Standish Planning Board Meeting Minutes
Standish Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
December 03, 2018
The meeting was called to order by Acting Chairman Charles Brown. Present were Deb Boxer, Roland Cloutier, Jolene Whittemore, Bud Benson, Town Planner and Jackie Dyer, Admin to the Town Planner and Planning Board. Absent were Adam Higgins and Patricia Knight.
Open Meeting
a. Call to order
b. Opening Statement from Planning Board Chairman
c. Declaration of a Quorum (4)
Approval of Meeting Minutes from November 05, 2018 and November 19, 2018
Mr. Cloutier made a motion seconded by Mrs. Whittemore to approve both of the meeting minutes. All in favor.
Approval of Finding of Fact:
St. Joseph’s College, White’s Bridge Road, Map 20, Lot 30-Site Plan Application
Mr. Cloutier made a motion seconded by Mrs. Boxer to approve the Finding of Fact. All in favor.
Acres of Wildlife, Acres of Wildlife Rd., Map 11, Lots 1-4-Site Plan Application
Mr. Cloutier made a motion to approve the Finding of Fact with the amended note that Mrs. Dyer made after the copies were distributed to Planning Board members. Mr. Cloutier said he just wanted to make this addition a point of clarity. Mrs. Whittemore seconded this motion. All in favor.
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 was present to represent herself and her brother Michael Baptista. She said they would like to go forward with Phase 2 and wasn’t sure if they needed a workshop. They would be coming forward with an activity storage room in Moody Field and a boat house screen room. She said they are trying to stay focused on the little things right now and the big things later. There are no septic’s involved, no water and no beds or cooking facilities. Elaine said she wasn’t sure if they needed a workshop or not and she would check with Andy Morrell to make sure everything would be in when it was supposed to be.
Mr. Benson said he felt it was a good idea to move forward and do Phase 2. He said that the items that didn’t have septic’s and water are good to move forward with for Phase 2. He said when the Board gets to the bunkhouses and such, hopefully the smaller things will all be taken care of. Mr. Benson said that Andy is working with DEP right now and they are overwhelmed with applications like everyone else. Elaine said she feels they need to move forward and the Board agreed. Andy will prepare something official for the next meeting on January 02, 2019. Motion to table by Mr. Cloutier and seconded by Mrs. Boxer. All in favor.
Item# 1A Acres of Wildlife Campground/Michael Baptista, Acres of Wildlife Rd., Map 11-Application for a contract zone-Tabled to January 7, 2019 meeting
b. New Business:
Item #3 Leavitt-Tompson, LLC, Map 10, Lot 11-Site Plan and Preliminary Subdivision Application- Highlands Subdivision (Between Oak Hill and Rt.25)
Jeff Amos was present to represent this application. He is an engineer for Teradyne Consultants and is here for Larry Bastion. He said he knows this will go to workshop but he will give a presentation of what they are proposing. He said this project consists of an 80 unit village housing section and also 18 single family lots with two extra lots that will house duplexes. This site is located in the Form Based Code District and that has defined their street types. Jeff said the single family house lots have the proximity to the street and the village housing has a 100 foot landscaped buffer and also includes the club house.
The club house will have the mail box kiosk and other things. The development will be served by its own water main, run from Oak Hill Road and coming all the way through. He said the plans before us are pretty much the final plans. There will be underground power run by CMP to service all of the lots. Each single family house will have its own septic but the village housing will have shared septic’s. There will be eleven group systems between 1000-1500 gallons per system. They have nothing over 2000 as that requires a much more rigorous engineered system.
The main road going into the first two plots are located close to property lines and they have storm water ponds for runoff to remove the extra nitrates coming from the tank. It also reduces the nitrates below the state limit. Jeff said they have five separate pods for roadways. They have worked for months with the DOT and concluded the Leavitt Earthworks entrance was not suitable for the traffic this will make and asked them to move it about *00 feet to the left, as its better sight distance.. This will mean that they remove the barn from the already existing farmhouse there. Having different roads throughout will make for better maintenance and also snow removal.
Jeff said there are five different storm water ponds located throughout the subdivision. He said these will allow for better water runoff. On the East side, it drains towards Sebago Lake and the South West drains towards the neighboring properties. They are trying to avoid any extra storm water draining onto just one property. There are some buffers with wooded areas and also a stone wall by one of the buffers. They are trying to be neighbor friendly and reduce flows across the board. He said these will all be reviewed by DEP. He asked for any questions. Mrs. Boxer asked about the pods and do they have basements or what. Jeff said most of the units have basements but some would be on a slab where the low elevations are. He said there are some on slabs but they will still have a place to do laundry as there will not be any type of laundry facility planned.
Mrs. Boxer asked about the site distance and the waivers listed going towards Town. Mr. Amos said the old plan didn’t have the correct sight distance listed but the new plan does. They had to have at least 800 feet for site distance per the State of Maine. Mr. Benson said that he had heard that the existing entrance, because of the required site distance, needed to have the barn torn down and slide the house a bit to the side. Jeff said that what he had heard was correct. Mr. Benson said that this is a big project and they needed to discuss going to a workshop as there are two water shed, the Saco River one and the Sebago Lake watershed also. He said they have a lot to discuss. A site walk was scheduled for the 17th at 3:30 and a workshop at 6:00pm. Andy said the surveyor will have some things staked out on the Oak Hill side of the property.
