Standish Planning Board Meeting Minutes 11/21/2016
Standish Planning Board
Meeting Minutes for Public Hearing
November 21, 2016
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Brian Libby at 7:02 pm. Present were Joleen Whittemore, Adam Higgins, Carol Billington, Betty Thompson, Bud Benson, Town Planner and Jackie Dyer, Secretary to the Town Planner. Absent were Cindy Beckwith and Mike Willette.
Leavitt Tompson, LLC., Map 10, Lots 22-A/19-6, Sketch Plan Review
Steve Blais from Blais Civil Engineers was present to represent the applicants, Brian Leavitt and Jamie Tompson.. He gave a brief over view of the application and said they want to create a subdivision with a sixty acre parcel between Route 25 and Oak Hill Road. He said they have just a preliminary sketch so there are no abutter’s names on the plan or addresses. He said that they show 41 single family lots and also an area with village housing, 30 lots. There is one area they are leaving as that will be commercial somewhere down the road. They are showing just single lots for homes and just wanted to know what the Board, the abutters and the market thinks will work. He said there is almost four thousand feet of road between Rt. 25 and where they would come out on the Oak Hill Road.
He went on to say they would start construction on the Oka Hill side and would be bringing in public water to the houses. He said they would each have their own septic systems and the village housing would have combined systems. He showed where the storm water management ponds were located in two different places so that drainage would be split as there are two different water sheds, one going to Sebago Lake and the other towards the Saco River. He said that they have to have DEP approval on this plan as they would need to treat for phosphorus on the water shed going towards Sebago Lake. He said they will be closely reviewed by DEP.
He said for the time being they are going to put some ponds in that would stay wet all of the time. He said they are planning on doing a town residential road off of Oak Hill Road and the end on Rt.25 would be town avenue road with a sidewalk on both sides. When they get to the residential the side walk would be only on one side with a much smaller roadway. Mr. Libby asked for public comments.
Glenna Jamison from Jamison farm road next to the proposed project spoke. She asked about the public water and were they talking about Portland District as years ago they were told they could never get water from them where they live and how is that possible now? She asked if they were getting it from the Oak Hill side. Both Mr. Libby and Mr. Benson said there is already water run up to a portion of Oka Hill Road and the hydrant is just before where this road would come out from. Mr. Benson said it’s about 200 feet away at the present and if they put it in, they would run it from the Oak Hill side as the expense is enormous. Mr. Libby said there is a lot of ledge along Route 25, but maybe someday it would happen. Mr. Benson said it depends on the market and how feasible it would be for the Water District. Mrs. Jamison read the following letter to the Board showing her concerns and questions she has.
Mrs. Jamison also gave the Secretary a letter from her daughter Donna Floyd expressing her questions and concerns also. She was unable to make the meeting. Steve Pratt, an abutter, also spoke. He said their biggest concern is the water issue. He said their dug well has serviced the houses for many years and is only 14-15 feet deep. He said even under the driest conditions, they have always had plenty of water. He is concerned with excavation and blasting with the flow of the water and how it would impact their well. He said he went on the site walk Saturday and has also expressed his concerns to both Brian and Jamie. He said he knows it’s early in the planning stages, but he wanted to make everyone aware of his concerns now. He said they have had no issues and would like to feel they won’t. He said the run off since the houses were built next door has been significant. He said they have had to do some ditching on their property as the water runoff was flooding their septic systems. He said the plan wasn’t very well done or thought out. He said where they are downhill from the project, they need to address their concerns now.
He thanked the Board for their time and taking his concerns into play. Deena Loring from Oak Hill Road spoke and asked what kinds of homes would there be? Would they be mobile homes or what? Are they modular, residential stick built or what? Mr. Benson and Mr. Libby said as far as they knew, these would be stick built homes. What are the specs for the roads? Mr. Libby said it’s too early in the application to worry or know about that. Mr. Benson said that this is just a sketch plan review and it’s giving the applicant a chance to bring some things before the public and the Board. He said the applicant is going to have to come back before the Board with a full application when the time comes. This hearing is for feedback and information only and the Board will make no decision tonight at all, this is just a rough plan as to what the applicants might be doing.
Mrs. Loring asked about the traffic flow coming off from Oak Hill. She said the speed limit is 35mph, but that’s not what people do. Mr. Libby said that DOT will be involved in the application and a traffic study will be done. He said this requires an engineering study along with many other things before they can come to the Board with a complete application. Mrs. Billington said she just went through this with her own sub division. She said the Village zone is new and what can go in there is pretty clearly defined. She said they can look at the Town code to see what can be built there and what can’t. She said that might be some comfort to those that have a lot of concerns. She said there are so many engineering studies and other studies involved in something like this and it will be very well looked at by all agencies involved. She said they will all come into this with I’s dotted and t’s crossed. She said it will be very well analyzed. She said she feels these houses, because she knows Jamie, will be of great quality and grown slowly according with market demand. Mr. Benson said the form based code will be followed and he said the code allows for smaller lots with public water.
There were no other public comments. Mrs. Billington asked about Town Avenue versus town residential. Mr. Benson said it isn’t as wide. Mr. Blais said that this is a very long process with a lot of review by the State as the DEP really wants to make sure this is done right. He said there are many studies done and they are all important. He said there will be some blasting and they have to have pre-blast surveys in the area. Mr. Blais said he understands the concerns about the wells and also with the amount of traffic this will generate. He said their application will not trigger a traffic movement permit from the DEP. When they do anything on the commercial property, that will trigger the traffic movement study. He said there are a lot of studies to be done and things are very well monitored. He said they are just thinking ahead especially when the commercial use might happen. Mr. Blais said they are working with the Water District to extend the water and this would provide more options to other abutters to connect if they wanted to. He said they are looking hard at storm water and will clean it before it ever gets into the lake. He said they like these meetings and like to hear from others as to what concerns they may have. He said they like to have bigger lots, but also like the density of the smaller lots.
Mrs. Whittemore said someone had brought up a noise issue. Mr. Blais said the noise would probably come when the commercial use comes and that will be a whole different application. He said there are so many more regulations at the local levels and they need to all be looked at and addressed. He said he didn’t think the sub division would generate much noise at all. Mr. Benson said there will be noise in the construction phase, but that is only temporary and will go away.
Steve Pratt said it seems if they had public water they should have public sewer. He said the number of septic systems seems like they would over burden the ground and cause potential problems. Mr. Libby said that the septic systems in cluster sub divisions are developed so they do not fail. Mrs. Billington said that soils testing would be done extensively and some of the lots aren’t adequate to build on and the systems would need to be moved elsewhere. Mr. Libby said there are a lot of engineering studies done. Mrs. Billington said that these studies up the amounts that are paid for lots and this usually makes for better houses.
Mr. Benson invited the public to the workshop directly after the hearing. Mr. Leavitt said he thought it would be very beneficial for everyone at the meeting to stay and be informed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:33pm.