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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-01 Planning Board Minutes ` PLANNING BOARD TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2022, 7:00 P.M. CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS, 3RD FLOOR CITY HALL ALSO; ATTENDANCE VIA ZOOM MEETING MINUTES Board Members Present: Ken Huhn, Chair Reese Perkins, Vice Chair Michael Bazinet (Zoom) Alison Coladarci (Zoom) Don Meagher Lisa Shaw (Zoom) City Staff Present: Tanya Emery, Director of Community & Economic Development Anne Krieg, City Planner Anja Collette, Planning Analyst David Szewczyk, City Solicitor Chair Huhn called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE AND MAP AMENDMENT PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. Zone Change – 32 Cottage Street – Map-Lot 021-053 – Urban Residence 1 District (URD-1) to Urban Residence 2 District (URD-2) - To amend the Land Development Code by changing a parcel of land located at 32 Cottage Street, Map-Lot 021-053, from Urban Residence 1 District (URD-1) to Urban Residence 2 District (URD-2). Said parcel of land contains 0.28 acres, and is more particularly indicated on the map attached hereto and made part hereof. Applicant/Owner: Isidore & Shelly Okere. Applicants/Owners Isidore & Shelly Okere presented the following via Zoom: Recently purchased 32 Cottage Street, initially zoned as single family residential – has two units, possibility of third unit – wants to add kitchen to third unit and making second unit conforming. Property currently has 3 electric meters, wants to make this a proper 3-unit No questions from Board Members, public. Per Planning Officer Krieg, existing property has non-conforming protections, the applicants are looking to bring it into conformity 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 – March 1, 2022 Member Meager made a motion to recommend to the City Councilto amend the Land Development Code by changing a parcel of land located at 32 Cottage Street, Map-Lot 021-053, from Urban Residence 1 District (URD-1) to Urban Residence 2 District (URD-2). Said parcel of land contains 0.28 acres, applicant/owner: Isidore & Shelly Okere. The motion was seconded by Member Shaw. Member Shaw stated that the 2012 Comp Plan identified this as a developing area. All members in favor with exception of Vice Chair Perkins. Roll call vote was not taken. Motion carries. Board members on zoom all raised their hands. Vice Chair Perkins wanted to explain vote against motion – not against more units of housing, but the ordinances require us to consider current comprehensive plan. That plan shows this as a URD-1 single family neighborhood. Map showing most homes in area multi-family, including this property. Most of these homes are being used as multi-family when they shouldn’t be. Argument is that Bangor needs more housing and zone change should allow for more housing. These properties already exist as multi-family, so it’s not increasing units. Feels that this is continued spot zoning. Problem can be addressed in new Comprehensive Plan which should be completed sometime next year. Resident from Fourteenth Street – wanted to know if owner of property needed to live there, as there was a situation near her that someone was renting; owner lived out of state and owner should have to live at the property. Chair Huhn noted that would really cut down on rental properties. Director Emery advised City does not require that multi-unit properties be owner occupied; if we did, as Chair Huhn noted, it would severely limit the opportunity for people to have access to rental housing, which is, for most folks, the most affordable option and many people don’t qualify for home ownership. City does not, except in very specific circumstances, require owner-occupied. If there’s a Code Enforcement issue, whether it’s a property maintenance complaint or rodents or something of that nature, it’s handled through the Code Enforcement office. 2. Amending Chapter 165, Land Development Code, by defining and regulating the uses known as Boarding House and Bed & Breakfast - These changes include revisions to definitions, parking, and the Land Development Permit. Affected districts are: Urban Residence 1 District (URD-1), Urban Residence 2 District (URD-2), Multifamily and Service District (M&SD), Neighborhood Service District (NSD), Downtown Development District (DDD), Low Density Residential District (LDR), High Density Residential District (HDR), and Rural Residence and Agricultural District (RR&A). Director Emery advised that they are introducing another piece of potential policy resulting from the 2018- 2019 housing workgroup. In 2017, City began to realize that there were a lot of affordability issues in rental housing and home ownership. A multi-stakeholder housing workgroup was formed, met for 15-18 months, and created recommendations and best practices on short term rentals, parking, minimum lot sizes, etc. The past couple years, staff has been working through those recommendations to bring before Planning Board and City Council. Page 2 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 Tonight, the recommendations being introduced includebed & breakfasts, as included in existing definition in code, but also boarding houses. Boarding houses have emerged as an affordable option over the years. There will be more discussions to come, but wanted to provide context to why this is before you. Looking for feedback from Planning Board and Community – want to take