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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-11-05 Planning Board Minutes PLANNING BOARD OF THE CITY OF BANGOR MEETING OF NOVEMBER 5, 2013 MINUTES Board Members Present: Andrew Sturgeon, Chairman Paul Bolin Charles Boothby Doug Damon John Kenney John Miller Wayne Mallar, Alternate Member Julie Williams City Staff Present: David Gould Peter Witham Paul Nicklas, Assistant City Solicitor Tanya Emery, Director of Community and Economic Development Chairman Sturgeon called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Damon had questions regarding Item No. 1 and asked that it be removed from the Consent Agenda for discussion. Mr. Boothby moved to approve Items 2 and 3 on the Consent Agenda. Member Williams seconded the motion and the Board voted unanimously to approve Items #2 and #3 on the Consent Agenda. Those items were: Item No. 2: Site Development Plan approval to replace a 250 sq. ft. storage trailer with a 600 sq. ft. storage building at 1105 Hammond Street in a General Commercial and Service District. Timothy M. Leadbetter, applicant. Item No. 3: Site Location of Development Modification approval for building and site renovations at Building #92 on Maine Avenue. City of Bangor Airport Department, applicant. 2 Item No. 1: Site Development Plan approval to create a flag lot at 300 Burleigh Road in a Rural Residence and Agricultural District. Dennis and Brenda Beaulieu, applicants. Chairman Sturgeon asked the applicant to go over his application. Mr. Dennis Beaulieu, 267 Burleigh Road, indicated that he was hoping to divide the excess land he had on Burleigh Road into a buildable lot as his neighbor had an interest in building a house there. Mr. Beaulieu noted the land lacked sufficient frontage to create a new lot without flag lot approval from the Board. Chairman Sturgeon asked if Planning Officer Gould could explain the details of the proposed flag lot. Mr. Gould noted that the plan presented is somewhat confusing due to the prior division of the lot that created a lot with two points of frontage on Burleigh Road and are connected by a narrow strip of land. Mr. Gould noted that Mr. Beaulieu has an existing house on the large portion of the lot which is accessed via a 75-foot wide strip of land. While it looks like a flag lot, it is not, as it is physically connected to a 2-acre plus parcel with over 200 feet of frontage on Burleigh Road. The proposal is to create a flag lot from that parcel that will contain 2.46 aces and 50 feet of road frontage. With only 50 feet of frontage it can only be approved as a flag lot. Normally, the length of the access strip is longer and it looks more like a flag pole, but in this instance it's not required as there is no lot immediately in front of it. Mr. Beaulieu will need to retain the 187 feet of frontage to a depth of 40 feet to maintain the frontage and lot width for his home even though it is somewhat removed from this location. Mr. Bolin moved approval of the proposed flag lot. Mr. Miller seconded the motion and the Board voted unanimously to grant Site Development Plan approval to create a flag lot at 300 Burleigh Road in a Rural Residence and Agricultural District. Dennis and Brenda Beaulieu, applicants. PUBLIC HEARINGS Item No. 4: Contract Zone Change request from a General Commercial and Service District, Urban Service District, and Urban Residence 2 District to Contract Bass Park District at 76 Dutton Street. City of Bangor and Banres, LLC, applicants. C. O. #13-350. Chairman Sturgeon asked to be excused as his firm, James W. Sewall Company, is working on the project. The Board voted to excuse Member Sturgeon and Vice Chairman Damon presided over Item No 4. Mr. Kenney asked to be excused as he also works for a firm doing work on the project (WBRC Architects-Engineers). The Board voted to excuse Mr. Kenney. Vice Chairman Damon asked Alternate Member Mallar to vote on this item. 3 Vice Chairman Damon opened the Public Hearing and asked for proponents. P. Andrew Hamilton, representative of Banres, LLC, introduced various members of the team that would be presenting the project. Mr. Rob Frank with WBRC Architects-Engineers reviewed the initial concept plan for the site and reviewed various site elements, such as parking, buffers and circulation. Mr. William Dean of 44 March Street indicated that he was in favor of the project and thought it may increase the value of his property. No one spoke in opposition to the request. Vice Chairman Damon closed the Public Hearing and asked for Staff comments. Planning Officer David Gould indicated that contract rezoning complicates the standard rezoning request as the Board must sort out the contract conditions, as well as, the land use implications. The application before the Board is further complicated by it being a City-owned parcel with a specific development agreement with conditions not included within the contract. Mr. Gould noted that the Bass Park District is not radically different in terms of land use, in fact, fewer heavy commercial land uses are allowed than in the General Commercial & Service District. What the Bass Park District does is add tremendous development flexibility in terms of height, parking, setbacks, and other basic development requirements. Most all of that flexibility was included to facilitate the event center location and parking constraints. The contract deals with some of those issues with contract conditions requiring 120 parking spaces and insuring tall buildings will not be located in close proximity to the residential boundary along the southwest property line. Mr. Gould did note that there was some concern in rezoning the URD-2 portion of property as it immediately abuts the residential neighborhood. However, much of the land is the embankment from the upper parking lot and is limited in its ease of redevelopment. Access to, and traffic through, March Street is a concern and the City has had limited success in maintaining those restrictions at other sites. Mr. Gould noted that as the Board is aware, their recommendation to the City Council is largely limited to a positive or negative recommendation. The Board cannot add additional contract conditions or rewrite those contained in the application. With that in mind, while there are some elements that could be tweaked, as a whole, the rezoning provides a foundation for a good project, one that benefits both the Event Center and the hotel. Member Boothby indicated that he was concerned that the most accessible parking area at the Event Center would be lost. Tanya Emery, Director of Community and Economic Development, indicated that the parking area was always seen as a future development site and other accommodations would be made to serve those with mobility limitations. 4 Ms. Williams asked if other adjacent properties could request Bass Park Zoning. Mr. Gould noted that is always a consideration in granting any rezoning. Member Williams moved to recommend approval of the contract rezoning request contained in C.O. #13-350 to the City Council. Member Miller seconded the motion. The Board voted five in favor and one opposed to recommend to the City Council that the contract zone change request as contained in C.O. # 13-350 be approved. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Item No. 5: Planning Board Approval of Minutes. Chairman Sturgeon indicated that the Minutes of the October 15, 2013 Meeting were in order. Mr. Bolin moved to approve the Minutes of the October 15, 2013 meeting. Mr. Kenney seconded the motion, which carried unanimously. There being no further items for discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.