HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-01-16 Planning Board Minutes
PLANNING BOARD OF THE CITY OF BANGOR
TH
, 2018, 7:00 P.M.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 16
THIRD FLOOR COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
MEETING MINUTES
Board Members Present: Charles Boothby, Chairman
Ted Brush
Nelson Durgin
Phyllis Guerette
Steve Hicks
Ken Huhn
Peter Parizo
City Staff Present: David Gould, Planning Officer
John Theriault, City Engineer
Paul Nicklas, Asst. City Solicitor
Sean Gambrel, Planning Staff
Planning Officer Gould called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
1.Welcome New Planning Board Members
Planning Officer David Gould Introduced and welcomed two new members of the Planning
Board, Mr. Ted Brush and Mr. Ken Huhn.
2.Election of Officers for 2018
Member Guerette nominated Charles Boothby as Planning Board Chair. Member Durgin
seconded the motion. Mr. Boothby was elected chair unanimously.
Member Boothby nominated Nelson Durginas Planning Board Vice Chair. Member Guerette
seconded the motion. Mr. Durginwas elected Vice Chair unanimously.
PUBLIC HEARING
3.Amending Chapter 165 –116.Minor Revisions–Allowing the reduction of parking
to not less than required by codeas aMinor Revision (Staff review) C.O. #18-082.
Assistant City Solicitor Paul Nicklas presented the ordinance change to the Board. Mr. Nicklas
stated that this was a very straightforward amendment to allow a reduction of parking spaces
on a site through the Minor Revision process, so long as the amount of parking on the site was
still at or greater than the minimum required for the use. Currently parking is listed as an item
that cannot be changed via the Minor Revision process and this amendment is to remove that
clause.
Mr. Nicklas described the Minor Revision process to the board, specifically noting that approval
of a Minor Revision requires the signature of the Planning Officer, the City Engineer, and the
Code Enforcement Officer, and that any one of these three can choose not to sign the Minor
Revision and thereby send the project to the Board for review.
Mr. Nicklas added that the Minor Revision process did not include public notice or abutter notice
and that the process could be completed in a matter of days, rather than a matter of weeks,
which is valuable to many applicants.
There were no questions or comments from the Board.
Chair Boothby opened the public hearing. There were no comments for or against the
proposal. Chair Boothby closed the public hearing.
Member Huhn moved to approve the ordinance amendment as presented by Mr. Nicklas.
Member Durgin seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
4.Land Development Permit Application –Site Development Plan –1070 Hammond
Street, AMERCO Real Estate Co., d.b.a. U-Haul Moving and Storage; construction of
two (2) 235 s.f. building additions to house enclosed stairwells in a General
Commercial & Service District (GC&S).
Member Parizo stated that he felt he had a conflict of interest on this project. The board voted
unanimously in agreement. Mr. Parizo left the room.
Silas Canavan of Walsh Engineering introduced the project, which is for the construction of two
stair towers on an existing building on the U-Haul site. These stair towers are to serve as
egress for the second floor as it has been renovated. Each of the towers will be located on
existing impervious surface and will each be roughly 235 sq. ft. in size. The new stair towers
have been connected to site sidewalks.
Member Guerette inquired about the initial Conditional Approval and why it was included in this
proposal, since it seemed irrelevant to the stair towers. Planning Officer Gould answered that
the revised Site Plan will become the authoritative document for the site and if the Board wants
to retain the original condition, it should be included on this proposal as well.
Chair Boothby opened the public hearing. There were no comments for or against the
proposal. Chair Boothby closed the public hearing.
Member Durgin moved approval of the applicationwith the original condition attached..
Member Huhn seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
5.Planning Board Approval of Minutes
Planning Board Minutes from January 2, 2018 were approved unanimously, noting a few minor
misspellings.
6.Other Business
Assistant City Solicitor Paul Nicklas provided the annual Board training, focusing on best
practices for meeting procedure and deliberation. Mr. Nicklas offered a copy of his notes to
any member of the Board who would like them.
Planning Officer Gould distributed the 2018 Meeting schedule, noting that there will be no
meeting in early July as the meeting would fall in close proximity to the Independence Day
holiday.
Planning Officer Gould also mentioned that there are upcoming MMA workshops that board
members may find useful, and that if any board member wished to attend, the City could
cover their expenses. Chair Boothby relayed that he had attended these workshops and found
them valuable.
Chair Boothby stated that he would like to discuss the policy of the board voting on individual
members’ conflicts of interest. He stated that he would like to discuss this item at a later
meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:30pm.