feedback and create policy that works best for all members of the Community. Planning Officer Krieg presented a power point regarding how this came about, what types of allowances there will be, and how it would be monitored. Additionally, she noted that the State Statute requires public notice to property owners, as well as district property abutters, when a commercial use is added to a district where it wasn’t allowed before– if you received a notice but are not in one of the listed districts, you likely were notified because you’re an abutter to the district. Boarding Houses are considered residential; bed and breakfasts are commercial. She added that the Planning Board will hear from the public, make deliberations, and vote in the form of a recommendation to City Council that it ought to pass or ought not to pass. The Board may request Council to make amendments to the language. She reviewed Planning Board vote influences council action as to whether a majority of Council is needed to pass the amendment or a super majority Vice Chair Perkins mentioned “AirBnB” – those don’t typically have breakfast – the bed & breakfast we are discussing in this code is a business serving bed & breakfast, which is not the same as VRBO or AirBnB. Planning Officer Krieg stated that staff are working on short term rental policy to go through next month or so; this does not address short term rentals. Vice Chair Perkins wanted to know if there is a specific project driving this code change. Per Officer Krieg, no, there are no planning projects before us. Member Shaw asked about differentiation of bed & breakfasts being in historic districts vs. boarding houses. Per Planning Officer Krieg, it’s because of the commercial operation use; it functions differently than a boarding house. Member Meagher realizes bed & breakfast isn’t being defined as a short-term rental, but in fact it is functioning in that way. Boarding house, rental of rooms for a month or more – it’s a longer-term rental. We have what is functionally a short-term rental use and a long-term rental use being covered by the same motion. Member Bazinet requested clarification on boarding houses, whether management is not required to be on site. Planning Officer Krieg stated that for boarding houses, that’s correct. Bed & breakfasts, yes, management must be on site. Member Meagher stated that in terms of owner or management staff being present in a bed and breakfast, there is no real particular duration requirement for that – must be there to serve breakfast, but are they there 24/7? Overnight? Planning Officer Krieg advised that there is a required to be an on-site live-in manager. Member Coladarci asked how it can become a successful boarding house if there’s no on-site management. Page 3 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 Planning Officer Kriegresponded thatit’s no different than having house mates, except the rent you’re paying is renting your room. Coladarci says there would be a more successful outcome if the language included an on-site landlord or that was their primary residence, and is wondering how city is going to stay on top of inspections. Specifically, cited recommendation from 2019 work group to require inspections and registry, which was implemented in Portland & Lewiston, but not implemented in Bangor. Now we want to add more living situations – is this really the right order of operations? Director Emery advised that the housing work group recommended inspections of all multi-family; this was not funded in the last budget year, put on hold due to COVID. There are voluntary inspections through the fire department, life safety inspections. This will be added to Code when the program goes forward. Housing voucher programs require inspections. This proposal is part of the Housing Work group recommendations, which City Council asked staff to continue to work on. Lovern Stockwell – 15 Plaisted Street – backyard abuts property that many people know as Chuck Foster/David Merrick – large home, vacant – from what she understands, that property could be bought and made into a boarding home, but not a bed & breakfast – is this correct? o If it’s on Hammond Street, it could become a boarding home, per Planning Officer Krieg Rick Bronson – been in Bangor quite a while – Bangor known as being Champion Spot Zoner – the house that you just spot zoned, I was in this 60 days ago because it was for sale – I passed on the sale of this property because it was 3 units, but only legally 2. Owns multiple homes – received 4 letters for this hearing. Bangor came late to zoning. Court Street property he was in last week is an absolute horror. In 1950, there was a desperate need of housing when the Air Force was here. They divided all of the houses – 37 Ohio Street was a rooming house, since he owned it it’s been a single-family home. Own the one next to him 31 Ohio Street, was 4 family, down to 3 family now. He expressed concerns regarding parking. Bangor is the least safe city for pedestrians, hasn’t gotten any better. Most recent snow storms – sidewalks didn’t get plowed - sidewalks on Ohio Street were not cleared for over a week, side opposite him, two weeks to clear. He added that over 50% of land area of Bangor is not developed and that there is distinctly a residential inventory shortage. Miles Theeman – has lived at 45 Grove Street since 1976 – when Mr. Perkins explained reason for his “no vote”, Director Emery mentioned many homes in URD-1 out of compliance. Not enough code enforcement to take care