By Ward Peck
Editor
    With little more than a month before the last public hearing and two months before a final report is to be submitted to the Town Council, the Cape Elizabeth Comprehensive Plan Committee met last week to continue discussion on the plan’s “Land Use” chapter, vision statement and begin a final review of the plan’s first six chapters.
    Land use, dealing with proposed changes to zoning designations, density guidelines, development growth rates and neighborhood character, are often considered the heart of a comprehensive plan as they take into account conclusions found in other chapters of a plan such as population, economy, housing, water resources and transportation. As such, the land use chapter is expected to receive a high level of scrutiny by the public and town council.
    The draft Land Use chapter contains three goals the committee will propose to the council, which if accepted, will form the basis of town policy and ordinance.
    The first goal the committee agreed to propose is to continue to support smart growth principles known as “open space” zoning or “cluster” development in new development.
    “When new development is proposed, it should be clustered on the lot and in areas of town where availability of utilities, such as public sewer, make higher densities possible,” the goal reads in part. “In this way, a minimal amount of total land will be developed to accommodate anticipated new housing.”
    This goal represents a recommendation to continue policies put in place following the Comprehensive Plan of 1993. Based upon those recommendations, the town created a “RB Zone” in 1997. The zone represents the areas in town designated as “growth areas.” Those areas are largely found on the Northwest area of town– a triangle of land roughly west of Spurwink Avenue, and north of Great Pond, extending to the Scarborough and South Portland boundaries. An RB zone also covers a small area off Old Ocean House Road.
    Developments in these areas must follow guidelines in the town’s “Open Space Zoning" ordinance, which promote cluster development by requiring subdivisions to permanently preserve a minimum of 40 percent of the gross land area. This is achieved by placing houses on smaller lots that are “clustered” in one area of the property.
    The current draft plan committee outlined several implementation steps to achieve the goal of continuing the promotion of cluster developments.
    The committee debated at length one of those steps, which recommends increasing density in those areas by reducing the “net residential acreage” of any subdivision to be served by the town sewer from 30,0000 square feet to 20,000 square feet, allowing more units to be placed on a parcel of land. The proposal would also reduce the average lot size to 10,000 square feet and reduce the minimum lot size to 7,500 square feet.
    Town Planner Maureen O’Meara pointed out that if these recommendations are approved, the committee should consider the effects of the town’s Open Space Impact Fee on such developments. That fee, required of any development throughout town, requires a developer to pay a fee. The fee is based upon a ration of publicly accessible open space per resident and is currently set at $4,445 per unit or lot. A developer can also opt to “pay” the fee by conveying 12,937 square-feet of land per unit/lot to be developed. Because the purpose of the fee is to preserve open space the town prefers the fee be satisfied with land, rather than money.
    In cases where both the open space impact fee and open space zoning are applicable, the developer must set aside whichever is greater of the two.
    O’Meara warned that if the open space zoning density requirements are adjusted and the fee is left in place, the impact fee set aside would be larger than the 40 percent open space requirement and undermine the goal of the changes.
    To resolve this conflict the committee agreed to increase the open space set aside in open space zones from 40 percent to 45 percent and exempt those subdivisions from the impact fee.
    The committee also agreed to recommend eliminating the cap on the number of units per building in a multiplex development in designated growth zones; reduce the minimum lot size for such developments from five to three acres and eliminate the minimum lot size for such buildings in the RB districts.
    Another goal the committee agreed to include in the plan was to support the preservation of farmland and other large tracts of land that contribute to Cape Elizabeth’s character. To achieve this goal, the committee recommends the adoption of a mechanism known as “Transfer of Development Rights.” This mechanism allows the owner of one parcel of land to transfer their right to develop the parcel to another landowner. That receiving landowner would then be allowed to increase the density of development on their land by whatever density the original owner of those rights could have built on their land. The mechanism would allow the former owner of those rights to profit, as well as reduce the value of their land for property-tax purposes, while preserving the open space.
    The committee recommended adding an “agricultural bonus” that increases the allowed density being transferred by a third.
    The committee will meet again on Dec. 7 before the next public hearing, set for Jan. 25.
    The plan is expected to be sent to the council on Feb. 28.