Developers sue Glenburn over moratorium

GLENBURN – Two developers have filed a lawsuit in Penobscot County Superior Court against the town, claiming that Glenburn’s subdivision moratorium has prevented them from continuing with their development plans.

Plaintiffs Bruce Watson, doing business as Bruce Watson General Contractor, and Aaron Knowles claim they have been deprived of a business enterprise and say they have lost money, according to their attorney. They are asking for costs, interest and attorney fees.

The council is expected to vote tonight on another 60-day extension of the moratorium, which runs out the first part of August.

“The reason we filed the complaint is because the moratorium has been on over a year,” attorney Joseph Baldacci of Bangor said Wednesday. “The whole reason for the [state] statute [allowing moratoriums] is to give the community an opportunity to come up with the necessary regulations. It’s not to hold up development indefinitely.”

Baldacci said if the council votes not to extend the moratorium 60 days, his clients will drop their suit.

The moratorium has been in effect for more than a year while the planning board, Town Council and residents work to update the 30-year-old subdivision ordinance.

The planning board had approved the plaintiffs’ subdivision sketch plan before the moratorium was enacted, but the developers were prevented from going forward because a preliminary application had not been presented and approved, as required by the moratorium.

The town was served the court documents on Wednesday, July 14, and has 20 days to respond before further action is taken and court dates are set.

“All that I can tell you is that we’ve used our legal counsel through the whole process, including the wording of the drafting of our moratorium and the drafting of the moratorium, so I’m sure that everything we’ve done is appropriate,” Town Manager Carl Betterley said Tuesday.

According to the last Census, Glenburn is the fasting-growing town in Penobscot County. The number of subdivisions in the town increased from 14 in 2000 to 21 in 2002.

While reviewing subdivision applications, town officials realized that the fee schedule did not cover the actual cost to post required public notices, and that road, safety and other requirements needed to be revised.

The original 180-day moratorium on subdivision development, enacted June 12, 2003, has been extended twice. The moratorium put a stop to accepting, processing, reviewing, denying, approving or issuing any application, permit, license or approval for any subdivision located in Glenburn.

“We had to look at the whole ordinance, rather than just amend a section,” Betterley said, noting that the process takes time.

The state statute allows a six-month moratorium and gives the council the right to extend that time period, Baldacci said.

“I’m not aware of any communities extending it more than a year,” the attorney said. “The council has had, in our view, ample opportunity to make the necessary adjustments.”

Unlike the process used in most communities to amend an ordinance, the planning board and council decided to obtain residents’ comment on the revisions.

A committee made up of a cross-section of councilors, developers and landowners was created to make revisions to the mandate with assistance from Tom Russell, town attorney, and Dean Bennett, Penobscot Valley Council of Government executive director.

Watson and Knowles both are members of this committee.

“Both serve on the ordinance committee, so it wasn’t like they were left out of the loop, so to speak,” Betterley said.

The ordinance has taken a long time to create for several reasons, according to town officials. Bennett was hired as a consultant last summer, but was not able to start work on the project until the fall. The dynamics of the committee created to develop the ordinance also contributed to the delay, according to the consultant.

“Any time you put a mix like that together, it’s going to take time,” Bennett said Wednesday. “Overall I think the quality of the document will reveal itself in time because it was put together by the people that are going to use it.”

The council, planning board and subdivision ordinance review committee will meet tonight in a workshop to discuss the committee’s current draft. Bennett and Russell will be present to offer comment if necessary.

“After that, it’s my understanding that this will go on a planning board agenda for their approval,” Betterley said. If approved by the planning board, the new ordinance will be presented to the Town Council for any necessary changes. After a public hearing is held, the council then will adopt the final ordinance, according to the town manager.

“There’s no way we’re going to be able to enact the new ordinance by [August],” Russell said.

Another 60-day extension would go through to the first part of October. If a new ordinance is adopted before then, however, the council can make it applicable retroactively and the moratorium will be lifted, Russell explained.

“My clients obviously feel that [the town has] gotten plenty of extensions,” Baldacci said. “They’re prevented from going forward with the development until the moratorium is lifted.”