of issues we have now. He feels if it takes this much detail to explain a change in a zone, it’s too complicated for me and for some of you. Zoning amendment before you tonight represents city planning at its very worst – City has a comprehensive plan, land development plan, and zones for a reason. The Board is being asked to approve one size fits all approach tonight. Every residential and related zone in the city will be available for boarding houses & bed & breakfasts – may be hoops to jump through, but will be made available. Consider having a boarding home next to your property – consider impact on property values, attractiveness to potential buyers, taxes to the city. On Grove Street alone, next to and diagonally from mine sold for over $900,000 in the past year (collectively). He added he can only imagine if a boarding home was next door. This one size fits all approach is not the answer, is a disservice to majority of residential homeowners in this city – high tax payers. Page 4 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 He indicated he was a previous member and chair of planningboard –recommends to, first of all, separate boarding homes and bed & breakfast – they’re not the same and should be treated differently. Second, allow boarding homes in certain districts and allow bed & breakfasts selectively. Urge the board to vote against proposed amendment, send back to the planning department and tell them there’s more work to be done before it’s supported. Jake; owns a property on Hammond Street (declined to provide address) asked a series of questions to the room; wants to rent it out to anyone – what’s the issue with this? Someone agrees on a specific price for a specific time frame. What’s the issue? Why I can’t rent my property out for any reason. He was advised that short term rentals were not the topic of tonight’s proposal. He indicated he doesn’t think that there should be any regulation around renting properties. Reddington Robbins, 121 Lincoln Street – if we allow bed & breakfasts in historic buildings or other, we’re just making way for people that has more money than we do to purchase buildings, rent them out and make money – we’re still not helping with affordable housing. On boarding houses, in definition, there’s no upper limit to how many rooms can be rented. Some buildings are quite large and can hold 15-20 people; I don’t want one of those beside me. He expressed concerns about the use of driveways for parking. There was a housing problem in Bangor when urban renewal happened; houses were broken into apartments. Today, those are the houses we’re complaining about that are falling down. If you want affordable housing, bring in industry, jobs. He wants to know when Kenduskeag Avenue was changed to Kenduskeag Boulevard, wants to see a map that says “Boulevard.” Why is this listed incorrectly? It’s not Boulevard. Roc Le Blanc – W. Broadway – Historic District – these homes are a life investment us – now all of these homes can turned into boarding houses? Can the city buy all of these to put the homeless in them for 30 days? Not enough people to do the inspections, so we know what is going to happen here. We’re going to lose Bangor because the historic district is the only remnants of what was. This is northern Maine, not Portland, not Augusta. Been here 20 years and still learning. Peter Keebler – 212 Kenduskeag Avenue. In 26 years, renovated 3 historical houses. In doing this, worked with Historic Preservation Commission in these renovations and what strikes me is the question, since this proposal affects historic districts and buildings in them – it permits use of these structures in these neighborhoods for boarding houses & bed and breakfasts, except one area - my question is, was this developed in conjunction with the historical commission? Has there been consultation with the historical commission regarding effects of this proposal? In working with the Historic Preservation Commission and restoring homes, they had the authority to regulate what I’ve done in those houses for physical appearance and other aspects. If this proposal goes through, where does this put the Historic Commissions authority for permitted use of structures? Does this replace authority of commission in determining appropriateness? o Planning Officer Krieg advised that the Historic Preservation Commission was a stakeholder in the Working Group in 2018. In terms of their authority, they regulate the exterior of the building only, regardless of the use inside the building. They look at any exterior changes; thus this has no effect on their jurisdiction or authority. Page 5 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 Michelle Ortega – 5 Elm Street – new to Maine a year ago; from Arizona. Her dream is to start a bed & breakfast, “Bangor Heritage B&B,” historic 4-bedroom, 2-bath house. Built in late 1873. Wants travelers to come; two guest rooms, adequate off-street parking, corner lot adjacent to Somerset Street. When staying in B&B, guests will meet other locals and travelers. Guests will see more of the unknown attractions of Bangor. Travelers can do more local shopping in downtown district benefiting small business. Sarah Miksel – 38 Summit Avenue - been here 5 years, heavily recruited by medical center – felt compelled to have a voice about this –could move out of Bangor and take a 1/3 of paycheck cut, but it would be a wash due to taxes paid here. Garbage is an issue, no stormwater drainage on street, sewage backed up in cellar on a