Planning Board Meeting ~ June 5, 2024

2024-06-05 · Planning Board · 1:43:14 · watch on YouTube →

The Planning Board met on June 5, 2024. It accepted the April 24 and May 1 minutes, moved its July meeting from July 3 to Wednesday July 10, and heard a sketch plan presentation from Jonathan Lobozzo for phase two of the Bowie Hill subdivision, which would extend the road about 1,500 feet and add 13 lots with no wetland impact. A site walk was set for June 19 at 6 p.m., and the July 10 meeting will take the completeness review, a public hearing and deliberations on the preliminary plan. George Thebarge reported on the select board's priorities, the community facilities visioning process with the Greater Portland Council of Governments, and the approved codification contract. The board then took up its two assigned ordinance projects: writing a battery energy storage ordinance from scratch, and working with the Conservation Commission on resource protection following the state's redrawing of the co-occurrence map around Runaround Pond. A workshop on both was set for July 24.

What was discussed

1. 1:07
   Rescheduling the July meeting

   With several members unavailable on July 3 and the July 4 holiday following, the board worked through the calendar and settled on Wednesday July 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the fire station. Four members confirmed they could attend.

2. 6:20
   Acceptance of minutes

   The April 24 minutes were amended to read 'these approval conditions as amended' on page 14. Brian Lanoie raised a second correction in the sawmill findings, where the generator noise range of 70 to 73 was recorded without making clear the 55 dBA standard applies at the property line; the board added a parenthetical to that effect. The May 1 minutes were accepted as presented.

3. 11:45
   Town planner's report

   George Thebarge reported the select board met May 7 to set project priorities, and on May 28 kicked off a community facilities visioning process with Matt (?) of the Greater Portland Council of Governments. Rather than a steering committee drawn from named groups, the select board opted for an at-large call for volunteers, posted on the website that day. The study covers the ball field, town offices, the fire station and the Eureka Center, including short-term maintenance, a long-term meeting space, the possibility of moving the building across the street off the intersection, pedestrian connections and shared parking.

4. 11:45
   Codification contract

   The codification contract has been approved. George Thebarge spoke to the project manager at General Code, who said a basic program could be ready for the April 2025 town meeting, covering adoption of the new structure and simple corrections. Policy decisions would follow after that.

5. 11:45
   Bowie Hill phase two: process and site walk

   The chair explained that sketch plan review carries no decision and is the board's chance to raise issues before design work. The board agreed to a site walk and settled on Wednesday June 19 at 6 p.m., asking the applicant to flag the road centre line and rough lot corners; wetlands are already flagged. The July 10 meeting will take the completeness review, then a public hearing, then deliberations, with the preliminary plan vote in July or August.

6. 23:15
   Bowie Hill phase two: applicant presentation

   Jonathan Lobozzo, representing Bowie Hill Development LLC, said the plan extends the existing 11-lot subdivision road by about 1,500 feet and adds 13 more lots with zero wetland impact. The preference is to build a pond for fire protection in place of sprinkler systems. Eight of the eleven phase one lots are built or under construction, leaving three empty.

7. 28:38
   Cluster layout and the satellite lot

   The proposal is a 12-lot cluster plus one conventional satellite lot with direct access from the public road, making 13 in total. George Thebarge said nothing in the ordinance prevents including a conventional lot in a subdivision that also clusters. Members confirmed the satellite lot's acreage is included in the net residential area and open space calculations.

8. 28:38
   Fire pond, stormwater and other requirements

   The applicant's engineer, Charles Burnham (?), described a combined treatment and fire pond fed by the road drainage, on the model used at Deer Creek Crossing, and said the location and size were not yet fixed. Members asked for that to be settled with the fire chief, noted a road cut permit will be needed from Calvin, and asked for a fresh wetland delineation, phosphorus work and the updated lot lines where two phase one lots were combined last autumn. George Thebarge confirmed phase two will trigger a site location permit because it takes the total over 13 lots in five years.

