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HAMPDEN – The planning board will meet at 7 tonight to discuss several zoning changes that could affect home businesses, seasonal residents and the location of telecommunications equipment.
The board also will review site plans for the Maine Sports Complex LLC, known locally as “The Bubble,” and a proposed self-storage facility and office building.
On the agenda is a zoning amendment that would expand the number of districts where home businesses are allowed, while simplifying the submission and approval process, according to Town Planner Robert Osborne.
The districts include a residential, a business and an interchange zone.
Also on the agenda is a zoning amendment that would define a seasonal dwelling as a cottage-style home limited to a maximum of 1,500 square feet of finished floor area. The term “seasonal” would not limit the number of days per year the house is used, Osborne said.
Approximately 75 percent of Fowler’s Landing on Hermon Pond, the town’s only seasonal district, is home to year-round residents, he said.
“The town doesn’t want to be the enforcer of whether you’re there nine months or 12,” Osborne said.
The third zoning change would amend the town ordinance that covers wireless telecommunications facilities. Cell phone towers now are relegated to rural and industrial districts.
The change would allow smaller “microcell” facilities, made up of antennae and other equipment, in residential areas while controlling the size and appearance of the facility.
A proposal from Unicel to set up equipment on the Ballfield Road water tower prompted the town to consider the zoning change, according to town Planner Bob Osborne.
The company has filed an application to use an existing cell tower on Western Avenue but needs another location to provide an adequate signal.
The proposed microcell facility would have far less visual impact than a cell phone tower, and its use would be secondary to water storage, the town planner has said.
Two site plan revisions also will go before the board tonight, including one from Maine Sports Complex LLC, the indoor sports facility on Coldbrook Road.
The developers want permission to cut 2,000 square feet from a previously approved 4,600-square-foot expansion.
The other site plan up for review is from Steve and Lea Andrew, who want to construct in several phases six storage units and a 3,300-square-foot office building on Penobscot Meadow Drive.
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