regular basis. She indicated she realizes that there’s no affordable housing, people suffering here and places are needed. This isn’t the way to do this. Spent time helping people and they don’t live the way we want them to – they live with hotplates in their rooms, problems with safety issues in buildings. City is taxed; garbage is taxed, workers are taxed, in both time and in work they have to do. Second that we need bed & breakfasts and boarding houses as separate issues – not the same thing. Wants to know where to publicly find reports for the Housing Work Group. What’s the percentage of people that can be housed once this happens. States there is a “brain drain problem here”, people leaving, taxes are too high. Needs to be addressed, poor people on the streets, burdened shelters, overworked, people are not “from here.” Her statistic is about 70%, people being bussed here on a regular basis. This is not the way to help those people. Was happy to come here, but frankly, ready to move to Hampden. Hampden and Hermon are swelling. Bangor is dropping. Homeless people coming up to her home, made police reports. Needles being picked up from yard. o Planning Officer Krieg stated that Affordable Housing Work Group report is on the City’s website and on the zoning site - www.bangormaine.gov/zoning Steven Leavitt, 204 West Broadway – lived there over 30 years – inquired how many persons could stay in the rooms, inquired about “couch surfing” by homeless – regulations for monitoring? Almost impossible. Parking issue is bothersome, current issues not being enforced. Cars on his street out all night without ticketing. This will make the issue worse. In the non-wintertime, they’ll not park behind one another in the driveway. In the summertime, it’ll look like John Bapst High School - students park all over the street. I’m going to have to park 5 houses away to find a spot due to boarding houses. Other issue, BDN did investigative report on Lewiston-landlord, terrible things he did with people. Concerned someone “like him” will come to Bangor, make money, be a “real estate magnate.” No management on site - disaster written all over this. Mike Chambers, Birch Street – 53 years – has a duplex. Clarified whether state inspection and code enforcement inspection would be required for Bed & Breakfast. Inquired about inspections for boarding houses. o Planning Officer Krieg stated that it’s the same process. He added that we have a problem with traveling nurses, doctors, and pilots that need places. Hancock Street used to be rough, you’ll have the same problem again. Community must come together to work on this – this has to be done. By putting boarding homes everywhere, it needs to be designated in a certain area so that everyone is comfortable with it. He runs a small business out of his home, pays taxes. Page 6 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 He added that he was not allowed to work out of property;can have office and vehicles there, but can’t work out of property. He feels if you put boarding homes where they won’t work, you’re defeating the whole reason to do this. People need a place to live. Working against each other isn’t going to work. Birch Street used to be a bad area, but it’s now developed. He’s seen the community fall apart. Do we have a list of people that need a place to stay? Feels that the parking requirements do not make sense. Mark Riffel – 11 West Broadway – moved to Bangor this past summer. Dreams of a bed & breakfast in their home when they retire. Wife is a traveling nurse. They have extra bedrooms. Wants to share space with others. When I walked in here, I was for this proposal – changed my mind a little bit – I do worry about aspect of boarding house because owners aren’t living there. Our intent is to live inside our bed & breakfast. Main goal is to restore home in the historical district, make it as beautiful as possible without disrupting neighbors. Would like to see something done so we can live our dream and share our home with other people, but have it done in the right way. th Susette Furrow – 15 Street – you say there’s a housing crisis, but is there a hotel crisis? We have many hotels. Typically, bed & breakfasts are created when there are no hotels in area. Not good to group boarding houses and bed & breakfasts into the same category. It’s two separate things. Parking is an issue- not sure if you’re comparing to warmer climates, but it’s an issue in the winter with no parking. Also, Bangor has a crime problem. We’re number one in home invasions. Concern to every property owner. If we’re not increasing police, this isn’t a way to ease burden on police. Home invasions do happen in the middle of the night, vehicle burglaries. Serious drug problem, 3 methadone clinics. We need to deal with our own problems before bringing issues in. Questions if this is politically motivated. Thinks that there is another issue behind is. Plenty of land in Bangor to build. Doesn’t understand what constitutes historical district or home. Some places consider that 50 years old. o Planning Officer Krieg stated that historic districts are areas that have gone through processes with Maine Historic Preservation and Secretary of Interiors office to have historic designation – can be homes or districts. The 50-years old mark is a beginning point to have a conversation about importance of neighborhood or house, but there is a series of research paperwork to complete to obtain designation. She added that Boarding homes is a broad definition – heard