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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 � __ _ � 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. �� �