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Proposed New Ordinance and Ordinance Changes

Erin Cooperrider said that in addition to the Planning Board's proposed ordinance changes, two administrative ordinances, the Blasting and Sewer Ordinances, would be discussed. She explained that the proposals were not in their final version; changes may be made before the official Public Hearing on March 31st.

She explained the proposed changes, most of which were minor such as the combining of definitions from all ordinances except the Wireless Communications Facility Ordinance into one document, a glossary; and deleting application and appeal fees from all ordinances and combining them into a separate document, the Fee Schedule. The Site Plan Review and Mobile Home Park Ordinances were amended to require the applicant to notify abutters of public hearings, and four ordinances will be amended to Specify that eight copies of application materials are required. Three changes are proposed for the Building Code to clarify the required setback on Route 1, to clarify the Buffer section, and to reword Sections 2, 3 and 4 to clarify the Planning Board's role in the approval process. The Mobile Home Park Ordinance will include a requirement that roads in the park meet the standards now set in the Subdivision Ordinance and references to modular and manufactured housing were removed as confusing and superfluous. The DEP-requested changes in the Shoreland Ordinance have been proposed, i.e. the description of the Limited Residential District was corrected, and the distance from the high-water line in which no timber harvesting may take place was corrected. Referral to the MDOT guidelines for sight distances was added to the Site Plan Review Ordinance. There were no questions or comments.

The fee specified in the Board of Appeals Ordinance will be deleted and added to the Fee Schedule.

Jim Fitch of Woodard and Curran, the engineering firm overseeing the water and sewer connections from Wiscasset on behalf of Edgecomb, gave an overview of the Sewer Ordinance. The purpose of the ordinance is to create standards and establish administrative rules. It deals with prohibited uses, right to inspect and monitor, discharge methods, metering, usage fees, connection fees and impact fees.

Jo Cameron gave a brief history which prompted the Selectmen to look into a Blasting Ordinance for Edgecomb. A draft ordinance had been prepared using the Westport Island ordinance, although one item remained to be discussed or clarified and that is the transport of explosives through Edgecomb. There was a suggestion that truckers give forewarning of transport through Edgecomb and that the newspaper and Fire Department be informed. Lisa McSwain said a State permit is required for all transport of explosives and if all trucks had to notify the Town, it would difficult to monitor and enforce with current staff.

The definition of impervious surface was discussed, i.e. whether it should include mown lawns. Amanda Russell said that NEMO defined impervious surface as any surface which diverts subsurface flow to surface runoff by preventing natural percolation into the soil. She said the issue of non-point pollution becomes critical with stormwater runoff. Lawns which are regularly mown do not absorb rain, it flows off of the lawn. The definition could have a significant impact on calculations for lot coverage. It may be advisable to separate the more restrictive definition from the proposed Glossary in order to avoid the whole section being voted down. More research will be done.