Ordinance Review Committee Meeting Minutes October 22, 2019
Attendees: Charlie Sorenson, Don Scott, Harry Wolhandler, Lisa Anderson and Carol Ogilvie
Public: Winston Sims
Lisa opened the meeting at 5:30 P.M. and updated the Committee on the October 9th Planning Board meeting regarding the upcoming Community Conversation on November 5th. The Planning Board settled on six topics with a table for each, and the Board member that would be at each of the tables. Lisa then asked ORC members which table they would like to take; the results are:
Topic Planning Board Ordinance Review
- Housekeeping Noel Carol
- Impervious Cover Ryan Don
- Signs Ned Mary Ann
- Solar Andrea Lisa
- Wetlands Harry
- ADU’s Courtney Charlie
The group then worked from Carol’s Draft for Ordinance Review Committee October 22, 2019. The draft included comments received from the Planning Board at the October 9th meeting as well as comments received from Harry on the wetlands ordinance draft.
1- Solar. Carol noted that the Planning Board overall was satisfied with the draft; the only question they had was why would a ground-mounted system not be considered impervious. The group discussed this and concluded that the panels in fact should not be considered impervious because of the angle of the panels and the spacing between them; also, any supporting foundation would be considered impervious. Therefore, the language will be changed to specify that only the panels will be exempt from the impervious lot coverage calculations.
2 – PWSF. Carol reported that Ryan had questioned why a Small Wireless Support Structure that could go up to 70 feet would only need a building permit; yet a Limited Height Structure that could not exceed 50 feet (or 20 feet above the average tree line) required both the Conditional Use Permit and Site Plan Review. She had reached out to the Broadband Committee and in particular to Brian Foucher for input on this question. Brian’s opinion was that with a limitation of four square feet for the footprint and 15 square feet for the antennas, the visual impact would be minimal.
Lisa suggested rewording the definition to read “Devices for the reception transmission and/or broadcasting of fixed wireless signals, such as a lamp post, utility pole, or other structure that is 2
no more than 70 feet high…” Carol will be meeting with the Broadband Committee on Friday and will take this up with them and report back.
3 – ADU’s. Lisa updated the Committee on the discussion of ADU’s at the Planning Board meeting. The group continued discussion of the issues and whether or not an amendment to the ADU ordinance would address the current issue the Board is dealing with. Carol suggested that amending the definition of dwelling to mirror the state building code definition might be appropriate; this definition applies to all living units in town, not just ADU’s. Both definitions, then, would have references to the criteria that make a space a living unit. It was also suggested that the purpose statement be condensed.
4 – Wetlands Conservation District. The group discussed the question Harry raised, and that had to do with the exemption for expansion of pre-existing residential structures. Everyone agreed that the exemption was contrary to what the purpose and intent of wetlands protection should be, and therefore that section should be eliminated.
The next issue was whether any wetland should be used to satisfy a minimum lot size requirement. The existing ordinance allows up to 25% of a lot to be comprised of poorly-drained soils, but no amount of very poorly-drained soils may be used to make up lot size. The group concluded that, under the new proposed definition of wetland, no amount of any wetland should be used to fulfill a minimum lot size requirement.
Issues still remaining to be discussed and resolved are what to allow/not allow within the newly-proposed buffer and setback. That will be taken up at the next meeting.
In the meantime, Carol will begin to prepare slides and handouts for the November 5th Community Conversation.
Next Meeting: Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 5:30 P.M.
Meeting adjourned at 7:15 pm