City seeks input on new zoning (Printed Sept. 29)
Posted by Sentry Editor at 10/6/2006 8:52 AM 
Categories: Zoning, So Po News, Open Space, Knightville Mill Creek
Categories: Zoning, So Po News, Open Space, Knightville Mill Creek
By Zack Anchors
Staff Writer
The City of South Portland is seeking feedback from residents, organizations and businesses regarding a project to update and improve the city’s land use regulations. The newly established “Zoning Improvements Committee” held their first meeting and a public forum was held last week at the library.
“Our first step is to reach out to people who have involvement with the city’s ordinance,” said city planning consultant Mark Eyerman of Planning Decisions, who has been contracted to work with the committee on the project. “What do they see as the problems? What do they think can be improved? And how can we improve it?”
South Portland’s land use regulations—most of which are found in Chapter 27, the zoning section of the code of ordinance—are widely considered to be out-of-date, overly complex, and occasionally, contradictory. The project, which is expected to take at least 18 months, is intended to create land use regulations more aligned with the current needs of South Portland residents and the city’s comprehensive plan.
City councilors have repeatedly stressed the significance of the project and emphasized the opportunity they say it provides for the city.
“This is exactly how local government affects you the most,” said Councilor Claude Morgan, who said the city had the chance to rework the land use ordinance starting with a clean slate. “This should be a massively creative project,” he said.
On Aug. 18, Tex Haeuser, director of the planning board, sent out a letter to dozens of businesses and organizations requesting they share their concerns about land use regulations and ideas about how it could be improved. Haeuser said he asked that responses to his letter be submitted to the town by Sept. 29, though he added that public input would continue to be accepted throughout the project.
The public forum, which was held at the main library, began with several members of the Zoning Improvements Committee introducing themselves to the small crowd of less than ten present. The committee was designed to include members representing a broad range of interest throughout the city, with representatives from the conservation commission, neighborhood associations, business community and planning board. Mayor Maxine Beecher is the committee chair.
Several residents attending the forum made comments about the project, including Highland Avenue resident Stanley Cox, who agreed the ordinance needed revision, but asked the city to do so with caution. Cox said he hoped the city would take into account the needs and desires of current residents, and not focus entirely on the future of the city. He also addressed the possibility of requiring increased setbacks for development, which he said would not accomplish much in areas that were already highly developed.
“It’s a little late for that,” he said. “That should be way down on the list of priorities.”
Rommy Brown, president of the Knightville-Mill Creek Neighborhood Association, said her group was working on putting together a response to Haeuser’s letter. Among the issues they discussed, she said, were the need to simplify the ordinance’s language and the use of zoning as a tool to revitalize neighborhoods
“Knightville has been tweaking zoning in our neighborhood for some time now,” she said.
Brown also said her group wants South Portland to implement policies that are environmentally sound.
“We hope that South Portland can be made a model of green design,” she said, listing streetscaping, walkability, and the avoidance of invasive species as items to consider.
Brown also encouraged the committee to consider adopting form-based codes in place of the city’s current zoning ordinance, a change she said would lead to clearer regulations and stronger community centers.
“It’s a relatively new way of accomplishing zoning that’s associated with smart growth,” she said in an interview. “It’s a way to have zoning that says what the community wants instead of what the community doesn’t want—it’s prescriptive rather than proscriptive.”
City Councilor Rosemarie DeAngelis also spoke at the forum in favor of form-based codes, which bases land use regulations more on the desired outcome of development, rather than on restricting land-use types. Form-based codes involve creating a regulatory plan that outlines the appropriate scale and form of development in a given area.
“I also support the idea of form-based codes instead of performance standards,” said DeAngelis, adding that they would allow the city to “codify design standards.”
“The closest we’ve come to [form-based codes] here is implementing design standards in the Knightville neighborhood,” DeAngelis said in an interview. “Implementing form-based codes would make standards regulatory, not advisory.”
Haeuser said form-based code “will be something the committee will want to research and consider.”
DeAngelis also asked the committee to consider establishing environmental regulations that go beyond Department of Environmental Protection standards and encouraged the committee to reach their decisions through consensus rather than voting.
City Councilor Linda Boudreau said land use regulations should take into account the effect of development on adjacent properties. She said that buffering these properties from “visual blight, noise and light” should be required.
“Different types of buffering should be considered, with lots of flexibility,” she said.
Preserving open spaces and wetlands were priorities that Michele Benington of the Meeting House Hill Neighborhood Association thought the committee should focus upon. She said the committee should consider creative approaches to environmental regulations and asked if it would be possible to implement a moratorium on new development until the committee’s work is complete.
At the first meeting of the committee, on Sept. 8, Haeuser presented the steps that will be taken in the process of changing the ordinance. Recommendations from the committee, after undergoing review by city staff, incorporating public input, and passing through reviews by the planning board and zoning board of appeals, will be considered by the city council at a council workshop. Ultimately, the council will hold a first and second hearing before the council votes on the recommended changes.
