Planning Board Meeting ~ August 2, 2017

2017-08-02 · Planning Board · 1:41:00 · watch on YouTube →

A Planning Board meeting that spent almost all of its time working line by line through one conditional use application. The Baldwin subdivision was tabled again because the town attorney's opinion on the legal status of Mineral Springs Road had not arrived. The board then took up an application by Daniel and Michelle Tibo (?) to change the use of their existing building from an oil company and firewood operation to a truck repair shop, went through the application checklist, the conditional use approval criteria and the performance standards one item at a time with a vote on each, and granted the permit. The board closed with a discussion of marijuana zoning, prompted by a question from the town administrator and by an application already sitting on the code enforcement officer's desk for two grow buildings that nobody was sure how to classify.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:02
   Minutes and agenda

   The board opened with the pledge, had no amendments to the agenda, and approved the minutes of the June 28 meeting.

2. 0:02
   Baldwin subdivision waiting on a legal opinion

   The board had written to Jack Conway for a legal opinion on the status of Mineral Springs Road, and Calvin (?) reported the opinion would not be ready for another week. The only outstanding item on the checklist was whether the application conforms with the other ordinances and the comprehensive plan, and members agreed there was nothing else to discuss without the road question settled.

3. 0:02
   Change of use to a truck repair shop

   The applicants closed their oil company in 2014 and the building has been sitting there costing money. Dan and their son Tyler are both diesel mechanics by trade and want to open a truck repair business in the existing garage, where they already worked on their own vehicles. Nothing on the property would change physically.

4. 5:03
   Vehicle storage and site constraints

   All the work would be done inside the garage. There is very little outside room: the paved strip behind the building is only about one truck wide and out of public view, and the rest of the ground is steep. The firewood processing would continue until the repair work picks up, and the daycare that had been renting space moved out the week before.

5. 5:03
   Fuel and waste oil on site

   Waste oil goes into 55-gallon drums, with roughly 100 gallons on site at a time, and is hauled to Sabattus, which uses it to heat their garage. A shed next to the wood pile holds a 1,000-gallon diesel tank used for the applicants' trucks, filled 200 gallons at a time, with secondary containment already in place.

6. 10:04
   Resource protection and setbacks

   Part of the back side of the ten-acre property is in resource protection, shown on the site plan carried over from the earlier application. The applicants confirmed the 100-foot setback from the resource protection line is unchanged and that the ground behind the building runs uphill into the woods.

7. 10:04
   No standard checklist form

   The board could not find an agreed version of the application checklist or the conditional use criteria, working instead from two documents left on the office computer, one in Excel and one in Word. Members agreed they could determine what was complete, incomplete or waived, but not produce the findings in a finished format that night.

8. 15:12
   Plan, survey and abutter notices

   The board found the owner's name and address and a surveyed site plan provided, with no waiver needed. Two return receipts for abutter notices were missing, including one sent to an owner in Alaska that came back unclaimed on vacant land; the town office had supplied that address after the property changed hands.

9. 15:12
   Zoning classification

   The application listed several districts on the assessor's advice, and the board settled it as rural residential transitional district with resource protection on the back side. Nobody present could say what the transitional part of the district name refers to.

10. 20:24
    Setbacks and building dimensions

    The board checked the front, side and rear setbacks against the plan, measuring roughly 204 feet from the building to the road on Google Earth against a 50-foot requirement. Ground floor elevations were not provided. The buildings themselves are all existing under prior approvals.

11. 25:33
    Driveway and parking dimensions

    Working from aerial imagery the board put the driveway at about 30 feet wide, the paved area in front at roughly 75 to 78 feet, and the strip behind the building at about 20 feet, described as two and a half plow widths.

12. 30:49
    Driveways within 450 feet

    The board worked around the property identifying neighbouring driveways, and found that George Sawyer's, across the road, was the only one within 450 feet that was not already shown. It was sketched onto the plan.

13. 30:49
    Water supply, wastewater and fire protection

    The building has heat sensors tied to a monitored alarm system rather than sprinklers, and the nearest dry hydrant is on Cedar Pond Road, within the 2,000 feet the board was looking for. The septic system was designed for four or five employees, against the two owners and one part-time person three days a week proposed, which is less demand than the daycare placed on it.

14. 36:11
    Buffers and drainage

    The tree buffer planted under the earlier approval is shown on the plan and is unchanged. The whole site drains downhill into the pond, passing through culverts under the driveway, and the wetland shown on the plan sits in that low area.

15. 36:11
    Signage

    A Mid Coast Firewood sign, about a foot and a half by three feet, currently covers the older oil company sign. The applicants may add a second sign alongside it, and the board established that even two signs of that size stay well inside the ordinance limit of 24 square feet.