that they’re open for criminally insane. We have DDPC, plenty of room there, but prisons are completely full. She feels we need to clean up city and make it what it used to be. Doesn’t feel like a safe area, and that needs to be addressed. More people would be needed for Code Enforcement. Matthew Weitcamp – 88 Fountain Street – historic property – on historic preservation commission – homeowner, resident and business owner. He feels these are two separate issues. Boarding houses are hugely problematic. Could have 17 rooms in property, move out of the area, and let it run into the ground and destroy property values. This needs to be sent back and studied further. No onsite manager is hugely problematic. Moved here from out of state. Page 7 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 Peggy Sheriff – Essex Street – has owned a boarding home for 17 years. Has a 72-year-old tenant, illiterate, can’t read, write, but goes to work every day, is a productive person, but is on SSI and can’t afford security deposits or electricity. Another lady, 67-year-old, been there 20 years. On SSI. Worked all her life in hospitality industry. Another 70-year-old on SSI, can’t afford to live in an apartment. Kitchen, shared bathrooms. Also rents to visiting nurses. They would pay $350-400 week in a hotel. She doesn’t charge that for a month. Rents to temporary contract workers, divorcees. There’s a 40-year-old with social issues, but on SSI, another 30-year-old with the same issues. Never had problems with any of these people. Code enforcement checks every year, does health checks and checks for safety issues. Has to get a license every year that’s paid for. Chooses who she rents to carefully. Problem isn’t the boarding house, it’s who owns it. Screens people carefully, code does a good job and I address issues. There are boarding houses in Bangor I wouldn’t put my dog in. My house is clean, has on-site manager from hospitality industry. Wanted to defend some of the people who are good landlords and that is what I am. Used to have a bed & breakfast in NH, hoping this industry may be narrowed down to historic area on Broadway because those are beautiful homes. There is a landlord association in Bangor, seasoned landlords that know what needs to be done. Tag them to help with code enforcement, not everyone will be on top of the issues. People know the good landlords and bad landlords. Don’t judge us all based on the bad places. My buildings are clean, safe and up to code. Have an open mind. Just bought an old house with 5 bedrooms, would be great to turn into a boarding house; there are people that need places to live; elderly that can’t afford to keep a big house, but want to stay somewhere safe and not worry about their bills. Please don’t judge by a few bad ones. Chad Peterson - 243 Cedar Street – having boarding houses be unmanaged, unsupervised creates a no holds barred situation going forward. Bed & breakfasts and boarding houses don’t belong on the same platform. He recommends a hard pass on this. Co-op housing as officially designated are working in other places. There are individual developments built/created for this. To call it a boarding house and allow 8 bedrooms to 8 different people is a recipe for disaster. Kayla Moore – 84 Birch Street – moved here 3 years ago from Portland – when we moved here, was told not to buy next to a multi-family and move to Hampden. Moved here because of community and schools. Gets it now after living next to multifamily. People walking through backyards, sitting on abandoned furniture, abandoned properties, human feces. Never wanted to be a NIMBY-esque person. The city needs to step back and reevaluate, put more funding into multi-families, bringing them up to code, and then address the problem. We’re not ready right now. From personal experience, seen what it’s like to pack 15 people into a 2 bedroom – it’s not safe. Known what it’s like to wake up to the smell of smoke to a neighbor’s house burning down. Code enforcement is important, standards are important. On ZOOM: Dan – been at Congress & Kenduskeag for 40 years – bring up two points – idea of boarding homes without resident/owner/supervisor on site – seems like that would be important for a lot of reasons mentioned. Suggest that if this were to go forward, that this be part of the formulation. Parking for boarding homes, right now in city code, states 1 parking space per guest room/dwelling unit as opposed to one spot for four people. Page 8 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 Boarding homes supposed to be possible on arteries in the City, some including my street have issues with no parking allowed at all. Must be cleared in the winter. He is not sure a boarding home owner could deny someone a spot under fair housing rules if they have a vehicle that can’t be accommodated. On ZOOM: David Green – Dunning Blvd – been in Bangor 17 years now, in that time, Bangor headed in wrong direction. He thinks the city is more run down, more homelessness, drugs. Affordable housing is a big problem. This proposal is aimed at making accommodation more affordable, but it’s not the answer. Made it broad, so that almost every home owner would be affected. Some studies I’ve read, with boarding houses, property values decline. If they’re not taken care of, have problem tenants, you have an issue. Friends in banking industry talked about institutional investors coming into Bangor. Making broad change, most of the city can have boarding homes, opens up to investors. May