On June 14, Damariscotta residents will head to the ballot box for a referendum vote on proposed new zoning codes, known as form based codes or the Damariscotta SmartCode.
The new codes would replace sections of the existing code in distinct areas throughout town, particularly the downtown area, and along sections of Bus. Rt. 1, including the proposed new development at Piper Commons, a 270-acre swath of land that runs behind Damariscotta Hardware back to the Heater Road and Paradise Pond.
Use based codes allow only one use per building, and are commonly considered to contribute to sprawl. They separate commercial from residential districts, encourage car dependency, and are typically commercial areas with many large one-story buildings set back far from the roadway, with large parking lots in front.
Form based codes, conversely, are designed to reduce sprawl by encouraging interconnected neighborhoods, encouraging walkability and green space, allowing multiple uses within multi-story buildings, and setting buildings close to the road, with parking lots behind buildings.
Form based codes consider first the form or design of a building, then the building’s use.
In Damariscotta, the best example of use based code development is along Bus. Rt.1, where many buildings are set far apart and away from the road, with large parking lots in front.
The historic downtown district, by comparison, was developed before current use based zoning restrictions. The buildings are multi-story and multi-use and often include retail space on the first floor, with professional and/or residential space above.
Parking is behind the buildings that are set close together, and close to the streetscapes that encourage walking from one storefront to the next. This sort of development is not allowed under the current use based code.
DPAC and the town received a planning grant from the Orton Family Foundation, a DPAC Heart and Soul Community Planning Project.
The project plan included extensive community involvement and a week-long visioning and planning charrette, which identified the community values: living and working locally; accessible culture and nature; an involved and accessible community; and, a strong sense of community.
Specific goals identified included increased sidewalks, bicycle lanes, bicycle racks, community gathering areas, playgrounds and green spaces; connections between downtown, schools, and the YMCA; improving the School Street intersection; and, developing a waterfront park downtown.
The Heart and Soul report resulted in considering form based codes to realize goals.
DPAC hosted multiple public form based code informational workshops, followed by over 30 public code development workshops, wherein more than 150 community members decided how to best implement form based codes in Damariscotta, resulting in the proposed Damariscotta SmartCode.
Discussions included building heights, lot widths, sign ordinances, and architectural standards, and mapping the town into five different development zones, or “transects.” Specifics include, for example, a two-story building minimum in the downtown area and along certain sections of Bus. Rt. 1.
The new code requires building to lot lines, rear facing parking lots, increasing the number of windows and doors in new buildings; provisions for light industrial development, increased green space, interconnected neighborhoods, and increased pedestrian and bicycle access.
If passed, the code would allow for multi-use buildings with commercial uses on ground floors, and professional and residential uses above, and would include natural and rural zones to allow for limited and conditional development.
Not included in the code are the architectural standards and lot width restrictions that many believe are key to a strong form based code. As a result, some are fearful that Damariscotta’s code is too friendly to developers and will not do enough to reduce sprawl. The 35,000-sq.ft. retail size cap would remain in place.
Proponents say the issues were discussed extensively during the public code workshops, and the community decided not to include the provisions.
“A whole lot of people in the community spent a lot of their time, energy and thought in devising a code that they believe is the best fit for our town,” DPAC chair Robin Mayer said. “This is the town’s code, not the consultant’s code.”
Other concerns focus on the proposed development at Piper Commons, since the developer has actively been involved in the code development process and has paid, in part, for the consultants’ time, though it did not have influence in the consultants selected.
There is concern the new codes, if approved, allow Piper developers too much leeway in creating a Cook’s Corner-type development or a competing downtown.
Local business owner John Reny believes Piper developers will not state what it is they want to develop. “We’re changing everything, the whole way we do things, so they can do what they want to do, but they won’t tell us what that is,” he said.
Former DPAC member and current Downtown Region Business Association member Mary Kate Reny said, “The remaining questions are about how form based codes actually work. They bring powerful changes to the public process in land use development, including expedited permitting, development review and public notice requirements.
“Let’s say ‘thank you’ to the consultants and DPAC, and ask Damariscotta to own this thing. We know that a large development proposal is at our doorstep, and that Piper has been at the table for the last two years. Is it too much to ask how these codes relate to Piper and all of the other development proposals in our collective future?” she asked.
Susan and Barnaby Porter, owners of Maine Coast Book Shop and Café said, “With all the confusion we’ve been hearing with regard to the upcoming vote on form based codes, we’ve become very alarmed that Damariscotta voters are going over a waterfall of uncertainty.
“We want to encourage everyone to look very hard before they leap. Nothing could be worse than for the townspeople to suddenly realize they are exceedingly unhappy with what they blindly voted for.”
