HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-01-05 Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Minutes � STRATEGIC ISSUES COMMITTEE
MINUTES
]anuary 5, 2004
Councilors Present: Dan Tremble, Peter D'Errico, Geoff Gratwick, John Cashwell,
Gerry Palmer, Richard Greene, Frank Farrington, David Nealley,
Anne Allen
Staff Present: Ed Barrett
Other Present:
The meeting convened at 5:00 p.m.
1. Proposed Shoreland Zoning Amendment
Barrett noted that staff has developed a proposed zoning amendment to the City's
Shoreland Zoning Ordinance designed to accommodate mixed
� commercial/residential development in the Downtown and Waterfront Development
Districts. He said that we would like to review the approach that has been
developed prior to placing this amendment on the Council Agenda for first reading
and referral to the Planning Board. Assistant Solicitor )ohn Hamer reviewed the
proposed amendment. Planning Officer Katherine Weber reviewed various maps
showing areas zoned Downtown or Waterfront Development and outlined what the
amendment would permit in the waterfront zone. Nealley discussed the Carol R.
]ohnson plan that had already included open spaces along with mixed
residential/commercial development. He noted that the plan would not be static.
McKay reviewed the master plan's location of restaurants and residential/commercial
areas. He noted that Baldacci's proposal received in )une was for a restaurant, and
that he was aware of our concerns about the type of restaurant it was going to be
so that it would be compatible with other development. McKay said that Baldacci
was given tentative developer status for the restaurant and partnered with Forsely
to include condominiums. McKay said that all along Forsely had wanted to place
condominiums on top of his existing restaurant, the Seadog. McKay said that it was
clear that the request for proposals was for mixed uses. During this RFP process,
� the council wanted to issue an RFP after receiving a proposal from Perrigrine
Associates to place a condominium project along Railroad Street. Peregrine did not
want to be involved in an RFP process, so they withdrew their original proposal.
! This is how we got into a residential project within city owned property on the
waterfront. McKay noted that there have also been condominium proposals along �
Main Street beyond McDonald's in land between Main Street and the railroad tracks,
however not in shoreland zoning. Nealley said that if we are setting policy, it is
important to have another RFP. Tremble noted that we had already stated as a
council that we were going to do another RFP. Barrett said that this was correct,
that the council wanted another RFP if the council proceeded with this change.
Barrett said that even if this instance where we are looking at a particular lot, we
are not proposing to sell the land immediately along the shoreline where we are
looking for public access to be. This is why in the amendment, there is no
requirement for actual river frontage, because the city will retain ownership of land
along fhe waterfront for footpaths. Nealley said that if we move forward then what
we are doing is an adjustment for a piecemeal purpose unless we are going to allow
some of this other open public access space to come back to this council and future
councils for the same type of purpose. He said that we should be consistent in our
future plans to develop this area. D'Errico said that it would be premature to
change the plans at this time, and mentioned the recent editorial in the Bangor Daily
News that described how Folk Festival and how the waterFront should be utilized for
public spaces/events. He said that it should not be used for a handful of housing
units. Allen said that she was supportive of the zone change and was not sure why
the parks and open spaces has to be included in the shoreland zoning change,
especially since we are saying that the City is going to retain ownership of 75 feet of
frontage along the shoreline. Allen said that staff has known for six months about
this proposal, why would they just now initiate the zone change. Gratwick wanted �
to clarify that the reason we are discussing this issue again is because we have
realized the import of what we had done two weeks, and that the second paragraph
of Mr. Baldacci's memo regarding that he had responded to an RFP that clearly
encourages "mixed use" developments is an incorrect statement. McKay said that
we were looking for a mix of uses within our waterFront development project.
Gratwick said that he assumes that Carol R. Johnson has been thinking about
residential uses all along, and that it is not part of the overall plan, and there should
be a good reason why they were not included. He said that he looked at Chip
Hutchins building on the waterfront, and suggested that they meet in the fifth floor
conference to view the waterfront. He said that we have professional staff (McKay
and Moses) hired to deal with this situation over time, and we should respect their
opinions. Gratwick recommended that we table this discussion for another time.
Barrett said that perhaps we could invite the consultant to come and discuss some
of these issues. Gratwick clarified his action so that within a month there woutd be
an overview meeting to discuss with the consultants. Greene seconded this motion.
Palmer said that he wanted to second the motion, and said that we should take our
time to come up with some consensus. Allen said that she is against this.
Farrington said that the question to him is whether or not we want to have this kind
of option to allow this kind of development in part or all of this area. As long as we
own the land we can control it. He said the issue is do we want to be able to �
� 90 days as well as those that are currently being deployed. Tremble suggested that
Nelson Durgin may want to assist, and the Libra Foundation may be interested as
well. Barrett suggested that the United Way might be able to assist. Alien
suggested that a councilor be placed on the committee. Palmer suggested that
former mayor, Nichi Farnham, may be interested in helping.
