Vassalboro Planning Board
Minutes of December 1, 2009
Present:
Planning Board: Virginia Bracket, George Gould, Douglas Phillips, Sally Butler, Jay Nutting
CEO: Paul Mitnik,
Public: Kelly Hoskins, Daniel Bradstreet, Richard Bradstreet, Raymond F Dyer, Lois Dyer, Marianne Hubert, Michael Dyer, Theresa Dyer, Mary Grow
The meeting opened at 7:03 PM.
Review of November 10 Minutes: The November 10 Minutes were approved (Gould / Butler 5-0).
Richard Bradstreet
Major Subdivision Modification
Preliminary and Final Plan
Sherwood Lane Extension Subdivision
Tax Map 4, Lot 27E
Richard Bradstreet plans to add an additional lot to his subdivision at Harmony Lane. A three lot subdivision was approved by the Board here in July of 2009. The additional lot is on the other side of Harmony Lane than the three approved lots and will be given to his son, Daniel.
Kelly Hoskins commented that the new lot may be part of a green area from the existing Sherwood Heights subdivision. This subdivision was subjected to a number of deed restrictions such as building size. Ginny believed that Dick’s lawyer would have picked this issue up. Doug comments that if this is a green area, than the lots already approved could be a green area also.
Paul explained the legal issue surrounding the addition of the lot. Since Dick has not been in his home for five years (only four years + three months), the exemption for lot allowed as a gift to a relative does not apply. The state law has the five year requirement but Vassalboro’s Ordinance does not. When the definition for subdivision by a Town Ordinance is less restrictive than state law, the state law over rides any local ordinance. The lot proposed is in the middle of Dick’s lot, splitting it into three lots. Since Dick has not been at his house for five years, this actually creates two additional lots rather than one. The Town Attorney, Alton Stevens, has concurred with this opinion. Doug agreed that the Board was actually approving two lots rather than one.
Kelly Hoskins commented that she was not an abutter of the original subdivision and did not get a chance to comment on that. She asked about water use mitigation and nature of land clearing. Dick indicated that no additional land was being cleared and there were many restrictions proposed for the subdivision. Kelly commented that she was not familiar with the restrictions. A copy of the Declaration of Protective Covenants and Restrictions and the Lot Owners Association By-laws was given to Kelly. Dick explained that the homes were being restricted to a minimum of 1250 square feet and no manufactured homes were allowed.
Ginny asked if they were approving one or two lots. Dick commented that he is proposing to deed the fifth lot to his son, Daniel which would effectively combine lots four and five into one lot. The fifth lot did not have a septic design prepared for it and the application would not be complete without this information.
The Dyers commented on the issue of water flowage over their land which borders the new lot and has frontage on Route 201. Raymond commented that he thought that there was more water runoff flowing over their land since Harmony lane had been widened and improved to town specifications and the new lot would make it even worse. Michael Dyer commented on the right of way shown on the subdivision plan over their land. This did not show up on their deeds when they split their land. Raymond asked about how close the septic system from the new lot would be to their property line. The subdivision plan showed that it will be at least 100 feet away from their well which is only ten feet from the property line.
The modified subdivision plan was determined to be complete (Gould / Butler 5-0).
The performance criteria were approved as a whole rather than individually, since the additional lot does not change the subdivision that much and the original finding of the three lot subdivision should still apply. Theresa Dyer commented on the flow runoff issue again and believed that their paint ball field had become worse since the road was re-built. Dick mentioned that a culvert that had been directed toward the Dyer’s land was removed during the road work and relocated closer to Route 201. This should result in re-directing much of the flow runoff around the Dyer’s land to Route 201 road ditches. Ginny commented that the addition of a single home should not change the runoff significantly since the lot is already cleared.
Doug commented that he did not believe that the plan could be signed due to inconsistencies on the plan. Some minor changes were needed. Standard condition #2 limited the subdivision to three dwelling units, the language from the original approval. This should be changed to four dwelling units. The conveyance of Lot 5 from Richard to Daniel Bradstreet was not indicated on the plan. The Board indicated that they could approved the subdivision plan subject to making the following changes:
The plan was approved (Gould / Butler 5-0). Ginny indicated that they could sign the plan after the changes were made and before the next Board Meeting in January.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00.