Local businesswoman Jean Kerrigan, co-owner of the Damariscotta River Grill said that while she supports form based codes, she thinks the Damariscotta code needs to be fixed before it is approved.
Speaking for herself and her husband, Grill co-owner Rick Hirsch, she said, “As local business owners, we like the idea of form based codes and think they will be a huge benefit to our area. However, there are few things that need to be fixed, first. We say, ‘fix it first, then vote, rather than vote, then fix.'”
They also cite the code’s ability to increase walkability and green space, reduce sprawl, encourage interconnected neighborhoods, draw new businesses to downtown areas, attract young people and professionals, and increase the tax base.
Because of their ability to reduce sprawl and encourage development typical of historic New England downtowns, many towns throughout New England and across the country are currently considering the implementation of form based codes.
Such codes have already been enacted in several cities and towns in Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and are currently being considered by several Maine municipalities.
In response to concern about Piper’s influence over the code’s development, Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser said, “I keep hearing concern about ‘nameless, faceless’ code writers and developers. The developers had no undue influence over the code writing. It’s the people who wrote the code. It was debated by the public. It was the folks here in town who created the code, not some random out-of-staters.
“The developers have been hanging in with us over the past four years because they want to build something that will be accepted by the community, rather than ending up in legal wrangling over a project that the town does not want.
“Whatever they build is not going to be built overnight, and the code will regulate it. They came to town at the same time the Heart and Soul process began, four years ago, and let’s face it; the economy has not been good for development during that time. They participated in the process the same way any other landowner did,” Zinser said.
Zinser also said he has heard concerns that a multi-color insert in last week’s edition of The Lincoln County News, which described the code and the code writing process was paid for by the developers.
“The developers did not pay for the insert,” he said. “The insert was designed by DPAC and paid for with a combination of town funds and funding from the Horizon Foundation.”
(Ed. note: The insert referenced was invoiced to Friends of Midcoast Maine.)
Addressing Piper’s influence over the process and concerns the code is too friendly to developers, Mayer said the developers want to do what Damariscotta wanted them to do.
“Some of the things they wanted, they didn’t get. This is about what we want, not what the developer wants. People are afraid Applebee’s or Home Depot will come to town under the new code, but they can come now.
“The new code makes it much more difficult for chains to do business here; they’d have to change their whole business model. The new codes ensure there will be no second downtown at Piper Commons. A whole lot of people put a whole lot of work into this code. It’s a good code, and a good fit for Damariscotta. It’s head and shoulders above what we have now,” she said.
Local business owner and DPAC member Buzz Pinkham of Pinkham’s Plantation said, “Contrary to what some have been lead to believe, it was [a] community driven process; there were over 30 public workshops. It was an amazing process that resulted in a good product. The code does not favor a big box model. It promotes incremental growth and a sustainable economy. I’m offended by people who showed up at the last moment and off the cuff say, ‘the code doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.’ They haven’t done their homework,” he said.
Local business owner Rob Hunt of N.C. Hunt Lumber said that while he can’t speak for all business owners, the proposed code is good for his business. He also said the code is much easier to navigate than the existing code.
“It streamlines things and makes them manageable; it’s clear what you can and can’t do under this code. A working guy can understand it,” Hunt said.
Damariscotta Selectman and Chairman Dick McLean, while speaking only for himself and not for the board, said, “This document is the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of smart people. It has been hammered and developed by literally hundreds of our citizens.”
McLean said while some fixes are needed to the code, a task force has already been formed to look at some of those issues, and that they will get to work immediately following the vote.
Our Town representative Jenny Mayher also believes some fixes are needed to the code, particularly around building heights and architectural standards. While not taking an official stance on the code, Mayher said she believes it will be easier to fix if it is approved on June 14, rather than if townspeople have to start from scratch after a ‘no’ vote.
McLean said, “Is it a perfect document? No. But it’s a really good one.”
“We have been very, very encouraged by the amount of community input that this whole process has involved,” said Frank Roberts, Phippsburg architect and partner in Piper Village Development, LLC, the developer of the Piper Commons project. “We believe it to be a very positive ordinance change for the town.”
Roberts said he and his partners are cautiously optimistic that the rest of the town will feel the same way and added that he personally met a lot of local people throughout the code development process. “It has been a positive experience for us,” he said.
Roberts declined further comment, citing a desire to contact his partners first.
If approved on June 14, Damariscotta would be the first town in Maine to enact form based codes.
The polls are open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Tues., June 14, at the Damariscotta Municipal Building, School Street, Damariscotta.