9. 39:04
   LiDAR imagery and stone walls

   The chair circulated LiDAR imagery of the site produced through a web service for about $17, showing elevations and what appear to be stone walls running through the first three lots on the left and along the rear ridge. George Thebarge said section 5.14 provides that a stone wall over 100 years old cannot be demolished and must be relocated on the property, so their position relative to the new road and lots will need to be established. Members noted the imagery also shows the whole tract draining to one corner and possible grade problems near the turnaround.

10. 44:29
    Ordinance priorities and the resource protection task force

    The select board set the planning board's priorities as development applications, a battery energy storage ordinance, and resource protection jointly with the Conservation Commission. The board agreed to form a small task force of two planning board members and two conservation members, chaired by the planning board chair, reporting back to both bodies. Juliet Caplinger and Allan Purinton volunteered.

11. 49:54
    Resource protection and the co-occurrence map

    Mike (?) of the Conservation Commission explained the state redid the co-occurrence map after questions about Blanding's turtle at Runaround Pond; the department's turtle expert did a site review and concluded it was probably not habitat. Without the turtle, most of that area no longer reaches the six-point threshold, removing a large area of co-occurrence around Runaround Pond. The chair noted two property owners had previously had to go to the board of appeals and hire experts to prove there were no Blanding's turtles.

12. 49:54
    Battery energy storage: caution about a moratorium

    The chair said interest in a battery storage project in Durham continues and is heightening, though no application has been filed. George Thebarge cautioned that if planning board members discuss a moratorium while acting as a quasi-judicial body on a possible application, that could create an appearance of bias and weaken the town's legal position, and that a moratorium would need to come through another channel and a special town meeting.

13. 55:14
    Town planner's workload and the annual cycle

    George Thebarge said he is carrying the planning board, conservation commission, historic district commission, a possible agricultural working group, the codification and the facilities visioning process, and that his efficiency depends on boards not revisiting the same issues repeatedly. He described the yearly cycle as research over the summer, public participation between Labor Day and Christmas, and a finalised draft for the select board by the New Year ahead of the April town meeting. An unpredictable factor is the volume of development applications.

14. 1:00:29
    Concerns about GPCOG capacity

    George Thebarge said he is concerned about the Greater Portland Council of Governments' ability to take on Durham's project, because Portland, South Portland and Westbrook absorb most of its resources. He said he would report to the town manager and select board if it is not working. He noted the work is being provided at no cost to the town but that grant money of about $8,000 has been lost through delay.

15. 1:05:48
    Battery energy storage research

    The chair circulated material including New York state's model law, which he said is of limited help because its buffer range runs from 25 to 5,000 feet. Existing Maine examples are in Rumford and a roughly five-acre site in Gorham, both approved as conditional uses in industrial areas next to utilities. George Thebarge suggested presenting the public with several policy approaches, from an outright ban to standards on buffering, screening, decommissioning, noise and NFPA 855 fire safety, and noted the potential tax benefit should be weighed rather than dismissed.

16. 1:11:01
    Historic preservation workshop

    George Thebarge reported a select board workshop scheduled for June 25 on the town's historic preservation program. He said the ordinance leaves the roles of the code officer, the historic district commission and the planning board in conflict, including review of permits within 1,500 feet of listed sites. The chair, the code officer, the planner, the historic district commission and the select board are all expected to attend.

17. 1:16:24
    Adding permit review to the peer review scope

    Juliet Caplinger asked whether the town's peer review consultants could also check that applicants have identified every permit they need, including wetland delineation, natural resource protection, storm water and endangered species review. George Thebarge said the consultants currently look at engineering, storm water, erosion control and road design and flag obvious items, but do not do a formal permits review. He cited the Deer Creek case where the consultant confirmed a previously disturbed area still counted towards the storm water permit threshold, and agreed to ask Gorrill Palmer what they could provide and at what cost.

18. 1:21:52
    Ruby Lane held up for lack of a town attorney

    The Ruby Lane final plan is waiting on an attorney review that was a condition of preliminary approval, and the town currently has no attorney. Two firms have been interviewed and the select board is expected to choose at its meeting the following Tuesday. The chair said the applicant should not be held up because the town has not done its part, and asked George Thebarge to approach whichever firm is appointed immediately.

