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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-11-06 Planning Board Minutes PLANNING BOARD OF THE CITY OF BANGOR MEETING OF NOVEMBER 6, 2012 MINTUES Board Members Present: Miles Theeman, Chairman Paul Bolin John Kenney John Miller Andy Sturgeon Julie Williams City Staff Present: David Gould Peter Witham Chairman Theeman called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Sturgeon indicated that he has a conflict with Items No. 3 and No. 4 on the Consent Agenda as his employer is the firm who prepared the plans. Mr. Kenney indicated that he has a conflict of interest with Items No. 1 and No. 2 as he is employed by the firm who did the plans for these items. Ms. Williams moved that both Mr. Sturgeon and Mr. Kenney have conflicts of interest on the items on the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Miller and it passed by a vote of 4 to 0. Both were excused from voting. Chairman Theeman then asked for a motion. Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Miller. The Board voted 4 to 0 in favor of the motion. The items approved are as follows: Item No. 1: Site Development Plan approval to renovate and expand the existing parking lots and other site improvements located at 140 Hancock Street in a Multi-Family and Service District. Bangor Housing Authority, applicant. Item No. 2: Site Development Plan approval to construct an 874 sq. ft. community building and other site improvements at 194 Griffin Road in a High Density Residential District. Bangor Housing Authority, applicant. 2 Item No. 3: Site Development Plan approval of a revision to an approved 14- space parking lot addition located at 120 Court Street in a Multi- Family and Service District. Prentiss & Carlisle, applicant. Item No. 4: Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification approvals to construct a 33-space parking lot adjacent to Caribou Hall located at 307 Maine Avenue in a Government and Institutional Service District. University of Maine, applicant. PUBLIC HEARINGS Item No. 5: Conditional Use and Site Development Plan approvals to create 600 sq. ft. of office space in the existing building located at 331 Hammond Street in a Contract Multi-Family and Service District. John Karnes, III, applicant. Chairman Theeman opened the Public Hearing and asked for comments from the applicant. Mr. John Karnes explained the he is requesting approval to create 600 sq. ft. of office space within the attached garage portion of the building at 331 Hammond Street. He indicated that this is a 6 unit building and the addition of 600 sq. ft. of office space will not change the footprint of the building as the area is presently being used for storage. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the request. The Chairman closed the Public Hearing and asked for Staff comments. Planning Officer Gould explained that the applicant is requesting Conditional Use and Site Development Plan approvals to convert 600 sq. ft. of area to office space within a portion of the building located at 331 Hammond Street in a Contract Multi-Family and Service District. Mr. Gould indicated that in July, the Board recommended approval of a contract zone change which provided for six units and up to 900 sq. ft. of office space in this building. Also Board granted Final Subdivision Plan approval to give this building its own parcel. The dilemma on this former Seminary site is parking. The redevelopment of the former Seminary property has gone extremely well with the types of uses that presently exist. However, the dilemma has been parking. The applicant is proposing to provide two parking spaces to meet the needs for the 600 sq. ft. of office space use. While this is an historic structure and has been before and received approval by the Historic Preservation Commission, the Board still needs make a determination as to whether it is architecturally compatible with the surrounding structures under the conditional use standards. Traffic generation from 600 sq. ft. of office space will be extremely low. Staff finds that the applicant has met the other Ordinance standards for conditional use review and the submittal requirements. Staff indicated that if the Board found that the application meets the standards for conditional use then it would recommend conditional use and site development plan approvals. Mr. Theeman asked if there was sufficient parking because of the piece meal approach to redevelopment. Planning Officer Gould indicated that in this case because of the small 3 area proposed for office use and the fact that the applicant is provided two on-site parking spaces he did not feel that this would be a problem. Ms. Williams noting that the Historic Preservation Commission has approved the exterior changes to the building indicated that she felt that Mr. Karnes has done an exceptional job on this project. There being no further discussion, Chairman Theeman asked for a motion. Mr. Sturgeon moved to approve the Conditional Use and Site Development Plan for 331 Hammond Street for John Karnes, III, applicant. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The motion passed by a vote of 6 to 0. NEW BUSINESS Item No. 6: Site Development Plan approval to construct a 960 sq. ft. building for office use at 58 Bennett Street in an Urban Industry District. Down East Emulsions, LLC, applicant. Planning Officer Gould indicated that Staff recommended that this item be continued as there were still some outstanding issues. Mr. Kenney moved to continue this item. Ms. Williams seconded the motion, which passed by a vote of 6 to 0. Item No. 7: Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification approvals to add a 36-space parking lot near the NESCOM building and a walkway to the building; a 16-space parking lot expansion east of Bell Hall, and to add a sidewalk between Carlisle Hall and Hart Hall at the Husson University campus in a Government and Institutional Service District. Husson University, applicant. Mr. Sturgeon indicated that he has a conflict of interest on this item as his firm prepared the plans for this project. Ms. Williams moved that Mr. Sturgeon has a conflict of interest. