A Nevada-based company’s sketch plan for a four-lot subdivision at 74 Rodier Road was not approved by the Planning Board last week because the developer failed to present a required cluster/open space plan along with a traditional plan.
RedCoral Investments, which lists a Nevada mailing address on the application, was asked to return with a plan for cluster development, which allows denser development than allowed by ordinance in exchange for setting aside areas of a property that would remain undeveloped.
Town ordinances require subdivision applications to present a “cluster development/open space sketch plan” along with a traditional plan as the first step of the planning process.
“The town asks if you are going to do a subdivision, particularly in the rural areas, that you look at a cluster subdivision or layout,” said Paul Schumacher, special project planner for the town. Schumacher sat in at the meeting for Jenifer McCabe, the code enforcement officer on a six- week leave of absence.
House lots in the R4 zone, which includes Rodier Road, must be at least three acres each. The Rodier Road property is 14 acres but it presents challenges, given the required setbacks for wells, septic systems, shoreland zones and wetlands, said Greg Zinser, Planning Board chair.
An existing building on a parcel within the proposed subdivision further complicates the layout of lots, Zinser said.
Developers are still working on the placement of lots and will likely be changing them, according to Drew Olehowski of Haley Ward, the engineering consultant firm from Bangor that represented RedCoral Investments at the Sept. 18 Planning Board meeting.
On the application document for a minor subdivision, the developer checked off three items as “not applicable” – the location of buffers and setbacks in the shoreland zone; and the location and nature of external lighting and signage.
Zinser noted that if the applicant were hoping to be granted waivers on those items, explanations for such exceptions would be required.
The developer is looking for a waiver to build a road, ending in a cul de sac, that is three times longer than the 600-foot allowable limit, and lists the waiver request in the sketch plan application.
“Hopefully we can get a waiver to allow this project to be feasible,” Olehowski told the board, referring to the road.
Applicants must provide all required documentation to the Code Enforcement Office for review before being able to bring any plan before the Planning Board, according to town ordinance.
Though the sketch plan was not approved at the meeting, applicants have a year to continue to submit plans before their application expires.
In other business last week, the board voted to change its scheduled meetings to the second and fourth Wednesdays at 6 p.m., starting Oct. 9. Town Council meetings, on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m, also are held the second and fourth weeks of the month.
