Planning Board sets February hearing on eldercare zoning
amendments
The Planning Board will hold a public hearing next month on two proposed
changes to the zoning ordinances that will allow an Oregon developer to proceed
with plans for the former Viking Nursing Home.
The hearing will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26. The meeting is a change
from the regular Planning Board meeting time because of school vacation.
One of the amendments will allow greater density in the Residence C District
for "eldercare" facilities; and, a separate change would increase the amount
of expansion allowed for existing buildings in a resource-protection district.
The developer, Canyon Creek Development, is looking to convert the former
Viking Nursing Home on Scott Dyer Road into a complex of 55 assisted-living
units and 40 independent-living apartments for senior citizens.
Plans include making minor renovations to an existing building once used
for assisted living, which was built in the 1990s. An adjacent building,
built in the 1970s, will be torn down and replaced with a 40-unit eldercare
apartment. The development as proposed, however, would exceed the density
of 1 unit per 3,500 square feet allowed for eldercare facilities in the RC
District.
The proposed amendment would increase the allowed density for eldercare units
to 1 per 2,500 square feet, and increase the density for beds from 1 per
2,500 square feet to 1 per 2,100 square feet of net residential area.
However, the new apartment building faces another zoning challenge in Cape
Elizabeth. Because nearly all of the older wing is located in a buffer area
around a critical wetland, its expansion is currently restricted to 25 percent
of its present floor area or volume, as long construction does not get closer
to the wetland.
Canyon Creek is looking to tear down the 1970s wing and replace it with a
two-story building that would occupy a smaller building footprint, but would
increase building floor area in the buffer by up to 72 percent.
The proposed ordinance change would increase the allowed expansion of buildings
existing in the buffer to 80 percent, as long as there is no increase in
footprint size and the building is on public sewer.
At a recent Planning Board workshop, board members indicated a willingness
to allow greater expansion, but not to 100 percent, according to a memo from
O'Meara. "The draft proposes an expansion of 80 percent, limits this to
single-story structures and excludes single family homes from the increased
expansion," her memo says.
The language proposed to be added to the "nonconformance within the resource
protection districts" section reads:
"A single story building that (a) is connected to public sewer and (b) is
not a single family home, may increase its volume or floor area by no more
than eighty percent (80%) of its pre-expansion volume or floor area, so long
as there is no expansion of its existing building footprint."
The request for amendment was referred to the Planning Board by the Town
Council at their December meeting. After the Planning Board hearing and
recommendation to the council, the council will hold its own hearing before
acting on the ordinance change.
Previous story:
