Bangor updates zoning maps Changes affect three streams

BANGOR – The city has completed efforts to meet a 1998 state shoreline zoning law after amending the Land Development Code for three streams.

Protection areas of 75 feet from high-water marks were designated on both sides of Osgood Brook, Great Brook and the upper Penjajawoc Stream in Bangor zoning maps.

The change, already mandated by state law, completes a board order by the Department of Environmental Protection to bring Bangor’s zone mapping up to date, City Engineer James Ring said Thursday.

The zoning map additions affect 2.8 miles of Osgood Brook along Finson Road, Ohio Street and Union Street; 1.7 miles of Great Brook along Broadway and Pushaw Road; and 1.4 miles of the upper Penjajawoc Stream.

Current structures within 75 feet of those streams are grandfathered under the zone changes, said Ring. The changes prevent any clear-cutting along the streams or the erection of any structures, he added, though bridges, piers and docks still will be allowed.

“The important thing for people to know is that the action done was not any new restriction,” said Ring. “There was an already existing state law. Now we have those restrictions in our zoning maps.”

In other action, the city brought its electrical code up to par with the National Electric Code’s standards for 2002, requiring arc fault circuit interrupters be added to the circuits of any new bedrooms that are built. The code will apply only to the construction of new bedrooms for now, but other areas of homes likely will be added in the coming years, said the code enforcement officer.

“There were numerous other changes [in the code], but this is the major change that will impact citizens,” Code Enforcement Officer Dan Wellington said Thursday. “The other things were minor changes and clarifications.”

The new devices immediately shut down a circuit whenever an arc is present between the negative and positive sides of a wire, said Wellington.

The new interrupters currently cost around $50 but are expected to drop in price, Wellington said.

The interrupters had been priced as high as $150 each at the beginning of the year.

The action, already adopted by the state, was added to the city’s codes because the city employs its own electrical inspectors.