Standish Planning Board Meeting Minutes
Standish Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
November 05, 2018
The meeting of the Standish Planning Board was called to order by Acting Chair Charles Brown. Present were Pat Knight, Deborah Boxer, Adam Higgins, Jolene Whittemore, Roland Cloutier, Bud Benson Town Planner and Jackie Dyer, Admin. Assistant to the Town Planner and Planning Board.
Open Meeting
a. Call to order
b. Opening Statement from Planning Board Chairman
c. Declaration of a Quorum (6)
Approval of Meeting Minutes from October 01, 2018 & October 15, 2018
Mrs. Boxer made a motion seconded by Mrs. Whittemore to approve the October 01, 2018 Finding of Fact. 5 in favor with Mr. Higgins abstaining.
Mr. Cloutier made a motion seconded by Mrs. Boxer to approve the October 15, 2018 Finding of Fact. 4 in favor with Mr. Higgins and Mr. Brown abstaining.
Approval of Finding of Fact:
Steve Fallon, 125 Sucker Brook Road, Map 47, Lot 11-Shoreland Zoning
Mrs. Knight made a motion seconded by Mrs. Boxer to approve the Finding of Fact. 5 in favor with Mr. Higgins abstaining.
Standish Donuts, Inc., 30 Ossipee Trail East, Map 10, Lot 62- Site Plan Application to add a bypass lane
Mr. Cloutier made a motion seconded by Mrs. Whittemore to approve the Finding of Face. 4 in favor with Mr. Higgins and Mr. Brown abstaining.
Tom Daniels, 6 Apple Lane, Map 35, Lot 34 - Subdivision Amendment
Mr. Cloutier made a motion seconded by Mrs. Boxer to approve the Finding of Fact.4 in favor with Mr. Higgins and Mr. Brown abstaining.
Hearings:
a. Old Business:
Item #1 Acres of Wildlife Campground/Michael Baptista, Acres of Wildlife Rd., Map 11, Lots 1-4 -Site Plan Application
Elaine Burnham, co-owner, was present to represent Acres of Wildlife with her attorney. She said Andy Morrell was unable to be here as was her brother Michael. She said they are back before the Board and asking for approval for non-dwelling units in Phase One. Mr. Brown asked if she had gone through Mr. Benson’s memo and she said she had not. She said she knows the office building needs accurate measurements and plans but they are dealing with just the porch. Mr. Brown asked if the office and the canopy are the same and she said they are two different issues.
Elaine said the porch is external but attached and they are asking to do repairs and bring it up to code. She said the office porch is not the same one but is connected to the main building and grandfathered.
Mr. Brown said in Andy’s letter there are a list of structures in Phase One that need to be brought up to code. She said they have put them on the plan as added structures. She said they are looking for approval on the 3 log homes and the Watershed, plus the porch at the office. She said they are a basic structure without any water, kitchens, bathrooms etc. She said they are absolutely bare inside without anything. She said they would like full approval but are willing to take what they can get as they have added other structures onto the plan that haven’t been discussed yet. Mr. Brown says by the memo there are a number of items that need to be addressed. Elaine said that if there are other basic structures, they needed to be added to the plan as they are non-dwelling units. She said this had been suggested to them.
Mr. Benson said the office building appears to be over 10,000 square feet and they need plans that are accurate with accurate measurements. He said that this may trigger having to be sprinkled and that needs to be addressed before approval. A condition of approval could be crafted that the plan is accurate and needs to be addressed as. He said that he has some concerns and those might be better addressed in a workshop. Elaine said that she has some concerns also but she would like the hollow log homes approved more than anything else as it’s just a structure. She feels it can be approved easily as we have everything we need for those. She said she would also like the water storage approved and Mr. Brown asked her which water storage she was talking about as there are two listed.
She said it’s the one on Moose Hill and she said it’s the only one she remembers doing anything on. She said she feels its water storage #2. She said it has a large tank in it for storing extra water. She said it’s not the one behind the arcade. It’s located on Moose Hill and Raccoon Road. She said she and Michael went together to get the measurements of it. She said all of the tanks are the same size and the water structures are all built the same. Mr. Brown said we had two letters from the fire chief, one a while ago and a recent one dated October 31, 2018 regarding tank coverage. Elaine said the inside is a dirt floor, the one she is talking about which she called the Raccoon Watershed.
Mr. Higgins asked about the five structures they are looking for approval for. Elaine said they are looking for the porch on the main office and b ring it up to code plus the Hollow log homes across from the water. She said they have no kitchens and no bathroom facilities. Mr. Higgins said the office structure is his main concern and the size seems to be in excess of 10,000 square feet. He asked what her priority is right now and she said the Hollow Log homes. Elaine said they can remove the office building from any approval right now and put that in Phase Two.
