Click here to view:*
* (Adobe's
Acrobat Reader is required )
02/17/05
Proposal to allow building of affordable housing on undersized
lots deferred to council workshop
A zoning ordinance amendment that could facilitate construction
of affordable housing in Cape Elizabeth will go to a workshop
of the Town Council for further study.
Typically the council refers such amendment proposals to
their ordinance subcommittee, but the complexity of a proposal
to allow development of undersized lots, with the stipulation
that the resulting single-family home is affordable, prompted
councilors at their Feb. 14 meeting to set the topic to a
future workshop.
"I don't think this is ready to go the ordinance committee,"
said Councilor Carol Fritz, who moved to send the proposal
to a workshop instead. "I think there are a lot of issues
we need to think about."
Her motion to send the topic to workshop was unanimously
supported by the council.
The proposed amendment would allow development of lots that
are between 7,500 and 10,000 square feet in sewered areas,
provided that the resulting home is affordable to low- or
moderate-income buyers.
Currently the minimum lot size for development is 10,000
square feet.
The proposal first came to the council in October, when
John and Barbara McFarland, owners of a 7,981 square-foot
lot on Stone Drive, petitioned for an amendment. The council
referred the proposal to the Planning Board, which recommended
the amendment by unanimous vote following a public hearing
Jan. 18. Click here
to view Planning Board minutes (Adobe's
Acrobat Reader is required )
However, Councilor Mary Ann Lynch said she watched the Planning
Board hearing and did not view the recommendation as endorsement
by the board. "It was clear the board recognized a lot of
policy issues," Lynch said at the Feb. 14 council meeting.
"I didn't view it as a whole-hearted endorsement, but rather,
something we should look at," Lynch said.
In a telephone interview, council Chairman Anne Swift-Kayatta
said called the undersized-lot development proposal a complex
issue, one that could be studied more efficiently with a full
council workshop than through the three-member ordinance subcommmittee.
Wetland buffer reduction amendment sent to ordinance
committee
Also at their meeting Feb. 14, the council did refer to
the ordinance committee a zoning ordinance amendment that
would allow the buffer around a critical wetland in the BA
business district to be reduced from 250 to 100 feet.
The Planning Board also unanimously recommended the proposal
to the council, but some councilors opposed the proposal enough
to consider killing it Feb. 14. Councilor David Backer said
his recommendation would be to vote against the amendment
immediately, especially since the business owner who proposed
the allowance no longer required it.
Councilor Jack Roberts said he also opposed the amendment
because it excluded residential properties, a view shared
by Councilor Carol Fritz. Fritz also pointed to the care with
which the wetlands regulations were drafted. "I think we need
to discuss the implications of it," Fritz said.
The Conservation Commission, which was asked to provide
input, recommended against adoption of the amendment.
The proposal would add a fifth exception to the zoning ordinance
requirement for a 250-foot buffer around a critical RP-1 wetland.
Currently the ordinance allows the buffer to be reduced to
100 feet if:
- The area is in a sand dune
- The critical wetland is less than 2 acres
- The area is densely developed
- The site is separated topographically from the wetland,
for example by a ridge or berm.
Councilor Paul McKenney cited the Planning Board's unanimous
recommendation and favored referral to the ordinance committee.
"Just because one citizen or a small group of people aren't
knocking down the doors to get something done is not a reason
to deny it," McKenney said.
The council vote was 6-1 to send the amendment proposal
to the ordinance committee, with Fritz opposing.
Previous stories:
|