16. 41:25
    Hazardous materials, utilities and construction

    The only petroleum stored beyond the existing tank would be up to two 55-gallon drums of waste oil, kept inside. No new utilities, no plantings, no construction and no refurbishment are proposed, so several checklist items were dealt with as complete rather than waived. The applicants already hold a state vehicle inspection licence for the premises.

17. 46:30
    Water and air pollution

    The three floor drains in the bays are roughly 60-gallon sealed concrete basins that are pumped out rather than draining to ground, and they have been capped since the oil company days so a truck leak would stay contained. A member noted the state rule is that a drain's termination point must be above grade rather than that garage drains are banned outright. Degreasing and washing are done inside and drain to the same basins.

18. 51:33
    Spill response

    Asked what happens if there is a spill, the applicants said they contain it with booms and pads, clean it up and call the state, which then inspects. Spill kits and oil pads are kept throughout the garage, carried over from running the oil business.

19. 51:33
    Water supply, erosion, traffic and sewage criteria

    The board found in turn that the existing well is adequate and will not affect abutters' wells, that a previously developed and stabilised site will not cause erosion, that the traffic volume matches the driveway design and sight lines, and that sewage disposal complies with the state plumbing code.

20. 56:56
    Dimensional standards and the aquifer overlay

    The board checked 300 feet of road frontage, 100-foot front, side and rear setbacks, a 35-foot maximum structure height, 25 percent impervious lot coverage and a 40,000 square foot minimum building envelope, all of which the ten-acre lot satisfies. The property was confirmed to sit outside the aquifer overlay district, so the additional performance standards for petroleum storage in that district do not apply. The land use table lists this use as requiring a conditional use permit.

21. 1:02:10
    Flood plain and habitat

    The flood plain lies on the Cedar Pond Road side and the site sits 40 to 50 feet above it, so the board found the project is not in the flood plain. It also found no adverse impact on spawning grounds, fish, birds or wildlife habitat on an already developed site.

22. 1:02:10
    Noise, odour and hours

    The applicant said he intends to do 99 percent of the work inside, with air guns the main noise if the garage is full, and that it is quieter than the saw rig already running there. Proposed business hours are 7 to 5, set deliberately wider than expected to be safe. Odour was expected to amount to exhaust from a truck leaving.

23. 1:07:26
    Municipal services and trash

    The board found no excessive burden on municipal, governmental or educational services. Trash will go into a private dumpster as before, since the town does not issue free garbage tags to commercial users.

24. 1:07:26
    Performance standards without a checklist

    The board discovered it had no checklist for the performance standards section and worked from the ordinance text directly, noting the two sets of criteria overlap heavily and should be reconciled at some point. It then voted separately on air pollution, water pollution, water supply, soils, erosion and vehicle circulation.

25. 1:12:32
    Solid waste, buffering and natural resources

    Findings were made on solid waste, on landscaping and buffering given mature landscaping and forest land already screening the site, on historic and archaeological resources, on natural resources, and on financial and technical capacity based on the applicant's training and experience rather than any planned construction.

26. 1:17:32
    Noise, lighting, flammable materials and signage standards

    The noise finding rested on work being done inside and on hours falling within the ordinance daytime range. Flammable and combustible materials will be stored inside or in the existing above-ground tank building, all outside the 75-foot line. On signage, the board established that only one face of a double-sided sign counts toward the square footage and that the signs stand about six feet high.

27. 1:22:41
    The junkyard concern

    The main risk members raised is that repair businesses accumulate unregistered vehicles and parts until they meet the state definition of a junkyard or automobile graveyard. The applicants said there is nowhere to put them, since the ground behind the building is steep enough that a mower slides on it, and confirmed the only outside storage would be vehicles actively being worked on. A member noted the incoming code enforcement officer would be watching for it, and that a future owner of the business is the longer-term risk.

28. 1:22:41
    Scope of the permit

    Before voting, the board asked whether the application covered heavy equipment as well as trucks, so there would be no confusion later about excavators and bulldozers. The applicants said trucks only. No conditions were attached to the permit.

29. 1:27:45
    Next meeting and deadline

    The next meeting is September 6, with applications due by close of business on August 28.

30. 1:27:45
    Marijuana zoning

    The town administrator had asked about marijuana and grow facilities. The chair's position, given to the selectmen, is that licensing restrictions are not the planning board's business but zoning is, and that the board would be the body to draft ordinance language and hold the hearings. The categories in play are grow facilities, processing, retail shops and social clubs, any or all of which the town can ban, or allow with setbacks and buffers in particular zones.