19. 1:27:49
    How the battery storage research will be done

    George Thebarge said the ordinances he has found are behind the curve and mostly written for urban settings rather than a rural town like Durham. He has arranged enhanced access to the codification company's national code database so he can search for relevant ordinances. He will bring back a framework of components and examples in the way he did for the solar ordinance, and members offered to bring their own research.

20. 1:33:29
    July workshop and adjournment

    A member asked for battery storage to be taken at a separate session rather than squeezed into a regular meeting that may also carry Bowie Hill, Ruby Lane and a possible new application. The board set a workshop for Wednesday July 24 at 6:30 p.m., covering battery energy storage and feedback on resource protection, at the fire station or the Eureka Center. The meeting adjourned.

What was decided

• 1:07
  Move the July regular meeting from July 3 to Wednesday July 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the fire station.passed
• 6:20
  Accept the April 24, 2024 meeting minutes with the correction to page 14 to read 'these approval conditions as amended', and with a parenthetical added noting the 55 dBA standard applies at the property line. Moved by John Talbot, seconded by Juliet Caplinger; the minutes record it carried 5-0.passed
• 6:20
  Accept the May 1, 2024 meeting minutes as presented. Moved by Allan Purinton, seconded by Brian Lanoie; the minutes record it carried 5-0.passed
• 17:50
  Board agreed to hold a site walk for Bowie Hill phase two on Wednesday June 19 at 6 p.m., with the road centre line and rough lot corners flagged, and to take the completeness review, public hearing and deliberations on the preliminary plan at the July 10 meeting.passed
• 44:29
  Juliet Caplinger and Allan Purinton volunteered to sit on the joint resource protection task force with the Conservation Commission, chaired by the planning board chair.passed
• 1:16:24
  Board agreed George Thebarge would ask Gorrill Palmer what permit review they already provide, what they could add, and at what cost, with a view to including it in the peer review escrow scope.passed
• 1:33:29
  Hold a workshop on Wednesday July 24 at 6:30 p.m. on battery energy storage systems and resource protection.passed
• 1:33:29
  Adjourn the meeting. Moved by Allan Purinton, seconded by Marc Derr; the minutes record it carried 5-0.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Motions the minutes record

The town's own written account of what was decided, taken from pbminutes_06_05_2024.txt. It owes nothing to the recording or to a model: the clerk typed it, with the vote. Where the summary above claims a decision this list does not carry, the summary is the part to doubt.

• accept the April 24, 2024 meeting minutes with the correction to page 14 to read “these approval conditions as amended” instead of to grant preliminary approval subject to these draft amendments as amendedcarried 5-0

  Moved by John Talbot, seconded by Juliet Caplinger

• accept the May 1, 2024 meeting minutes as presentedcarried 5-0

  Moved by Allan Purinton, seconded by Brian Lanoie

• adjourn the meetingcarried 5-0

  Moved by Allan Purinton, seconded by Marc Derr

Worth knowing

• 49:54
  The state has redrawn the co-occurrence map after its turtle expert concluded Runaround Pond is probably not Blanding's turtle habitat. Without the turtle most of that area falls below the six-point threshold, so the large circle of resource protection around Runaround Pond goes away. Two property owners had previously had to appeal and hire their own experts to prove there were no Blanding's turtles.
• 49:54
  The chair said interest in a battery energy storage project in Durham is continuing and heightening, although no application has been filed. The town planner warned board members against discussing a moratorium, because as a quasi-judicial body any appearance of bias would weaken the town's position if a decision were challenged.
• 1:21:52
  The Ruby Lane subdivision's final plan is stalled because the town has no attorney to carry out a review that was a condition of preliminary approval. The select board is expected to choose between two firms at its next meeting.
• 39:04
  LiDAR imagery of the Bowie Hill site appears to show stone walls crossing several proposed lots and along the rear ridge. Under section 5.14 a stone wall over 100 years old cannot be demolished and must be relocated on the property, so their position relative to the new road will have to be established.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 4 passages of motion language, against 8 decisions summarised.

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