make affordable housing worse. This is not the answer to making housing/accommodation more affordable. This needs to be rethought. On ZOOM: Leslie Anderson – Highland Avenue – house has 4 bedrooms, curious to get clarification on what it is that tips one over from roommates to an operator of a boarding house. Could easily get roommates to live in the house; not permitted a boarding house as not in a historical district or main arterial. Curious about intention and enforcement. Find that in the proposal, the distinctions between proposed zones and streets seem to be arbitrary. She doesn’t think it’s obvious why there would be a distinction between arterial and interior streets, and why not consider all of these to be conditional uses, and why some zones are automatically permitted as boarding houses. Not opposed to either, like the idea that people want to run these establishments – tourists, or students, those on SSI. Like idea that they’re vetted by the city for appropriateness. Will look at State licensure requirements after this meeting. In theory supportive of both uses, agree that we need to go back, break up boarding houses and bed & breakfasts with different parameters ZOOM: Shelly Lizotte – 103 Dewitt Avenue – business owner, civil engineer dealing with permitting issues in different communities – wanted to point out a couple things; after listening to speakers, comments about separating uses would benefit – they’re quite different. Should all be conditional uses and go through more scrutiny to be looked at closer vs. to automatic permits. Main comment- earlier on there was someone that mentioned available land in the city. Found that the zoning currently doesn’t allow a lot of multifamily in the vacant land areas. RR&A mainly set up for single family housing. Development of multifamily in those areas is automatically not allowed due to the zone. Problematic situation. We do have a problem with affordable housing right now, development of these housing communities/apartment complexes take a long time. We need to find a solution that isn’t going to take several years. It’s not an inexpensive venture. Boarding house idea is sort of a way to alleviate the affordable housing problem; conditional use and requiring live-in/onsite manager would be a benefit. On ZOOM: Bob, 49 Naylor Street – wondering about rationale with Bangor Gardens being included nd in URD-1, and also as a 2 question, what effect would zoning changes have on taxes from URD-1 to URD-2. Page 9 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 o Planning Officer Krieg stated URD-1, is only on the arterialsand historical districts –wouldn’t affect you if you’re on a side street Bob wondering about tax base with the difference of designation? Director Emery stated that generally speaking, can be discussed with Assessor about changing in use of the building – overall, there is nothing in a zoning proposal to impact taxes – it’s how property is used, changes to property, etc. Nothing that the planning board could address. Up the street from him, house with multiple people living in it – 4, I believe – how would this rezoning effect that particular residence Depends on the district – if 4 people rent a house together, this change isn’t going to affect them, they’ll be able to continue to do this Lovern Stockwell, 15 Plaisted Street – lived in Bangor 60+ years – knows we have boarding homes – how many are there in the City? That are licensed to be there? And do we have any bed & breakfasts at this time? Works for Maine Tourism Association in the visitor’s centers. Amazing how many times we’ve been asked about bed & breakfasts in Bangor, how are they found? Member Meagher made a motion to continue the public hearing to March 15, 2022 to have a chance for all to speak, seconded by Member Bazinet. Board members and staff discussed scenarios of allowances for further public comment and Board deliberations. The motion was withdrawn. Planning Officer Krieg advised that the board can continue the public hearing and limit that you’ll only accept 30 minutes of comment prior to discussion if you feel there are people that haven’t spoken this evening that would want to speak next time. Citizens expressed concern that the public needs to further speak on the issue. City Solicitor Szewczyk stated that there are a number of options – could close hearing, could continue public hearing and discuss limitations to be imposed next time, motion that was made can be withdrawn without a second being withdrawn. Chair Huhn would feel comfortable extending meeting, having a commenting period before next meeting, and holding no more than 30 minutes for public comments at the next meeting, then closing it. This was discussed amongst Board members. Member Shaw moved to continue public hearing to March 15, 2022 meeting, leaving the time limit to chair discretion. Motion seconded by Member Bazinet, with notation that Member Shaw made that the parameters are at the Chair’s discretion. No further discussion. All members in favor, none opposed. Roll call vote not taken. OTHER BUSINESS Member Coladarci left the meeting. Page 10 | 11 City of Bangor Planning Division Planning Board Meeting Minutes – March 1, 2022 3. Meeting Minutes –February 15, 2022– Member Meagher moved approval, seconded by Vice Chair Perkins. All members in favor, none opposed. Roll call vote not taken. 4. Adjournment at 9:32 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Melissa L. Bickford Development Assistant Planning Department Page 11 | 11