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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-06-18 Planning Board Minutes PLANNING BOARD OF THE CITY OF BANGOR MEETING OF JUNE 18, 2013 MINUTES Board Members Present: Andy Sturgeon, Chairman Paul Bolin Charles Boothby Doug Damon John Kenney Wayne Mallar, Alternate Member John Miller City Staff Present: David Gould Peter Witham Chairman Sturgeon called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. In the absence of Member Williams, Alternate Member Mallar was asked to vote. NEW BUSINESS Item No. 1: Final Subdivision Plan Revision approval to amend the Covenants relative to land use limitations and trip generation for the Oak Ridge Subdivision located on Ridgewood Drive in a General Commercial and Service District. Dr. Bernhoff Dahl, applicant. Nathan Dane, Esq., representing the applicant, explained that this project originally proposed 46,000 sq. ft. of retail use, 34,500 sq. ft. of medical office use and 34,500 sq. ft. of general office use and based on this assumption the applicant had a traffic study done. However, this is not the way that the subdivision has been developed over the last 20 years. Because of the shift in use to medical office this should have been addressed 20 years ago when the development took a different path. 2 Mr. Dane indicated that an amended declaration of restrictions for the subdivision has already been recorded reflecting this change. The applicant is now seeking final subdivision revision approval to account for this shift in use. Planning Officer Gould explained that review of a recent site development plan for a medical office building uncovered that the original traffic study done for this subdivision was based upon a traffic model of what the future development would be. It was brought to Staff’s attention that off-site traffic improvements under this assumption were done in anticipation of that build out. The applicant paid impact fees in advance of the build out and a number of years went by and many people forgot about those details until it was brought to Staff’s attention with a renewed interest in the business park. In order to fix this it was necessary to go back and look at the traffic model that was designed and reassign the land use limitations in terms of floor area. Another issue facing the applicant is how to distribute that floor area among the different lots. Tom Gorrill with Gorrill Palmer Associates calculated and reassigned the trips without increasing the traffic demand of the overall subdivision. Planning Officer Gould indicated that if the Board finds that this meets the standards, a new draft findings document has been prepared, and the applicant is requesting a revision to the final subdivision plan. Staff also asked that a note be placed on the subdivision plan that would notify any potential buyers of any private restrictions that relate to the other limitations within the subdivision. Staff recommended that the Board approve the amendment to the Final Subdivision Plan to amend the covenants related to land use limitations and trip generation and approve the draft Findings of Fact. Chairman Sturgeon asked if the prior lot owners needed to consent to this amendment. Mr. Dane indicated that Dr. Dahl retained the right to approve any improvements. Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Final Subdivision Plan Revision to amend the covenants related to land use limitations and trip generation for the Oak Ridge Subdivision located on Ridgewood Drive in a General Commercial and Service District. Mr. Boothby seconded the motion. The Board voted 7 to 0 in favor of the motion. Item No. 2: Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification approvals to construct a seven-story patient tower and associated utility and service areas at 489 State Street in a Government & Institutional Service District. Eastern Maine Medical Center, applicant. Mr. Bolin indicated that he had a conflict of interest as he is employed by the applicant. Mr. Miller disclosed that he is a Trustee on the Board of Directors for Eastern Maine Medical Center. Chairman Sturgeon indicated that in the past the Board has found that Mr. Bolin did have a conflict of interest and Mr. Miller did not. Mr. Damon moved that Mr. Bolin has a conflict of interest. Mr. Boothby seconded the motion which 3 passed by a vote of 6 to 0. Mr. Kenney moved that Mr. Miller has a conflict of interest. Mr. Damon seconded the motion. The Board voted 0 in favor and 5 opposed to the motion. Therefore, the Board determined that Mr. Miller did not have a conflict of interest. Joseph D’Antuono, Project Executive, introduced to the Board Mr. Doug Rice, P.E. from Wright Pierce, Jason Carney, Project Architect from Morris Switzer, Joel Farley, Director of Facilities and Jeff Mylen, Director of Construction with Eastern Maine Medical Center and Andrew Hamilton, Esq. with Eaton Peabody who were all present representing the applicant. Jason Carney gave a brief overview of the hospital’s development and a history of the project. He also discussed the uses for the various levels of the proposed patient tower. He indicated that both the Stetson Building and the building that previously housed Cancer Care of Maine will be demolished. Mr. Kenney asked the applicant’s representatives to explain the site issues in relation to the Land Development Code and Site Location of Development. Mr. Rice discussed the lot coverage, and the 250 foot shoreland zone line that follows the shore’s edge. He explained that in that zone they are allowed to have a 70% impervious surface area. Currently under predevelopment conditions, the impervious surface area is at 65%. With the redevelopment of the main entrance and the redevelopment along the river they traded areas so that along the river they have reduced the impervious surface area to 64%. Overall, in the balance of the removal of the two buildings and the footprint of the new structure there is a slight decrease of the impervious surface on the overall site. He discussed the proposed bufferyard and landscaping. They have created a more maneuverable area along the river side of the project for emergency vehicles in the event that they are needed. Their floor area ratio is proposed at .20 so they still have more room for growth. Mr. Rice indicated that with the number of spaces available they exceed their parking requirement by 148 spaces after this project is constructed. Mr. Rice also discussed traffic and indicated that the proposed expansion will create approximately 72 trips in the peak hour which is below the threshold to have to go for an alteration to their existing approved Traffic Movement Permit Mr. Rice discussed the stormwater system. They previously installed stormwater separators where the stormwater enters, prior to it being discharged. A large percentage of the stormwater discharges directly through existing pipes along the river. A lot of it goes through a grass filter strip and they have an area preserved for some other type of stormwater treatment in the future in the event that some of this other reserved capacity for development is used. They are presently taking ½ acre of pervious pavement for stormwater treatment which is similar to what was used on the riverfront facility. He indicated that the project is well within the limits of all the requirements of the ordinance and they still have space to grow, spare parking, and spare impervious space. 