty of room for an interior private road.  Alice also pointed out that it would not be eligible for a town road most likely anyway.  The additions and revisions made to the ordinance to align it with the updated road ordinance were discussed and Paul questioned whether entrance permit requirements off from state roads were addressed as well as town roads.  The reference was found in section 7.2 Permits.  There were no other comments on the Land Use Ordinance.

Ø      Discussion moved to the revised Road Ordinance.  The major changes were discussed.  Paul indicated that he would like to see section 3.1 revised to indicate that the Road Commissioner, his agent, “or an individual appointed by the Wales Planning Board or Board of Selectmen” shall make periodic inspections … This will ensure that if we end up with no Road Commissioner for a time or someone not as knowledgeable as our current Road Commissioner that we could ensure inspections by someone who had an idea of what they were inspecting.  The board will amend the draft ordinance to include this change.

Ø      Ed presented the major changes to the subdivision ordinance.  Paul indicated that he felt some people would have heartburn over the requirement for subdivision lots to have access only on interior subdivision roads.  The board clarified that it was a requirement only for subdivisions over 3 lots.  Paul still indicated he felt he knew of an individual who would not be pleased with this.  Lori asked where that person was then.  Everyone shrugged.  The addition of restrictions to the size of subdivision outside the growth areas to 5 lots in a 5 year period unless exempt as indicated in section 9.1 General Standards drew some discussion.  The board indicated that as long as the person or that person’s direct descendant had owned the property on June 12, 2004 and had owned the property for 10 years that the property owner could submit a subdivision larger than the 5 lot limit.  It was indicated that there didn’t seem to be any reference to the owner’s descendants, heirs, etc. and that it should be outlined and clarified.  The board members seemed to remember those specifics being somewhere in the ordinance or in the definitions.  We were unable to locate the reference and feel it may have been in the comp plan.  We will review our past documentation and try to find the references.  We will clarify this before final review of the ordinance on April 12.  Paul also wanted to know if there was any reference to the person(s) responsible for the property taxes on the open space developments – specifically the open space portion of those developments.  He feels that the town is not currently collecting taxes on the open space portion of the Starlight Drive development on Andrews Road.  Lori indicated it was supposed to be written into the deeds and that the requirement for that was part of the signed approved subdivision plan.  After looking over the ordinance after the meeting, Lori found that ownership of the open space is referenced on page 25 in Section 9.13, H, 3 (Ownership of Open-space land).  There is no reference to taxing of this space – it would have to be on a case by case basis, but we might be able to add something in to indicate that said ownership (whichever type is utilized) shall be written into the deeds or recorded in the Androscoggin Registrar of Deeds to be taxed accordingly.

 

The meeting was adjourned.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Lori Blier, WPB Secretary