Edgecomb voters repealed the building moratorium on Davis Island at a special town meeting Jan. 9. The vote followed approval of two funding measures and several other changes to Edgecomb’s land use ordinances.
The moratorium repeal, along with nine other land use changes, passed swiftly and with little fanfare. While the original warrant listed each potential modification as a separate article, voters ultimately decided to pass them as a single package.
The revised land use regulations consolidate the Gateway commercial district on Davis Island, making it so that it will more closely follow Rt. 1.
The existing Gateway District will be roughly split in half, with one portion placed in the non-commercial Marine 1 District, a piece of land that cuts across Davis Island from the Sheepscot River to Cod Cove.
The Marine 1 District currently has a minimum density requirement of one unit per acre of land, a rule more conducive toward rural residential development. A 35,000-sq.ft. area cap for buildings will now be put in place to further this goal.
The vote also instituted a reduction in the minimum side and rear setback requirements, from 20 feet to five feet. Parking areas no longer require side or rear setbacks.
Other setbacks in the Gateway District remain 20 feet, but now require a visual buffer “consisting of either existing vegetation or proposed landscaping” year ’round.
Along with the land use changes, Edgecomb voters also approved $37,000 in spending measures aimed at paying the town’s legal fees and paving the new fire station.
Of $10,000 allocated for legal fees, half will be used toward fees accrued during the reevaluation of the town’s land use ordinances, and $5000 will pay Edgecomb’s portion of the recent Mt. Hunger Road lawsuit settlement. The legal fees will be paid from the town’s surplus.
The remaining $27,000 will be used to pave the driveway of the new fire station. The appropriation will be funded from the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Project Account.