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The Board voted 5 to 0 in favor. Mr. Aaron Shaw, P.E. with James W. Sewall Company, represented the applicant. He explained that this is a request to add a 36-space parking lot near the NESCOM building, a 16-space parking lot expansion east of Bell Hall and a sidewalk and walkway. Mr. Shaw discussed the details of the various elements of the plan which he broke down into four areas and the Site Location of Development Modification application. John Rubino, Vice President of Administration with Husson University and Jefferson Davis, Landscape Architect with James W. Sewall Company, were also present in support of this application. Mr. Bolin asked what the intended purpose was for the 36 parking spaces. Mr. Shaw indicated that it was primarily for use of the NESCOM building but he would expect with some events that it would be used for overflow parking for the Gracie Theatre. 4 Planning Office Gould indicated that the request before the Board depicts four areas (A thru D) which include a new parking lot, expansion of parking by Bell Hall, and two reconfigured walkway areas. All changes for Husson University also need Site Location of Development Act Modification approval. Mr. Gould noted that back in 2005 the University planned their stormwater improvements to accommodate future impervious expansion. Since that modeling was done as they add parking lots, this area is subtracted from that banked impervious area. Mr. Gould indicated that Staff feels that the proposed improvements meet the Ordinance and submittal requirements for both Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification approvals and recommended approval. There being no comments, Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification at One College Circle for Husson University, applicant. Ms. Williams seconded the motion. The Board voted 5 in favor and 0 opposed. Item No. 8: Final Subdivision Plan approval of a 7-lot subdivision located at 125 Fern Street and 166 Pearl Street in a Contract Multi-Family and Service District. Bangor Steam Laundry, LLC, applicant. Mr. Bob Kelly with Bangor Steam Laundry, LLC explained that they are proposing a 7- lot subdivision at the site of the former laundry at 125 Fern Street and 166 Pearl Street to construct energy efficient, single-family homes. On Lot 7 there presently is a three-unit apartment house. Long-term they plan to remove that three-unit building and replace it with a single-family house. For now, they plan to rent it as a three-unit. Mr. Bolin had a question about the one-foot strip of open space proposed along the property line of Lot 7. Mr. Kelly explained that this connects to a small out piece that is approximately 2,000 sq. ft. in area which allows Lot 7 to meet the yard requirements of a three-unit building (which requires more square footage than does a single-family home). Their intention is to convert Lot 7 to a single-family dwelling. In doing so, they won’t need that type of set up to meet yard requirements for that lot. It is their intention to deed this area to the adjacent neighbor when they convert Lot 7 to a single-family use. When this happens, it will conform to a more traditional layout. Board Members discussed maintenance of this area. Mr. Kelly indicated that presently it is being maintained by the owner of Lot 79 who has a garden there. Chairman Theeman asked for Staff comments. Planning Officer Gould noted that the Board granted Preliminary Plan approval a month ago. It was known at that time that there was an existing three-unit building on Lot 7. There was thought that this smaller lot area might be grandfathered. The Code Office came to the conclusion that it was not grandfathered and they needed to add more land to Lot 7 to make it a conforming lot. This explains the configuration of the lotting on the plan. The other discussion item was the depiction of open space on the subdivision. The Land Development Code calls for 5% of the area to be set aside for open space. The Board usually wants to see where the open space is on the plan. The applicant is proposing in conjunction with Lot 7 its connection to the 1900 5 sq. ft. to meet the requirement for open space. It is an unusual layout for a lot. If in fact they demolish the building on Lot 7, the minimum lot area will decrease and they won’t need the additional land. If the Board finds this acceptable, Staff felt that the Final Subdivision Plan meets Ordinance requirements. Mr. Sturgeon indicated that as proposed the plan indicates the overall concept of what the applicant intends. Mr. Kenney felt that this is a creative approach for this parcel and felt it was a great project for Bangor. Ms. Williams agreed indicating that she felt that this is a cleaver solution. Chairman Theeman asked for a motion. Mr. Sturgeon moved that the Board approve the Final Subdivision Plan for a 7-lot subdivision located at 125 Fern Street and 166 Pearl Street in a Contract Multi-Family and Service District for Bangor Steam Laundry, LLC, applicant. Mr. Kenney seconded the motion. The Board voted 6 to 0 in favor of the motion. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Item No. 9: Planning Board Approval of Minutes. Chairman Theeman indicated that the Minutes of the October 16, 2012 meeting were in order. Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Minutes of the October 16, 2012 Meeting as printed. Mr. Miller seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Other Business Planning Officer Gould noted the upcoming MMA Planning Board Workshop on th Thursday, November 8 and indicated that there were three slots available for those who wished to attend. Planning Officer Gould noting that the end of the year was fast approaching asked Board Members if there were any issues they would like Staff to look at regarding ordinance amendments to address situations that the Board has come across this year. If so, he would like to bring them before the Board for a preliminary discussion prior to initiating the formal process for ordinance amendments. He indicated that Staff had been working on two areas. One regarding flag lots as staff has struggled with some of the language for clarification, and the other one regarding district boundaries where commercial/industrial lots abut residential lots. Staff would like to get input from the Board prior to initiating the formal process. It was the consensus of the Board to discuss this at their next meeting. There being no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.