08/29/09
Ordinance change would allow more multifamily dwellings in Town Center
The Planning Board will hold a public hearing on Sept. 15, 2009 on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinance that will allow more residential uses in the Town Center district.
The hearing begins at 7 p.m. in the Town Hall chamber.
The amendments, which are recommended by the most recent comprehensive plan, reduce the density for multifamily dwellings in the Town Center. They would also allow multifamily units in more than 50 percent of a building, as long as the building has more than one story and the first floor is not residential.
Similar recommendations have already been implemented in the Business A District.
The proposed language reduces the required area per multifamily dwelling unit from 7,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet. The minimum lot size for a building to have a multifamily unit remains 7,500 square feet under the amendments.
The amendments also eliminate the maximum number of multifamily dwellings allowed on a Town Center lot. The current ordinance limits the number to four.
The proposed amendments to the Town Center zoning help achieve the goals of the comprehensive plan, adopted in 2007, in two ways:
- One goal is to continue the development of the Town Center as the primary commercial area of Cape Elizabeth, encouraging a mixed use of buildings, with commercial uses on the first floor and residential uses on upper floors.
- The second goal addresses housing in the town, with an eye toward promoting a diversity of housing types to accommodate residents of all age groups and household sizes.
The changes to the Town Center text is identified as one of the five highest priority implementations of the new comprehensive plan. The Planning Board has already addressed the Business A District and the Shoreland Zone, and is working on amendments to agricultural land uses.. "One of the two remaining packages is a collection of 'smart growth' type amendments, which include the two changes to the Town Center District", said Town Planner Maureen O'Meara, in a memo to the board. The two changes are before the board now at the request of a Town-Center property owner, the memo said.
The board set the Sept. 15 hearing at its meeting Aug. 18. |
Subscribe
