Vassalboro Planning Board
Minutes of June 2, 2009

Present:
Planning Board: Virginia Bracket, George Gould, Doug Phillips, Jay Nutting, Sally Butler
CEO: Paul Mitnik,
Public: Adam B. Ellis, Richard Bradstreet, Mary Grow, Donald Crabtree, Susan Linscott, Blake Perry, David Jenney, Scott Monroe (Morning Sentinel), Scott Episcopo (WGME TV 13), Pam Yarkowsky, Catherine St Pierre

The meeting opened at 7:03 PM.

Review of May 5 Minutes: George motioned to accept the May 5 Minutes. Doug seconded. All in favor.

Shoreland Zoning Ordinance

Paul explained to the Board that the Town failed to do the proper notifications required to landowners whose property is proposed for placement in the Resource Protection District. This would include all areas that were rezoned from Limited Residential to Resource Protection. State law MRSA Title 38, section 438-A (1-B) requires that written notice be sent to the affected landowners before any public hearings are held.

Given that there is not enough time to do the notifications and hearing over again before Town meeting on June 8, Paul indicated that the Town will go forward with the text changes and the current shoreland zoning map. The map will be amended with the zoning changes, proper notification, and the hearings will have to be re-held. The Shoreland Zoning Ordinance will be amended in 2010 with only the map changes. Paul indicated that he spoke with DEP and MMA legal staff and this appears to be the best course of action.

Richard Bradstreet
Major Subdivision
Three Lots
Tax Map 4, Lot 27E

The preliminary plan continued as an ongoing application first heard last month and was presented by Adam Ellis and Dick Bradstreet. A summary of the material that was missing from last month’s preliminary plan application was provided in the Minutes from last month which was approved by the Board. This was used as a basis to go through the new material.

Ginny went through the list of items that the Minutes indicated will be needed to determine that the preliminary plan is complete. The proposed building and well locations are now on the preliminary plan. HHE-200’s were provided for each lot based upon a three bedroom home. The reserve disposal areas were indicated on the HHE-200 forms. Evidence of an adequate water supply was provided by a letter from Delwin Philbrick Well Drilling.

An 11 X 17 reference map was provided. Adam presented the high intensity soils map from the USDA SCS maps for Kennebec County. A legal agreement for maintaining the road included in the material was deemed adequate by the Board. The estimate of daily vehicular traffic of 40 per day was based on a table in the Road Construction Ordinance of 10 vehicles per home. The letter from Inland Fish and Wildlife confirmed that there were no known essential habitats or significant wildlife habitats within the area of the proposed subdivision.

The approval by the Town Manager was provided in a form provided by Paul which indicated that there were no issues. Paul indicated that he spoke with the Fire Chief, Eric Rowe, and got his approval for the Town having adequate provisions for fire protection. The storm water management plan was waived by the Board due to its meeting the three provisions for waiving this requirement. However, Dick indicated that a culvert that goes across his driveway (to become the subdivision road) was closed off and the runoff will be diverted down to the road ditch near Rte 201. This should alleviate the drainage problem of runoff flowing across the Dyer property that the Dyers brought up at the last meeting. The final item was the erosion and sediment control plan which was provided on the road plans.

The Preliminary Plan was determined to be complete by motion of George and seconded by Jay. All in favor.

Donald Crabtree
Major Site Review Pre-Application Conference
Grand View Coffee Shop
Tax Map 9, Lot 104

Donald Crabtree was present to discuss plans to amend his permit for the Grand View Coffee Shop on Rte 3 featuring topless waitresses and waiters. Originally Donald was proposing additional seating capacity and possibly adding meals and entertainment in the form of music and dancing waitresses. However he indicated that he has scaled back his expansion and wants to remain a minor project. He said he was here for requesting that his hours of operation be extended, that parking for his employees could be allowed out back, and deliveries for oil, propane, and the trash dumpster be allowed out back from Mudgett Hill Rd access.

Donald indicated that he also wanted to ask about allowing the waitresses to dance to music that would be provided from CD’s. He was interested if that would fall under the new ordinance for Adult-Only Businesses that will be voted on at Town Meeting on June 8. Ginny said that depended upon whether or not the dancing could be considered a change of use.

Doug indicated that he believed the Board only permitted the Coffee Shop and the dancing would be a change of use that would fall under the new ordinance. Ginny asked what would change outside and Donald said nothing. Doug asked about screening out in the back and Donald indicated that there was a tree line. Sally asked about employees and food preparation. Donald indicated that there are three employees / shift and the food was only pastries that was prepared in a microwave oven. Someone in the audience asked about alcohol and Donald said that he was proposing no alcohol.

Donald indicated that he wanted to extend his current hours of 6AM to 6 PM to 6AM to 1 AM. Ginny indicated that he would have to fill out a new application and a new map. The additional employee parking should be indicated on the map along with the dumpster and its screening. Dick Bradstreet asked if the change in hours is a change in use. Ginny didn’t think that it did. Cathy asked if the hours of the new ordinance would affect this proposal. It would not if the proposal was not regulated by the new ordinance.

A discussion ensued about whether the amended project would be a major or minor project. When the Site Review Ordinance language was examined, it was noticed that for modifications, the actual change of developed area triggers the determination of minor Vs major rather than the size of all the developed area of the whole project. So as long as Donald was not adding more that 5000 square feet of developed area to his project, his modification would be a minor. This was definitely the case.

Doug ask to explain the seating issue with the coffee shop. Paul passed around some photos to the Board taken inside the coffee shop. He said technically the tables have bench seats that can fit four per table, but typically only one or two people sit at each table, since four would be a tight squeeze and people that do not know one another are unlikely to sit together. Paul required Donald to take out two tables. There are currently 13 tables there with 25 seats and an additional space for a handicap person on a wheel chair. Ginny asked about additional seats and Donald said that he wasn’t proposing any. Ginny said that if you want the two tables back the new application would be the time to ask. The application should also address noise and lights for the additional hours. Doug indicated that screening for the back parking could be needed.

Pam Yarkowsky asked if the issue of whether the dancing was a new use had been decided. Ginny said that they hadn’t decided yet and probably weren’t qualified to answer this question. Paul indicated that they would have to get a legal opinion from an attorney. Sue Linscott asked if people in the neighborhood should have the right to know about the change in hours and the dancing before the next meeting. Paul indicated that the abutter notification would have to be done and Ginny agreed. It was decided that the new application would have to include all the changes and these would have to be addressed in the performance standards.

The Board decided to schedule the next Planning Board Meeting on July 14, due to Paul being on vacation on July 7.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.