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South Berwick Citizen
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www.southberwickcitizen.org
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Board Meetings are on the first and third Tuesday of each month
Archive of Planning Board Meetings
(Read a report on the most recent Planning Board Meeting on the home page.)
January 4, 2005
Planning Board Meeting
By Rachel Schumacher
The South Berwick Planning
Board will ask the town council to appoint an advisory committee to review
local zoning ordinance and find where it is inconsistent with the new
comprehensive plan, which has not yet been accepted.
If the council does not want to appoint
such a committee, the planning board can opt to appoint their own subcommittee
with this responsibility, noted Planning Board member Dennis Smith.
The planning board this month met
with Code Enforcement Officer Joe Rouselle to discuss zoning changes to
the town's ordinance to make it better reflect the town's proposed comp
plan.
During the workshop Jan 4, Smith said he
hopes Rouselle will make recommendations based on the comp plan, which
has yet to be finished.
Rouselle argued, though, that the ordinance
needs to be corrected as soon as possible since there are discrepancies
between the ordinance and the existing comp plan.
"This is the best time to do it. It
needs to be done. It's dragged on for too many years. It needs to be corrected,"
Rouselle said.
The state checks to see if the town's
comp plan and zoning ordinance are consistent and reflect the goals of
the town, Rouselle said. If the two documents are inconsistent, the town
is open to legal challenges.
Zoning ordinances are legally required
to reflect the town's comprehensive plan. The town is now in the process
of redrafting a plan.
The board wants to have an advisory board appointed
to put in place the comprehensive plan by going through the existing zoning
ordinance, locating inconsistencies and recommending changes, Planning
board member Jack Shipley said.
"We want the comp plan to be a working plan.
We don't want it sitting up on the shelf for nine and a half years,"
Shipley said. "The advisory board would keep the ball rolling."
The board and Rouselle discussed the timing of
the needed zoning changes. They agreed that once the comp plan is accepted,
the advisory board will need a few months before it is ready to make recommendations
to the ordinance.
Smith said he wanted the planning board to be
involved in the zoning ordinance recommendations.
Planning Board Coordinator Kathy Delp echoed
Smith's suggestion and said she and Rouselle want to do it.
Rouselle agreed, pointing out they will have
time to work on it during the next three months, during winter, when development
is slower.
Delp said the board won't have many agenda items
for the next meeting and suggested they have another workshop with Rouselle,
who agreed to bring a list of zoning inconsistencies to that meeting.
The board discussed the formation of the Comprehensive
Plan Implementation Committee and acknowledged that they have a partial
short list of possible candidates to recommend for the committee.
Smith said he was planning to go to the next
council meeting to ask them to appoint the committee.
Board members said the council has been unresponsive
to their requests of appointing the committee because they want the comp
plan completed first.
Planning Board member Cheryl Dionne questioned
their logic, "Wouldn't you want someone there to do their homework
before the comp plan is accepted?"
Smith said if the council doesn't appoint a committee
the planning board can appoint their own subcommittee.
Planning Board Chairman David Burke said he "would
love for the town manager to buy into what we're trying to do here."