The zoning improvements project was first proposed in 1999 as part of Project PLAN, an effort headed by Boudreau (who was then Mayor) to explore the competing demands for different land uses in the city. This year the city was awarded a $12,000 grant from the Maine State Planning Office for the project.
Staff Writer
The City of South Portland is seeking feedback from residents, organizations and businesses regarding a project to update and improve the city’s land use regulations. The newly established “Zoning Improvements Committee” held their first meeting and a public forum was held last week at the library.
“Our first step is to reach out to people who have involvement with the city’s ordinance,” said city planning consultant Mark Eyerman of Planning Decisions, who has been contracted to work with the committee on the project. “What do they see as the problems? What do they think can be improved? And how can we improve it?”
South Portland’s land use regulations—most of which are found in Chapter 27, the zoning section of the code of ordinance—are widely considered to be out-of-date, overly complex, and occasionally, contradictory. The project, which is expected to take at least 18 months, is intended to create land use regulations more aligned with the current needs of South Portland residents and the city’s comprehensive plan.
City councilors have repeatedly stressed the significance of the project and emphasized the opportunity they say it provides for the city.
“This is exactly how local government affects you the most,” said Councilor Claude Morgan, who said the city had the chance to rework the land use ordinance starting with a clean slate. “This should be a massively creative project,” he said.
On Aug. 18, Tex Haeuser, director of the planning board, sent out a letter to dozens of businesses and organizations requesting they share their concerns about land use regulations and ideas about how it could be improved. Haeuser said he asked that responses to his letter be submitted to the town by Sept. 29, though he added that public input would continue to be accepted throughout the project.
The public forum, which was held at the main library, began with several members of the Zoning Improvements Committee introducing themselves to the small crowd of less than ten present. The committee was designed to include members representing a broad range of interest throughout the city, with representatives from the conservation commission, neighborhood associations, business community and planning board. Mayor Maxine Beecher is the committee chair.
Several residents attending the forum made comments about the project, including Highland Avenue resident Stanley Cox, who agreed the ordinance needed revision, but asked the city to do so with caution. Cox said he hoped the city would take into account the needs and desires of current residents, and not focus entirely on the future of the city. He also addressed the possibility of requiring increased setbacks for development, which he said would not accomplish much in areas that were already highly developed.
“It’s a little late for that,” he said. “That should be way down on the list of priorities.”
Rommy Brown, president of the Knightville-Mill Creek Neighborhood Association, said her group was working on putting together a response to Haeuser’s letter. Among the issues they discussed, she said, were the need to simplify the ordinance’s language and the use of zoning as a tool to revitalize neighborhoods
“Knightville has been tweaking zoning in our neighborhood for some time now,” she said.
Brown also said her group wants South Portland to implement policies that are environmentally sound.
“We hope that South Portland can be made a model of green design,” she said, listing streetscaping, walkability, and the avoidance of invasive species as items to consider.
Brown also encouraged the committee to consider adopting form-based codes in place of the city’s current zoning ordinance, a change she said would lead to clearer regulations and stronger community centers.
“It’s a relatively new way of accomplishing zoning that’s associated with smart growth,” she said in an interview. “It’s a way to have zoning that says what the community wants instead of what the community doesn’t want—it’s prescriptive rather than proscriptive.”
City Councilor Rosemarie DeAngelis also spoke at the forum in favor of form-based codes, which bases land use regulations more on the desired outcome of development, rather than on restricting land-use types. Form-based codes involve creating a regulatory plan that outlines the appropriate scale and form of development in a given area.
“I also support the idea of form-based codes instead of performance standards,” said DeAngelis, adding that they would allow the city to “codify design standards.”
“The closest we’ve come to [form-based codes] here is implementing design standards in the Knightville neighborhood,” DeAngelis said in an interview. “Implementing form-based codes would make standards regulatory, not advisory.”
Haeuser said form-based code “will be something the committee will want to research and consider.”
DeAngelis also asked the committee to consider establishing environmental regulations that go beyond Department of Environmental Protection standards and encouraged the committee to reach their decisions through consensus rather than voting.
City Councilor Linda Boudreau said land use regulations should take into account the effect of development on adjacent properties. She said that buffering these properties from “visual blight, noise and light” should be required.
“Different types of buffering should be considered, with lots of flexibility,” she said.
Preserving open spaces and wetlands were priorities that Michele Benington of the Meeting House Hill Neighborhood Association thought the committee should focus upon. She said the committee should consider creative approaches to environmental regulations and asked if it would be possible to implement a moratorium on new development until the committee’s work is complete.
At the first meeting of the committee, on Sept. 8, Haeuser presented the steps that will be taken in the process of changing the ordinance. Recommendations from the committee, after undergoing review by city staff, incorporating public input, and passing through reviews by the planning board and zoning board of appeals, will be considered by the city council at a council workshop. Ultimately, the council will hold a first and second hearing before the council votes on the recommended changes.
The zoning improvements project was first proposed in 1999 as part of Project PLAN, an effort headed by Boudreau (who was then Mayor) to explore the competing demands for different land uses in the city. This year the city was awarded a $12,000 grant from the Maine State Planning Office for the project.
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