Mr. Benson said on the site plan the buildings are called Hollow Log homes 1, 2, 3. Mr. Higgins asked if it would be okay to do a continuance in two weeks on November 19, 2018 and would that work. Elaine said yes and she would let Andy Morrell know. Mr. Benson asked if they could have the pages marked and then go over things. All of the Phase One structures would need to be removed from the plan, other than the ones they are looking for approval for, and put into Phase Two. Elaine said she is fine with that. The new information for the Board must be in by Tuesday, November 13, 2018. There will be a workshop on the 19th at 5:00pm and then a continued meeting after. Mrs. Whittemore asked if the Board was still considering the five structures tonight and Mr. Higgins said no. Mr. Brown said building plans are needed on the watershed structure. Mr. Benson said once the approval has been made they can submit their plans then. He said then Dan Hill can issue the permits for the structures. Mr. Benson said it seems they are okay with the hollow log homes and the watershed. He said they will need more information on the office before approval.
Mr. Geismar asked about the October 30, 2018 copy of the letter from the Fire Chief and said they did not get that and did not ask for it. Mr. Brown said the Fire Inspector did this letter. He wanted to know why they did not get a copy. Mr. Benson said the plans were received on October 29 and today is November 6, so not much time has gone by. Mrs. Dyer told him she had made a mistake and overlooked it. She told him that she would email him a copy of the letter.
Item# 1A Acres of Wildlife Campground/Michael Baptista, Acres of Wildlife Rd., Map 11-Application for a contract zone
This item will be tabled to the December 2018 meeting.
Item #2 Tom Daniels, Apple Lane/Village View, Map 35, Lot 34/Map 10, Lot6A-Subdivision Application (Brookstone)
Jason Vacciridis is present to represent the applicant. Mr. Benson said there is not a lot about this project on his memo as the information came in late. Jason said he knows the Board is familiar with the lot and he says they need a site walk. He said the item on the agenda before us is an extension of the subdivision. He said the lot is unique and interesting to engineer because of our form based code.
Jason said he will have another engineering design for the Board next week and there are some changes. He said they have designed drainage channels so it’s shown right on the lot line. He said the Board will see this when he submits the new plan. He said all of the lots have them, they will have two pump sites for septic and the rest will be gravity feed. On Lot 6 they have done a little bit of a different slope and have a slope on the rest of the lots as well, with all water runoff going to one point.
Jason said their goal is to get a site walk scheduled and a workshop also as the engineering will be done by then end of the week. He says they now know what the Town and the Board is looking for. Mr. Higgins said he is looking for a Saturday to do a site walk and it was scheduled for Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 10:00am. They will be doing a work shop on November 19th, 2018 at 6:15. They will meet at Apple Lane/Rt.35 at the end of the sub division road.
Item #3 St. Joseph’s College, White’s Bridge Road, Map 20, Lot 30-Final Approval
This was requested to be tabled until the next meeting. A motion was made by Mr. Higgins and seconded by Mr. Cloutier to table this application. All in favor. They will be on the agenda for the November 19 meeting, pending they have received approval from DEP.
New Business :
Item #4 Brian Leavitt, DBA Leavitt Earthworks, 191 Ossipee Trl.W, Map 10, Lot 11A-Site Plan Amendment for Change of Use to storage units
Larry Bastion from Terradyne Consultants and Brian Leavitt were both present. Larry gave an overview of the project, which he started out with their proposed project, the Highlands and where that will be and how it comes into play with this proposed change of use. He said they have had a workshop about The Highlands and how things fit in. He said they are looking at access for the parcel and what do they do and how can it be accessed? He said they can get access through a new drive, which would be the same access for the Highlands. This property was approved for commercial use back in 2004 but nothing ever happened. Now they are back with hopes of storage facilities.
Larry said the plan approved at the time said the building was a storage building but has also been used as Leavitt earthworks. He said that MDOT had some concerns with sight distances and came back with a recommendation to move the entrance and have a shared access. He said they determined they had one location MDOT would approve and this was 350 feet past the Leavitt Earthworks driveway already there. The existing Leavitt Earthworks driveway will eventually be eliminated. They would have just the access for Leavitt Earthworks through the entrance to The Highlands. This is a huge safety issue for all. The access would have to go through DOT for a driveway permit, but wouldn’t be issued unless they had a side entrance off the roadway.
Larry said they are just asking for a change of use so they can get the new driveway entrance established and this entrance they will use for The Highlands subdivision. He said that Brian will come in to the Town with his self-storage plan and also his plan for the water main, which will service the storage facilities and the existing building that he has now. In order for the driveway permit to be issued, they need the change of use to be approved. Larry said they will be back with a storage facility detailed plan at some point. He said they know they need to get into conformance with the condition of approval from back in 2004 about getting the sprinkler systems hooked up in the existing building. If this change of use is approved and the water main is put in, that will happen. Larry said one can’t happen without the other.
