Brewer planning board updates land-use code

BREWER – The Brewer planning board recently approved more than 100 changes in nine different articles of the land-use code.

Some of the changes are nothing more than simple name changes; however, others will affect residents and one could affect the future look of the city. All will go before the City Council on Feb. 13 for final approval.

The biggest change deals with joint public hearings, said city planner Linda Johns. The planning board has to hold a joint public hearing with the council to make zoning ordinance or amendment changes. The board’s decisions are brought before the council at a later date for final approval.

The joint meetings are held about two times annually to update the code.

Since the council has to approve of the changes anyway, eliminating the joint meetings would do little to change the process, said Johns. She said public hearings still would be held but would not require the council to attend.

“They [councilors] could still attend the meetings if they wanted to,” Johns said, “but they would not be required to.

“What it will allow us to do is be able to make changes more often and keep the land-use code more current,” Johns said. “The land-use code is an always-changing document.”

The 103 changes include two that involve the town’s code enforcement officer. The first change would require the officer to issue people in violation of city codes a written notice that they have 30 days to correct the problem. The second change gives an official description of the post.

Two other changes deal with the aesthetic appearance of the Professional Business District, which will run the length of the new 1.6-mile parallel road between Parkway South and Whiting Hill at the eastern end of Wilson Street.

“It is going to be a requirement that all utilities must be installed underground for the Professional Business District,” said code enforcement officer David Russell.

Planning board member Kathy Billings expressed concern that the cost of the underground utilities could scare away small developers. Russell countered with the fact that the utilities are already underground for the Brewer Professional Center, which lies on the end of the parallel road, and at locations in Orono, Hampden and the Bangor waterfront.

Planning board member Allen Campbell also expressed concern about a proposed 25-foot setback for buildings along the parallel road.

“I think the 25 feet is entirely too close,” he said at the Jan. 26 meeting.

Other planning board members agreed and the board decided to leave the setback at 40 feet.

The planning board also approved several changes with construction project plans that deal with excavating, removing or filling. Russell said increasing the cubic yardage from 25 to 200 would reduce paperwork for small projects. Those who move for fill 200 cubic yards or more per property, per year will be required to get a fill and grading plan before beginning the project.

“However, all such filling or removal shall require written approval from the code enforcement officer and city engineer,” the new policy would state.

Two of the land-use changes deal with adult use entertainment. The first would require adult-use establishments to have double the screening for their parking lots. The establishments also would be required to have parking lots 30 feet from the street and 20 feet from the side and rear of the property lines.

Under the proposed changes, business or corporate applicants who apply for site plans in Brewer would need to bring a current Certificate of Good Standing before applying, said Johns.

“The applicants must be in good standing with the state,” she said.

This requirement also would include subdivision applicants. At the meeting, 27 changes to Article 7, which deals with subdivisions, were passed.

“This is one of the articles that needed a total rewrite,” Johns said. Most of the subdivision changes deal with changing wording from Brewer Water District to Brewer Water Department. They also include changing the number of fire hydrants required from one every 400 feet to one every 800 feet. Johns said improvements in firefighting capabilities initiated this change.

Russell said all the 19 changes to flood plain management of the land-use code were verbatim to state requirements. The 13 changes to the roads and streets portion of the land-use code had three basic changes, said City Engineer Frank Higgins.

“We’ve adopted the philosophy that if you want to build a dead-end road, we’re requiring a cul-de-sac,” he said. “And we’re requiring curbs on both sides of the street.”

Residential subdivisions also would be required to create a closed drainage system to eliminate curbside drainage ditches, if the council approves the changes.

The distances between driveways for commercial and industrial entrances also are set to increase from 100 feet to 120 feet away from the edge of other neighboring business’s driveways.

The final changes deal with giving official descriptions of four types of adult entertainment facilities, and raised the number of dogs that a kennel can keep, breed or board from three to four.