31. 1:27:45
    Moratorium and state regulations

    State regulations were promised for the beginning of the following year, and applications filed before local regulations exist create problems, which is why many municipalities have adopted a moratorium. Members recalled being advised not to adopt one earlier because the state rules were still being written. Maine Municipal Association has now issued guidance, the town administrator is working on it, and a moratorium would need a special town meeting and buys six months, renewable if progress is being made.

32. 1:32:58
    A grow facility application already in hand

    The code enforcement officer told the board he has received an application for two buildings 25 feet by 100 feet for a grow facility and does not know how to treat it. The building permit is straightforward; the difficulty is whether the use is agricultural, which the land use ordinance allows, or commercial, which would need a conditional use permit. The chair's test was to ask how the town would treat someone growing tomatoes, and nobody was certain of the answer even then.

33. 1:32:58
    How the officer might rule

    He said he could render an opinion that it is a commercial use requiring a conditional use permit, that an applicant could disagree and it could end up in court, but that if the town requires a conditional use permit for home child care it is hardly overreach here. A member added that the state has treated marijuana differently enough that the agricultural argument would probably not succeed. No applications have come in for the board's alternate positions.

34. 1:38:01
    Tax implications

    A member asked how each category would be taxed. The state scheme under consideration was described as a 20 percent sales tax with 5 percent returned to the municipality, separate from property tax, and members agreed the town could not set a different mill rate for marijuana facilities and would have to ask the assessor. The point was noted that it remains federally illegal and therefore a cash business, which makes revenue hard to police.

35. 1:38:01
    A workshop and a change of officer

    Members agreed a workshop, possibly with someone from Maine Municipal Association, is the way to approach it before an application forces the issue. Asked what he would do with the grow facility application in the meantime, the code enforcement officer said he was running down the clock, since a new officer starts Friday.

What was decided

• 0:02
  Motion to approve the minutes of the June 28 meeting, seconded and called; the chair announced it passes.passed
• 0:02
  Motion to table the Baldwin subdivision application until the board receives the legal opinion from counsel on the status of Mineral Springs Road, carrying it to the September 6 meeting.tabled
• 15:12
  Motion to waive the return receipt requirement for the abutter Celeste Lopez, whose certified letter to an out-of-state address on vacant land came back unclaimed, followed by a separate finding that the remaining abutting property owners were notified.passed
• 20:24
  Waiver granted for ground floor elevations of the existing buildings, with the location and dimensions found complete.passed
• 30:49
  The requirement to show intersecting roads and driveways within 450 feet was found satisfied once George Sawyer's driveway was sketched onto the plan.passed
• 41:25
  Motion to find the application complete, after the board had taken a separate vote on each checklist item.passed
• 46:30
  The board voted separately on each conditional use approval criterion, finding each satisfied: water and air pollution, water supply, soil erosion, road congestion, sewage disposal, fire protection, scenic and natural beauty, conformance with the comprehensive plan and ordinances, financial and technical capacity, proximity to water bodies, groundwater, flood plain, wildlife habitat, noise and odour, and burden on municipal services.passed
• 1:07:26
  The board then voted separately on each performance standard, finding each met: air pollution, water pollution, water supply, soils, erosion, vehicle circulation, solid waste, landscaping and buffering, historic and archaeological resources, natural resources, financial and technical capacity, noise, odour, lighting, explosive materials, signage and educational services.passed
• 1:22:41
  Motion to grant the conditional use permit for a repair facility at 662 Newbrook Road, seconded and called. No conditions were attached, after the applicants confirmed on the record that the business covers trucks only and not heavy equipment.passed
• 1:32:58
  No action was taken on marijuana zoning. The chair will speak with the town administrator and check with the select board on whether they want the planning board to draft zoning, with a workshop suggested and the item possibly going on next month's agenda.tabled
• 1:38:01
  Motion to adjourn, seconded and called.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.

Worth knowing

• 0:02
  The Baldwin subdivision is stalled entirely on the legal status of Mineral Springs Road. The town attorney's opinion was expected about a week after this meeting, and the application was carried to September 6 for the second time.
• 1:32:58
  An application for two 25 by 100 foot marijuana grow buildings is already sitting with the code enforcement officer, and the town has no zoning for it and never adopted a moratorium. The unresolved question is whether growing is an agricultural use the ordinance already permits or a commercial use needing a conditional use permit.
• 1:27:45
  Licensing of marijuana facilities is the state's business but zoning is the town's, and state regulations were only promised for the beginning of the following year. A moratorium would require a special town meeting and buys six months, renewable only if the town shows progress.
• 1:22:41
  The board's main concern about approving a truck repair shop was that such businesses tend to accumulate unregistered vehicles and parts until they meet the state definition of a junkyard. The applicants argued the site is too steep to store anything, and the permit was granted without conditions.

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: 16 passages of motion language, against 11 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

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