Inside the Proposed Ordinance Creating the Shoreland General Development 3 -- Route One South -- SG3 District

Transcription

1 Inside the Proposed Ordinance Creating the Shoreland General Development 3 -- Route One South -- SG3 District

2 GOAL: To allow the Ogunquit Playhouse to accomplish need-based improvements to ensure its long-term viability.

3 Proposed Solution: Amend the Zoning Ordinance and Official Zoning Map to create the Shoreland Development District 3 Route One South SG3 District.

4 Change of Name: 1. Originally: Shoreland General Development 3 - Route One Southern Corridor General Development District II SG3.

5 Change of Name: 2. Now: Shoreland Development District 3 Route One South SG3 District.

6 Objectives: To establish the Ogunquit Playhouse as an expressly permitted use that can be expanded subject to reasonable dimensional standards. Why? Existing zoning regulations severely restrict the ability to expand and renovate the Playhouse.

7 Chief Concerns Expressed at First Public Workshop: 1. Avoid unintended consequences of rezoning the property. 2. Minimize adverse impacts on the Playhouse s neighbors and its natural environment.

8 Question About Unintended Consequences: What is the risk that, if the Town adopts the SG3 District, the land within the District could be purchased in the future by developers who would not wish to operate the Ogunquit Playhouse and would instead put the land to undesirable uses?

9 Answer: Very low, because of: a. deed restrictions on the Playhouse Property; and b. the ordinance s prohibition, within the SG3 District, of nearly all uses that are unrelated to the operation of a nonprofit performing arts theater.

10 Deed from John C. Lane to Ogunquit Playhouse Foundation September 17, 1997

11 Determination Letter from IRS to Ogunquit Playhouse Foundation May 14, 1999

12 While we re talking about the deed to the Playhouse Foundation

13 Forever Wild Covenant

14 Forever Wild Area on Lot 5-35-B

15 Forever Wild Area in the Context of the SG3 District

16 Now, back to the proposed ordinance creating the SG3 District.

17 Step 1: Establish the District ARTICLE 1.2 ESTABLISHMENT OF ZONES The following six districts are considered to be the Shoreland Zones, established pursuant to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Shoreland Zoning Guidelines: J. Shoreland Limited Residential District SLR K. Shoreland Limited Commercial District SLC L. Shoreland General Development 1 Ogunquit Beach SG1 M. Shoreland General Development 2 Perkins Cove SG2 N. Shoreland General Development 3 Route One South SG3 NO. Stream Protection District -SP OP. Resource Protection District - RP

18 Step 2: Define the Intended Principal Theater Use Narrowly ARTICLE 2 DEFINITIONS Non-Profit Performing Arts Theater A building or land owned by a Maine non-profit, tax-exempt organization having a principal place of business in Ogunquit, the primary use of which is the presentation of theatrical productions featuring professional actors, directors, musicians, and production crew, but which may also present other performing and visual arts as well. The term non-profit performing arts theater shall include all subsidiary uses customarily associated with the presentation of theatrical productions, including, but not limited to, on-site fabrication of sets, scenery, props, and costumes; housing of actors, musicians, and crew engaged in theater activities; operation of a fly tower; provision and maintenance of parking areas; educational activities; operation of administrative and business offices related to the operations of the theater; and the service of food and beverages to patrons.

19 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District (Cont d) Land Use Table A -- (Allowed without a permit) --Emergency operations --Essential services -roadside distribution lines (34.5kV and lower) --Fire Prevention Activities --Passive recreation --Service drops, to allowed uses --Soil and water conservation practices --Surveying and resource analysis --Wildlife management practices -- As an exception, the Ogunquit Playhouse may serve patrons beverages and snack food outdoors on the premises from one hour before, during and one hour after performances (fn. 5 to Table 702.1)

20 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District? (Cont d) Land Use Table C -- (Allowed with a permit from the CEO) --Filling and earth-moving of less than 10 cubic yards --Fence meeting the standards of Section Roads, land management --Clearing or removal of vegetation for activities other than timber harvesting

21 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District (Cont d) Land Use Table MFS -- (Allowed with approval from Maine Forest Services) -- Forest management

