Edgecomb residents will have the opportunity to lift the development moratorium on Davis Island, at a special town meeting Jan. 9.
The moratorium issue is one of several proposed land use regulation changes outlined in a 13-article warrant that will also allow voters to determine whether the town should appropriate $37,000 toward legal fees and fire station construction.
The proposed land use changes are divided into 10 separate warrant articles. The articles seek to modify language in the town’s Land Use Ordinance to consolidate the Gateway commercial district. The changes would see the Gateway District retooled to more closely follow Rt. 1.
Roughly half of the land area in the existing Gateway District would be placed in the non-commercial Marine 1 District, a piece of land that cuts across Davis Island from the Sheepscot River to Cod Cove.
If voters approve, the Marine 1 District would have a minimum density requirement of one unit per acre of land. To further this goal, a floor area cap of 35,000 feet would be put in place.
Other changes to the Gateway District would see minimum side and rear setbacks requirements reduced from 20 feet to five feet. No side or rear setbacks would be required for parking areas.
Other setbacks in the Gateway District will remain 20 feet, but would require a visual buffer “consisting of either existing vegetation or proposed landscaping” year-round.
At a public hearing Nov. 3, Edgecomb Planning Board Chair Jack French said the proposed changes would encourage development in the Rt. 1 corridor where the town prefers development and maintain its rural character in other areas.
“It does a good job of expanding [the Gateway District’s] commercial use,” French said at the time. “It makes it more of a village.”
Along with the proposed Land Use Ordinance changes, voters will also have the opportunity to appropriate funds toward town legal fees and the new fire station.
Of the $37,000 proposed, $10,000 would be allocated toward legal expenses. Half of the $10,000 will be used to pay Edgecomb’s portion of the recent Mt. Hunger Road lawsuit settlement.
Under the terms of the settlement, Edgecomb agreed to pay Karen Smith, the owner of a gravel pit on Mt. Hunger Road, $5000 among other stipulations.
The other half of the $10,000 appropriation would be used to pay legal fees accrued during the reevaluation of the town’s land use ordinances.
Both legal expenses are combined into Article 2 of the warrant. The $10,000 appropriation would be paid from the town surplus.
The remaining $27,000 of the $37, 000, Article 3 of the warrant, would be used toward the first coat of paving at the new fire station. The appropriation would be funded from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Project Account.
The special town meeting will be held Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Edgecomb Town Office.