3. Final Review — Council Goals and Priorities
Barrett noted that the Mission/Policy/Priorities summary has been updated based
upon the discussion at the last Strategic Issues Committee and additional comments
that he has received from individual Councilors. He said that he would like to
finalize this document so that it can be distributed at the upcoming neighborhood
meetings and placed on our web site and in the Council Chambers.
The Committee approved the goals and priorities.
4. Naming the Waterfront
Barrett said that we have had a number of discussions on selecting a name for our
Waterfront project and renaming Railroad/Front Street. As a first step, reducing
. these lists to a smaller number of acceptable options would be useful as would
� discussing how to proceed to finalize names. He suggested that councilors rate in
order of 1-5 their preferences, and then we could reduce our list to 5 or 6 names
and bring them before the community at the neighborhood meetings. Allen
questioned this procedure and suggested that a Citizen/Council committee should be
formed to review suggested names. Tremble wanted to know who would make the
final decision, to which Allen replied that the Council would. Farrington said that we
should discuss these at the neighborhood meetings, and as long as we get the
people's input that this does not rise to the importance to create another committee.
Allen said that we should ask the citizens what names they might consider rather
than us determining the names. Tremble said that this is what we are trying to do,
and if someone has a name that we didn't think of, then we would be open to
considering it. Barrett said that narrowing the list assists in the decision making
process. Palmer reminded the Committee that the School Committee named two
schools without community input, and that we really should involve the public.
Cashwell suggested a ballot in the Bangor Daily News for the community to suggest
a name and drop it ofF to the City. Nealley suggested using the website and
soliciting suggestions via email. D'Errico said that he went through this when Dow
Air Force Base closed, and the renaming was important to recognize the identity of
the location, therefore Bangor International Airport. Allen made a motion to discuss
this at the neighborhood meetings as well as using the Bangor Daily and the City's
website to determine the name. Gratwick made a motion that each councilor hand
� in their sheets to the City Manager, use the Bangor Daily and other venues, and
consider this kind of development. If we don't go through the zoning change, then �
we have settled it. The only question to him is it worthwhile to see whether the
zoning people will allow this type of thing. Barrett said that we do not have to
commit to doing something just because it is allowed; however he does not like to
go through with zoning changes unless there is a reason to do so. He said that Bob
and Fred would certainly be interested to know whether the council would support
their proposal rather than waiting 4 months for a decision. Cashwell said that we
have a shoreland zone and have not necessarily reviewed this in either the
waterfront or downtown district. Barrett agreed because almost everything that we
have ever dealt with that falls into a shoreland zone has been a preexisting building.
Cashwell wanted to know if it would be appropriate to review all shoreland zoning
areas for permitting. Weber said that we have been dealing with shoreland zoning
as long as there have been state statutes. Hamer noted that difFerent shoreland
zones have different regulations. Nealley said that he feels that this should be
tabled rather than debated. Tremble asked for all those in favor of the motion to
table discussion. He noted that the vote was 7-2 in favor of tabling the discussion.
2. Operation Community Support
Barrett said that Skip Chappelle appeared during the last City Council meeting to
request City support for Operation Community Support, an effort designed to ease
family burdens of our citizen soldiers serving overseas through providing -•
complimentary admissions to events and activities and sponsorships to military
family assistance programs. Barrett said that his question is what is the City
specifically being asked to do. Chappelle said that there are three centers in our
area that service the families of the Maine National Guard. Chappelle discussed the
family assistance center that is available to help families of those who have been
deployed. A representative of the Center discussed that they accept donations and
volunteers. A family member could call regarding such issues as problems with
storms, questions about deployed soldiers, etc. Chappelle noted that as part
Operation Community Support's mission statement, we have resources available for
activities and events to involve the family members of these deployed soldiers. He
discussed utilizing the Civic Center, golf course, area fast food restaurants for the
kids' birthdays and other ideas to offer support and recognition for the families. He
said that Bangor Wal Mart has already committed a grant starting in February.
Chappelle indicated that in order to recognize the sponsors, we could distribute
certificates of appreciation and list their company name in the lobby of the
auditorium.
Cashwell suggested Chappelle work with someone from City staff to determine the
best way for the Council to help. Barrett said that we could possibly form a
community/advisory group that could work on these types of ideas. Cashwell
suggested that we consider what can be done for soldiers that will be returning in �
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� briefly solicit citizen input next week and make a decision three weeks hence.
Tremble said that since there was no objection, this was the way we were going to
go. Greene complimented the new website and noted that the request for names
should be incorporated into it. The Committee approved the motion.
Gratwick discussed the Bangor Public Library's Bangor Reads program, and
requested the Committee's interest in this. Since six councilors suggested interest,
he said that we could have an outside facilitator from the Maine Humanities Council
to give focus to the discussion.
The meeting was adjourned.
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