The Dresden Board of Appeals will hear the appeal of a Dresden Planning Board decision to issue a permit for a gravel pit March 29.
The board of appeals held its first meeting on the matter March 9. Chairman Joseph Atkinson explained how the appeal process will work. The board did not discuss the merits of the appeal or take comments.
The hearing will convene at Pownalborough Hall at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 29.
Dresden residents John Matzke, Donald and Debra Swift, and William Waters are appealing the decision of the Dresden Planning Board to grant a permit for a gravel pit on Ludwig Road to Richard “Dick” Condon.
The Brunswick firm Moncure & Barnicle is representing Matzke, the Swifts, and Waters.
Mary Denison, of the Winthrop firm Lake & Denison, is representing Condon.
In the 16-page appeal document, the appellants say the planning board made “errors and omissions” in four categories: the Condon lot “is non-conforming and illegal,” “the application was incomplete and process insufficient to protect the town and neighboring landowners,” “the lot encroaches on neighboring properties,” and “the planning board failed to establish criteria required by law.”
The appellants and several other neighbors to the pit raised concerns about the pit during the series of planning board meetings about the project, and the appeal re-states what appear to be the primary concerns of the neighborhood.
The planning board “failed to consider the neighborhood compatibility of a full-scale gravel pit operating on Ludwig Road,” attorney Paul Brunetti said in the appeal. “Ludwig Road is a private, narrow drive. It has had mostly residential or low-impact, home-based businesses for decades.
“The operation of a gravel pit, along with the noise and vehicle traffic associated with it, is a complete departure from the neighborhood. It poses a risk to children in the area. It devalues adjacent properties, and generally diminishes the right of neighboring landowners to enjoy their properties, and generally reduces the value of the properties on Ludwig Road.”
The appellants ask the board of appeals to “overturn the decision of the planning board to issue a conditional use permit, remand the matter to the planning board with further instructions, and issue a stop-work order to the Richard and Jane Condon Trust until the planning board has conducted further examination of their application.”
Denison rebutted the arguments in her response to the appeal on behalf of Condon.
The planning board “did not commit any error when it reviewed and approved the conditional use permit for a small gravel pit on the Ludwig Road,” Denison said in the response. “The record clearly indicates that Mr. Condon complied with all the ordinance requirements that were applied to this application and the conditional use permit itself, with its 13 separate paragraphs of conditions, serves to provide ample protection to the health, safety, and welfare of the appellants and the other residents of Dresden.”
Dresden Planning Board Chairman Jeffrey Pierce told the board he stands by its decision during a meeting on Tuesday, March 15, saying he is “fully confident” the board of appeals will uphold the planning board’s decision.
(Maia Zewert contributed reporting to this article.)