22 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District (Cont d) Land Use Table SUB -- (Allowed with Planning Board subdivision approval) -- Subdivision as defined in the Ogunquit subdivision regulations

23 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District (Cont d) Land Use Table SPR -- (Allowed with Planning Board site plan approval) -- Essential services all types except for roadside distribution lines (34.5kV and lower) -- Filling and earthmoving of more than 10 cubic yards -- Wireless communications facility antenna -- Public building, structure or use -- Roads -- Non-profit performing arts theater 13

24 Step 3: Decide What Other Uses Should Be Allowed in the District (Cont d) Land Use Table SPR (allowed with Planning Board site plan review only if accessory to a non-profit performing arts theater) -- Business & professional office -- Manufacturing -- Transient accommodation Type 4 (motel/hotel) -- Type 2 Restaurant -- Schools, public and private -- Museum -- Piers, docks, wharves, bridges & other structures extending over or below high water line or within a wetland, temporary or permanent -- Retail establishments not elsewhere listed -- Service establishments not elsewhere listed, including taxi or livery service dispatching offices

25 Step 4: Decide What Other Uses Should NOT Be Allowed in the District Land Use Table NP -- (not permitted) -- Active recreation -- Agriculture -- Animal husbandry, commercial and non-commercial -- Aquaculture -- Campground -- Cemetery -- Golf Course -- Individual private campsite -- Mineral exploration -- Mineral extraction, including gravel pits -- Parking lot

26 Step 4: Decide What Other Uses Should NOT Be in the District? (Cont d) Land Use Table NP -- (not permitted) -- Dwelling accessory to business; above ground floor -- Manufactured housing unit -- Mobile home park -- Multi-family dwelling -- Single family dwelling -- Two family dwelling -- Clustered or planned unit residential development -- Amusement center -- Boarding house -- Commercial recreation -- Day care center

27 Step 4: Decide What Other Uses Should NOT Be in the District? (Cont d) Land Use Table NP -- (not permitted) -- Funeral home -- Theater other than a non-profit performing arts theater -- Greenhouse -- Kennel, veterinary hospital -- Marina -- Mechanized recreation -- Nursing home -- Outdoor sales, services & storage areas including gasoline stations (subject to fn. 5 to Table 702.1) -- Public utility facility, other than Essential Services or Service Drops -- Retail storage & sale of fuel for use on watercraft -- Slaughterhouse/meat packing facility

28 Step 4: Decide What Other Uses Should NOT Be in the District? (Cont d) Land Use Table NP -- (not permitted) -- Transient Accommodations Types Restaurants, Types 1, Wholesale business -- Wireless Communications Facility - Communications tower -- Houses of worship -- Library -- Ham Radio tower/antenna -- Home occupation -- Recreational Vehicles -- Tenting -- Yard Sale

29 Step 5: Identify Any Dimensional Standards That Should Apply to the District Land Use Table Side setbacks (internal lot boundaries) None -- Setback from water bodies & wetlands (Type GDII District) Maximum lot coverage (for existing and proposed facilities) 70% -- Maximum building height (fly tower only, fn. 16) None

30 Step 6: Identify Any Other Ordinance Standards That Need To Be Tweaked 1. Include the SG3 District in the following sections that relate either to general lists of zones or to the SG1 and/or SG2 Districts: a. Section 1.3(D)(3), District Boundary Locations: Zoning Map and Section 7.1, Purpose of Districts. b. Section 8.12(D)(b), establishing restrictions on sign size applicable to the LBD, SG1, and SG2 Districts. c. Section 11.2 definition of district for the purposes of design review.

31 Step 6: Identify Any Other Ordinance Standards That Need To Be Tweaked? (Cont d) 2. Because the Playhouse campus is spread over several lots, it is necessary to amend regulations that allow an activity to take place only on the same lot as the principal use. Thus, the following regulations must be amended to allow, in the SG3 Zone, a regulated activity to take place either on the same lot as the principal use or on a contiguous lot: a. Article 2 definition of accessory use, which otherwise requires principal and accessory uses to be located on the same lot. b. Article 2 definition of driveway, which otherwise requires a vehicle access way to lead to nonresidential parking areas on only one lot. c. Article 2 definition of parking area, which otherwise limits parking areas to serving occupants of uses and structures on the same lot.