Larry said that he brought in a copy of an overview of The Highlands and where the water main will eventually run. He said the main will be brought in from the Oak Hill Road and extended to Route 25. They are close to submitting the final plans to the Portland Water District and having their letter of capacity from them. He said he can get more back ground information if needed.
Mr. Higgins asked Larry what the square footage would be on the storage facilities and he said they would be somewhere around 40,000 square feet. He said depending on how the buildings are configured they would need to be configured into establishing the proper road frontage and that would be for maybe 3 or 4 storage facilities. Mr. Higgins asked about cold storage and what did that mean. Mr. Bastion said that if he said cold storage, that was by mistake. These facilities will not be used to store food or anything other than furniture, household items, etc. They are self-storage units only. The shop building is intended to be climate control facilities with some storage and office space. Larry said that code does not allow for free standing self-storage buildings and they want to make something that is conventional and have different sizes available to be rented. He said they are looking in the range of 150-175 storage units, depending on square footage.
Mr. Higgins asked about road impact fees and Mr. Benson said there are none. He said this approval would only be for the already existing building. Mr. Higgins asked about the previous plan and approval from 2004. He said it looked like the option to have a sprinkler system completed and this wasn’t. Larry said the storage tank is there but the system is not active. With The Highlands on the horizon, running the water main would complete the project and have the sprinklers activated. He said there is nothing on the site right now, but they need the approval for the storage facility.
Mr. Benson said they could draft a condition of approval that the new use wouldn’t be final until the sprinkler system is activated. Larry said they would not use the storage facilities until they have the sprinkler system active. Mr. Brown asked for public comments, there were none. Mr. Benson said they could vote on this tonight and he has crafted a condition of approval where all of the other conditions are met besides M and K. Mr. Higgins said he is not interested in doing a final approval tonight.
Brian Leavitt spoke and said this whole project comes under one complete DEP permit. He said they would like to move things together and he said he realizes that the self-storage units can’t be used until they get final approval from DEP and also get the water lines run and connected. He said he is here because it takes so long for the processes to happen. He said he isn’t asking for any final approval, just the approval to be able to move forward. Mr. Brown said it’s called common scheme of development. Brian said it will take until at least spring to get the final plans in. Mr. Benson said there isn’t any construction taking place and this is just a change of use. He said it’s just allowing another use on the site and he was approved in 2004 with the existing building.
Mr. Benson said a condition could be crafted that they can’t use the building for storage until the place has the sprinklers hooked up. Mr. Benson said that they could say that” the building will not be used as a storage building until the building is sprinkled and approved by the State Fire Marshall’s office and the Town Fire Chief.” Mrs. Boxer made a motion for that condition to be added. Mrs. Knight seconded that motion and all in favor. Mr. Brown asked if the change of use would require a site plan and Mr. Benson said no as nothing with the building is changing. This is for the Leavitt Earthwork’s existing shop lot only. Mr. Benson said this would permit the applicant to create a use that the DOT has approved and then enable the applicant to change the driveway and create the new entrance for The Highland’s. Mr. Leavitt said that because of The Highland’s project, the driveway needs to be moved to the other side of the existing farmhouse, whether they do self-storage or not. . The plumbing business that is there also will have to use the new entrance when the time comes. Brian says that this also gives them much better site distance as they can see better down over the hill. He said they will probably have to tear the farmhouse down. Mr. Bastion said they will gain probably 250 feet in sight distance by making this change. He said that change allows much more site than the existing drive way and DOT would not have approved the project unless they made this change.
Mr. Brown asked about the existing roads and they were owned by Jim Cummings and did this affect anything? Mr. Leavitt said they sold off two house lots on Rt.25 that share a driveway and Gonyea’s plumbing bought the other lot with their storage building on it. He said there is no other access onto Rt.25 other than their already existing driveway. Mr. Cloutier asked if we had a motion and a second, Mr. Brown answered yes. Five for and one abstained from the vote. Application approved.
Other Business:
a. Public Hearings:
Item #5 Zoning Map Amendments for the following:
Tax map 5 Lot 71 Tax Map 5 Lot 70
Tax Map 10 Lots 23, 24, 24A, 24B, 25, 25A, 25-1, 25-3
Tax Map 14 Lot 20C
Tax Map 20 Lots 21,21A
Mr. Benson did the presentation for this public hearing and explained what each zoning change was and why this was being done. He did answer some questions for residents that came to the meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 8:26pm