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Home My WebLink About2021-08-17 Planning Board Minutes PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2021, 7:00 P.M. CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS Board Members Present: Ken Huhn, Chair Reese Perkins, Vice Chair Mike Bazinet Ted Brush Ronda Hogan Don Meagher Lisa Shaw City Staff Present: Anja Collette, Planning Analyst Anne Krieg, Planning Officer Joshua Saucier, Asst. City Solicitor John Theriault, City Engineer Chair Huhn called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. LAND DEVELOPMENT PERMITS 1. Site Development Plan – 1135 Hammond Street – Map-Lot R18-021-C – General Commercial & Service (GC&S) District – Applicant, New, LLC c/o Rick Varney; Agent, Plymouth Engineering c/o Fred Marshall, PE - Land Development Permit Application for Site Development Plan for proposed construction of 10,000 sq. Ft. retail/light manufacturing/wholesale and 2,000 sq. Ft. restaurant at property located at 1135 Hammond Street, Map-Lot R18-021-C, in a General Commercial & Service (GC&S) District. Applicant, New, LLC c/o Rick Varney; Agent, Plymouth Engineering c/o Fred Marshall, PE. Fred Marshall and Rick Varney presented the item and provided the following: There is a large warehouse on the right-hand side of the lot, formerly known as Magazines, Inc. The lot was originally one big piece; somewhere a chunk was sold – parcel is now “U” shaped and almost creates two lots Utility access is a leased piece by Consolidated Communications (couldn’t make access to share a common driveway, so planned for a new driveway that splits, parking lot and buildings set back from Hammond Street) The building will be split into a 2,000 sq. ft. section for a restaurant and a 10,000 sq. ft. section for retail or wholesale. Light manufacturing will not be a use in the building since Planning staff advised that would be a conditional use and would require a separate application. Planning staff questioned where trash would be placed, so a revised site plan was presented Utility issue – out lots developed with no sewer on that section of Hammond Street; there’s currently a private PVC sewer connecting west to City Sewer 73 HARLOW STREET, BANGOR, ME 04401 TELEPHONE: (207) 992-4280 FAX: (207) 945-4447 WWW.BANGORMAINE.GOV City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes, August 17, 2021 o There is a verbal agreement with Thomas who owns propertywith the private sewer; an easement is supposed to be drawn up – Plisga & Day are behind on this request Will present to staff as soon as it’s available Site abuts airport property and slants towards Hammond Street Impervious area will be treated with underdrain soil filter Planning Board discussed not including “light manufacturing” in motion since the applicant said they would not be using the building for that. They also discussed conditions surrounding a verbal agreement with the property owner regarding use of the abutter’s private sewer line and the documentation expected. They will need an easement granting New, LLC access to the private sewer and the abutting property owner (Thomas) will also need an easement as some of their pavement is on the property under review. Applicant stated an email was forwarded from Mr. Thomas to City staff documenting agreement to the easement – the easement will be signed once the document is in hand. Planning Officer Anne Krieg discussed the staff recommendation that an easement be approved to form by the legal office and the applicant show evidence of recording prior to starting project. Applicant stated an alternative would be to run private sewer over to the City ROW to existing city sewer; is an option in case the easement falls through. Asst. City Solicitor okay with just sewer easement and stated that the pavement easement discussed above is unnecessary for approval of this project since it’s the concern of the neighbor (Thomas) and not the applicant. Vice Chair Perkins moves to approve Land Development Permit Application for Site Development Plan for proposed construction of a 10,000 sq. Ft. retail/wholesale and 2,000 sq. Ft. restaurant at property located at 1135 Hammond Street, Map-Lot R18-021-C, in a General Commercial & Service (GC&S) District, conditioned that a signed sanitary sewer connection easement be signed, recorded with the Registry of Deeds, and provided to the City of Bangor. The motion was seconded by Member Brush. All members were in favor, none opposed. Motion carries. OTHER BUSINESS 2. Comprehensive Plan Updates Planning Officer Krieg provided the following updates: o Met with Racial Advisory Committee Discussed affordable housing Suggestions already implemented: o Reducing lot sizes and setbacks, allowing accessory dwelling units, increasing densities in URD-1, URD-2 Data needed on housing statistics Inventory of units is necessary Page 2 | 3 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes, August 17, 2021 Meter boxes are a dead giveaway to units Will return with questions that were previously presented to Planning Board, Historical Preservation Commission, etc. Need a building permit analysis o Listening session with Mall Marsh Commission on 08.20.2021 o What do we want to do with Outer Bangor? Outer Broadway, Outer Union Street, Outer Hammond Street, Outer Ohio Street Will be pressure on that land to do “something” Would be good for the City to be able to say: “This is what we want to see happen” Subdivisions, commercial activity o Don’t want to create a “hodge-podge” of multi-million-dollar houses which have a commercial entity next to them Members discussed the following: o Conditional Use Standard – A.4 Comparing proposed use with current land use surrounding property Ambiguous, subjective, undefined terms included 500’ radius consideration from proposed use, but doesn’t define where 500’ begin and ends – structural improvements? Property boundary? Does the consideration stop or if it’s into a parcel, do you look at the rest of the parcel? o Retail stores, changes o Local option sales tax o Creation of bike lanes within the City as means of transportation 3. Meeting Minutes Member Meager moved to approve the meeting minutes of August 3, 2021 with no changes or modifications. The motion was seconded by Member Shaw. ADJOURNMENT - Meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Melissa L. Bickford Development Assistant Planning Department Page 3 | 3