The Bristol Planning Board denied an application by Maine Kayak to continue to operate a kayak rental site at Ellingwood Park at its meeting Thursday, Aug. 20.
Chairwoman Andrea Cox made the motion, stating the application did not meet the criteria for a permit outlined in the Bristol shoreland zoning ordinance, which prohibits commercial structures and uses in residential districts. Furthermore, Cox said the usage Maine Kayak asked for was not a “functionally water-dependent usage.”
This decision comes after more than two months of conversation between Maine Kayak and the Bristol Parks and Recreation Commission, board of selectmen, and planning board.
According to the minutes from the Bristol Parks and Recreation Commission’s June 2 meeting, Alvah Maloney, of Maine Kayak, approached the Bristol Parks and Recreation Commission about placing a shed at Ellingwood Park for kayak rentals. The shed would be on site from June 15 to October each season. At the commission’s next meeting on June 16, a contract between the commission and Maine Kayak was reviewed, approved, and signed.
The Bristol Board of Selectmen discussed the contract at its meeting on July 1. According to minutes from the meeting, Karen Farnsworth, of River Mist Kayaks, a kayak rental company located across the street from the Ellingwood Park launch site, raised the question of whether Maine Kayak, a private business, could operate on public property.
The Bristol Planning Board took on the discussion at its July 16 meeting. Alvah and Kelly Maloney appeared before the board to submit an application for a shoreland zoning permit for the kayak rental shop, stating they were unaware the permit was required when the building was installed.
“The applicants thought they were in the parks and recreation district because the town owns the property and Bristol Parks and Recreation maintains the site,” according to the meeting minutes. “The board explained that the parks and recreation designation is not automatically applied to town-owned property.” The park is in a residential zone, however.
The Maloneys agreed to remove the shed, but asked if they could continue to rent and store kayaks on a portable trailer with wheels.
According to minutes from the Aug. 20 meeting, the Maine Municipal Association’s legal department clarified to Code Enforcement Officer Joe Rose that commercial structures and commercial uses, such as a portable trailer, were prohibited in the residential district, per the shoreland zoning ordinance. The Maloneys were then invited to attend the Aug. 20 planning board meeting for a review and decision on their application.
Kelly Maloney asked the board to consider the Maine Kayak permit application under a section of the shoreland zoning ordinance that outlines permitted commercial uses in the residential district. In addition to campsites, bed-and-breakfasts, and home occupations, the section also allows for “functionally water-dependent facilities for hauling and storing a maximum of 10 boats.”
Under the ordinance, the code enforcement officer can issue a permit for “uses similar to allowed uses” listed in the section, which is what the Maloneys were asking for.
“It’s a bit of a judgment call in a gray area,” Kelly Maloney said.
The planning board disagreed with the assertion that Maine Kayak was a functionally water-dependent business. The shoreland zoning ordinance defines functionally water-dependent uses as those “that require, for their primary purpose, location on submerged lands or that require direct access to, or location in, coastal or inland waters and that cannot be located away from these waters.”
Before it had the shed in Ellingwood Park, Maine Kayak would bring kayaks from its location in New Harbor to the launch site for customers. The availability of such a service means Maine Kayak is not functionally water-dependent.
Andrew Poland, an alternate member of the planning board who was filling in due to the absence of regular members, asked if the Maloneys could still have the trailer at the site during the day and remove it at night. Cox said that would not be permitted, as it would be a commercial use.
“We are tasked with doing what the ordinance allows,” Cox said.
Cox, along with board member Patricia Jennings and Poland, voted to deny the permit. Jason Lord, another alternate board member, abstained from the vote.