Wiscasset residents and town officials wrestled over the definition of the word “recent” during a public hearing on the subject hosted by the Wiscasset Planning Board on Monday, Nov. 24.
The board proposed setting a standard interpretation of the word as six months, with the aim of getting fully up-to-date site surveys from applicants. Members of the public, as well as several town officials, pushed back against that interpretation.
Wiscasset Select Board Chair Sarah Whitfield and Wiscasset Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky both spoke in the public hearing to raise concerns around the proposed policy’s impacts on residents and businesses.
Planning Board Chair Karl Olson explained the proposed policy in the Nov. 10 meeting of the planning board.
“This is us saying, this is how we interpret ‘recent’ for now… I’m only trying to codify what we’ve been doing for at least 10 years,” he said.
In the public hearing, Whitfield said she spoke on behalf of the select board and acknowledged the wording of “recent” raised difficulties, but said alternate solutions could be found.
“We are fully supportive of defining the term ‘recent’ in the ordinance itself, where such definitions properly belong. We will be asking the ordinance review committee to take up this work to ensure clarity, fairness and consistency moving forward,” she said.
Resident Edward Polewarczyk had issues with the procedure around the policy as well.
“It appears that this is becoming a requirement, a requirement rather than a policy,” Polewarczyk said. “As such, I don’t believe it belongs in a policy. If it’s imposed on every individual, it needs to be in the ordinance and it needs to go to the people for a vote on the ordinance.”
Whitfield said that the proposed policy would not meet the goal of keeping Wiscasset business friendly.
“The select board respectfully urges the planning board to reconsider the proposed definition of a recent survey as one completed within the last six months. Property surveys are an extremely costly undertaking for residents and businesses alike,” Whitfield said.
Chrostowsky said he attended the meeting to express his concerns about the planning board’s interpretation of “recent” as meaning within six months. The rigid time frame could place an undue burden on applicants, especially small business owners, he said.
Wiscasset resident Sherri Dunbar also brought concerns around the impact of the proposed policy on local businesses.
“Surveyors are backed up,” Dunbar said. “It’s months sometimes, sometimes a year before someone can get to you. So we’re not being business friendly when we aren’t trying to work with someone to let them bring another business into town.”
Olson said having a truly recent survey is crucial to avoid land disputes, and explained surveys can only capture a moment of a property’s history.
“The idea is that a survey is a Polaroid picture at that time.” Olson said.
When asked how the discussion around defining recent arose, board member Al Cohen explained the board’s practice has been to accept surveys taken within two or three years of an application. During a recent meeting a new board member motioned to waive the survey requirement for an applicant. The motion passed, and Cohen said the decision made current chairman Olson reassess how the board has dealt with the term “recent” in previous cases.
“Personally, I don’t like six months either, but we were trying to work with two to three years for many years,” Cohen said.
Planning board member Erv Deck responded that he was the one who had made the motion to waive the requirement for a survey in the case which began the discussion around the term “recent.” Deck said he motioned to waive the requirement because he wasn’t comfortable with the language in the current ordinance.
Deck said he was told “recent” has been interpreted as meaning within 36 months, and questioned what that would mean for applicants who were just a few months over the cut-off.
“I’m still not comfortable with the term ‘recent.’ I’m definitely not comfortable with six months, but that’s where my position was,” Deck said.
The planning board voted unanimously to table the issue until it is reviewed by the select board.
Whitfield said she plans to put the matter on the agenda for the next Wiscasset Select Board meeting, which will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 9.
The Wiscasset Planning Board will meet next at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 8 in the Wiscasset municipal building meeting room. For more information, go to wiscasset.gov or call 882-8200.