4 Mr. Damon asked about the passageway down by the concrete barrier wall and if people would still be entering above the barrier wall up along the river. Mr. Rice indicated that this is for maintenance only. Mr. Damon asked if this has been modeled for a mass tragedy. Mr. Rice indicated that shortly after the parking garage was constructed it was felt that it was not a good idea to have only one entrance. They then built a construction entrance (along Hancock Street) that can also be used as a secondary access point. Chairman Sturgeon asked Art Morgan, City Engineer, to give his review of this project. Mr. Morgan indicated that the applicant addressed the City’s concerns and it is a vast improvement in traffic flow over what it has been in the past. They have addressed stormwater treatment and Staff feels it is an improvement in the quality treatment over what it has been in the past but there are limits as to what they can do based on the total area that they are disturbing. They also have made provisions for future stormwater treatment and Mr. Morgan indicated that he feels that they have done a very good job at this. Chairman Sturgeon then asked for Staff comments. Planning Officer Gould noted that a prior Site Development Plan revision was approved subject to the applicant addressing the retaining wall at the back of the site before they could make this application. At the time, the existing Fire Chief was very concerned about fire trucks entering onto State Street where there was no signal to give them guidance as to when it was safe to go or not. We’ve had discussions with the hospital to make sure that this is part of the plan. Being on the Penobscot River the Railroad property was zoned P & O which creates a transition between the hospital and the riverfront. When they received approval of their utility corridor there were three conditions of approval: 1) Staff didn’t want them to pave this back corridor at the time because there still was an issue of working out what would be an adequate buffer; 2) there was an issue of what would the stormwater treatment be as they are going to add a lot of pavement at that rear edge and they have come up with the idea to propose porous pavement as a water quality treatment; and 3) that ambulances not be allowed to back out to State Street. Mr. Gould noted that the applicant submitted a letter from a Traffic Engineer who evaluated the overall traffic impact such that for ambulances to come out to State Street they will rework that signal to allow them to stop oncoming traffic so that they may enter and exit. Mr. Gould gave a history of development of the EMMC Site since it was Eastern Maine General Hospital. The new modernization does not create any new beds at the hospital but it does recognize that the old model of shared rooms, two people in a room isn’t a model that they wish to continue to use at the hospital. Mr. Sturgeon noted how the hospital complex has changed since his first visit in 1969 and he said that EMMC and their consultants have done a good job. 5 Mr. Kenney agreed but expressed his concerns regarding the stormwater treatment. He indicated that he couldn’t tell from the calculations provided if the standards were met for SLODA. He asked what is existing, what is proposed, how much is existing, and how much is proposed. As a site project all of it should be treated according to the general standards to 95% impervious, 80% developed to the greatest extent practicable as determined by the department (DEP). He asked if DEP has signed off on this. Mr. Doug Rice explained their proposed stormwater treatment. He indicated that he felt that as designed it was to the best extent practical of these three acres. He explained the areas of pavement that they are converting to porous pavement, the addition of hoods on outlets, and the oil water separators. Jeff Allen from the Engineering Department indicated that the Planning Division sent a copy of the plans to Mr. Ken Libby the Stormwater Engineer at the local DEP office. Mr. Libby recognized the maximum extent practical was really the goal and the 95% was not likely to be attainable. In this case, Mr. Rice understood that this was not likely attainable. Although he did not have anything in writing from DEP he provided Mr. Rice’s comments to DEP and he has not had a response back from them. Mr. Allen indicated that 17% of the developed area that the porous pavement is covering is also treating other areas so the number is probably higher than 17 but it doesn’t approach the 95%. That would be a difficult standard to meet because some of the impervious areas are not a change in use as it is a redevelopment area. Mr. Kenney was concerned about Mr. Libby’s e-mail and asked if this was the maximum that can be done on this site for Mr. Libby to be comfortable with. Mr. Allen noted that while the City did not have a letter from Mr. Libby, DEP gave the City delegated authority to review this project and determine the maximum extent practical. Mr. Damon asked how they proposed to handle a catastrophe on the campus that would have a major rupture of a gas tank. Mr. Rice indicated that any of the storage tanks on site have the double containment that’s required. All of the precautions required by the DEP have been taken care of. Mr. Damon moved to approve the Site Development Plan and Site Location of Development Modification applications to construct a seven-story patient tower and associated utility and service areas at 489 State Street in a Government and Institutional Service District for Eastern Maine Medical Center, applicant. Mr. Boothby seconded the motion. The Board voted 6 in favor and 0 opposed to the motion. 6 APPROVAL OF MINUTES Item No. 3: Planning Board Approval of Minutes. Chairman Sturgeon indicated that the Minutes of the May 21, 2013 and June 4, 2013 meetings were in order. Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Minutes of both noted meetings. Mr. Miller seconded the motion. The Board voted 7 to 0 in favor of the motion. There being no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m.