***The next item was out of order as we didn’t know the applicant was present as he was not in the room when called.***
Item #2 Tom Daniels, Apple Lane/Village View, Map 35, Lot 34/Map 10, Lot 6-A Subdivision Application (Brookstone Phase 2)
Andy Nadeau was present to represent the applicants. He said they understand they need to redesign the cul-de-sac and they have a plan to do so, plus they are going to shorten the road length. They are also considering pulling the hammer head back into the right of way. He said those are the two major revisions besides adding some storm water easements and they are also going to verify the density of the places where they are going to do the storm water run-off. Mr. Brown said the Town is asking for them to set up an escrow account of $3500.00 so they can get the road study done by Peter Tubbs. A motion was made by Mr. Cloutier and seconded by Mrs. Whittemore to have the applicant establish the escrow account. All in favor. Mr. Daniels said that he would come into Town Hall tomorrow to set that up. A workshop was scheduled for December 17, 2018 at 7:30pm.
Mr. Nadeau said they are looking for approval hopefully in January. Mr. Benson said this will depend on whether they trigger the DEP and also on Peter Tubbs doing the review of the road. He said he wouldn’t expect anything until February. Jason Vadis said that there will be no DEP permits triggered and he will drop off a set of plans to Bud soon.
Item #4 Edward Estey, DBA-Eddie’s Market, 1147 Pequawket Tr., Map 33, Lot 31-site plan application for change of use
Dawn Estey was present to represent her husband and herself. She said they are trying to do a change of use at the market so people can come in and sit down to eat. She said the summer months are really good but the winter is a struggle and they would like to entice more people to come in.
Mr. Palmer spoke on the behalf of the Estey’s and showed the plan proposal and what they would like to do. He said they have less retail space now and larger restaurant space available. He said they would like people to come and eat and have a beverage, which is something people can’t do now. Mr. Benson said the numbers originally were around 6 and now he is hearing 10. He told them that they need to show the number of seats and the reduction of the retail space on the plan. Mr. Palmer said when the State liquor inspector came in she said they could serve up to 40, but they know that’s not going to happen. Ed Estey spoke and he said the most he has seating for set up is 10. Mrs. Boxer asked about the numbers and was it because of the lack of parking?
Mr. Palmer showed the parking with three spaces 9x18 feet in the front and a possible 6-9 spaces on the side of the store off of Mill Street. Mr. Benson said that the parking requirements are one space for every 3 seats inside the restaurant. He said it’s hard to say how many parking spots are available when no survey has been done. Mr. Benson said they need to put all of the seats on the plan, the measurements of the retail space and the restaurant. He said the Board needs to see what is restaurant and what is retail space? He said they also need to show the parking plan on the table so they can clarify what it is they are asking for. Mr. Palmer said what they have on the plan is accurate through the formula they have used. He said if they have 5 parking spaces that would be enough for 15 seats. Dawn said they have the place set up with tables and they have 8 seats.
Mr. Benson said that one parking space is required for every three seats He said the retail space has to be on the plan and the reduction of the retail space for the additional use as a restaurant. Mr. Palmer said the retail space requires 4 and a half parking spaces and they have way over that. He said even if they have ten seats, it seems to him they have more than enough. Mr. Brown asked about the retail space and Mr. Palmer said he thinks it is a 24 x 26 space which is 624 square feet. He said some of the coolers are built in and Mr. Brown asked him if they are being counted as retail space.
Mr. Brown said he felt they needed to see what the retail space was measured at and then would see if they had enough parking spaces. Mr. Cloutier said the plan needs to be more detailed as to how much retail space they have and how much restaurant space there actually is. Mr. Palmer said the built in coolers go back into the storage room and Mr. Brown said they need the measurements of those too minus a 3 foot space in front of them. Mr. Brown and Mr. Cloutier both said that a workshop is needed. Mr. Benson said they need to identify everything and all measurements, parking spaces, etc. on the plan. He told Mr. Estey to come into the office and he would work with them. Mr. Brown said they need everything laid out on the plan. Mrs. Whittemore asked about the parking in front as Mr. Palmer had said they might be able to get a fourth space in there and then another one added to the parking out back. Mr. Palmer said he didn’t feel the added spaces would be necessary. Mr. Cloutier said a workshop is in order.
Mr. Benson said that if they found some property markers that might help identify the property better without doing a survey. Mrs. Estey said that she has walked around the property and the abutting properties and hasn’t found one marker. She said they know one of the boundaries is the railroad, but nothing across Mill Street or anywhere else. Mrs. Dyer spoke and said that she felt that the Estey’s had brought life back to the store. She said that she feels that this has been a great addition to the neighborhood and with some work on this project, they can make this work. She said that Steep Falls really has nothing during the winter and she hopes they can work on this and keep the market going.
A workshop was scheduled for Monday, December 17, 2018.
Other Business:
c. Public Hearings:
Item #5 AMENDMENTS TO STANDISH TOWN CODE, CHAPTER 181, LAND USE, REGARDING DWELLING UNITS
Mr. Benson said this has to do with dwellings and everything in this will start with the word Dwelling and be easier to find when looking for this. He went through what is allowed and what isn’t as far as single, two family and three family dwellings. He went through Village Center dwellings and said that more than three will trigger subdivision. He said most of the time the Code Officer is looking for single family dwellings and duplexes. Mr. Brown said this is better as it clarifies what is allowed and what isn’t. There were no public comments.
A motion was made to adjourn and seconded. All in favor