32 Step 6: Identify Any Other Ordinance Standards That Need To Be Tweaked? (Cont d) d. Article 8.10(d)(3), which otherwise allows required off-street parking to be provided either on the same lot as the principal use or within a limited distance from the principal use.

33 Step 7: Amend the Official Zoning Map to Show the SG3 District.

34 A Critical Question About Process: If the Town adopts the SG3 District, which parts of the Playhouse Master Plan will the Town have approved for construction?

35 Answer: NONE OF THEM Well, except for those allowed without any permit.

36 Why not? 1. Adopting a Shoreland General Development District that includes the Playhouse Property is not contract zoning. 2. Adopting a Shoreland General Development District that includes the Playhouse Property is not a permit or approval authorizing any specific building or use.

37 Why not? (Cont d) 3. When establishing a zoning district, a municipality realistically can only establish, with certainty, (a) restrictions on what uses are possible in that district and (b) the minimum and maximum dimensional standards the Town is willing to tolerate with regard to the uses allowed in that district.

38 Why not? (Cont d) 4. Therefore, adopting a Shoreland General Development District that includes the Playhouse Property accomplishes only one thing: It removes present obstacles in the Ordinance that make it IMPOSSIBLE for the Playhouse to obtain the permits and approvals necessary to implement the Master Plan.

39 Why not? (Cont d) 5. Even under the proposed SG3 ordinance, virtually every building and use mentioned in the Master Plan requires administrative review by the Town CEO and/or the Planning Board before it can be built. Until the Playhouse applies for and obtains the land use approvals needed to implement each section of the Master Plan, it cannot begin work.

40 Why not? (Cont d) 6. For the same reason, the Playhouse cannot presently propose specific measures to protect natural resources in its vicinity, other than the important Forever Wild area. What specific environmental protections are needed can only be decided once the Master Plan improvements are first (a) designed and then (b) reviewed under:

41 a. the sixteen criteria for Planning Board site plan review set forth in OZO Section 6.7; b. the performance standards of Article 8 in general, and of Sections 8.2 (air pollution), 8.5 (prevention of erosion), 8.7 (lighting), 8.9 (noise), 8.11 (shadows), 8.13 (traffic impacts and street access), 8.14 (waste-water pollution), 8.15 (water quality), and 8.16 (solid waste control) in particular;

42 c. the Section 9.15 Shoreland Zone Standards, including paragraphs B (general requirements for principal and accessory structures), F (parking areas) G (roads and driveways), H (storm water runoff), L (clearing of vegetation for activities other than timber harvesting), M (erosion and sedimentation control), N (soils), O (water quality), and P (historic sites);

43 d. the standards for Design Review set forth in Article 11; and e. the State environmental regulations issued by the Maine DEP pursuant to the Natural Resources Protection Act, 38 M.R.S. Section 480-A et seq., and the standards of the Act itself.

44 In Sum: THE PROPOSED ORDINANCE CREATING THE SG3 DISTRICT: a. has a shorter, catchier name; b. is for a limited purpose: that is, making need-based renovation of the Playhouse possible; c. is limited in scope, altering as few provisions of the existing ordinance as possible; d. uses an old and well-tested zoning tool -- the Shoreland General Development District -- not contract zoning; e. avoids unintended future development because of (a) a restrictive deed covenant limiting use of the Playhouse Property to a non-profit theater, (b) a limited zoning definition of the principal use: non-profit performing arts theater; and (c) a long list of not permitted uses that excludes most uses that are inconsistent with a primary theater use;

45 In Sum: f. would take advantage of the Playhouse s restrictive covenant precluding development of the southerly half of Lot 5-35-B along the shore of the Josias River; and g. still requires Planning Board review of virtually EVERY aspect of the Master Plan under site plan review, Article 8 performance standards, shoreland zoning, and design review, and state natural resource laws.

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