The Kennebunkport Growth Planning Committee held the third of four scheduled open forums at the K’port Conservation Trust Headquarters at 7 pm on 23 Nov 2004 to discuss the ongoing update to the Kennebunkport Comprehensive Plan. Over 30 people attended and 26 of these were Kennebunkport residents. Twenty-seven out of the 30 attendees were K’port registered voters.
The meeting lasted over 2 hours and the bulk of the conversation centered on changing minimum lot sizes from 1 acre to 3 acres in the new Z1 zone and from 3 acres to 10 acres in the new Z9 zone. Landowner residents are concerned that this change will greatly impact the income they could realize from land sales using the present minimum lot size. The GPC is mindful of these concerns and is grateful for the citizen input.
A new idea that could alleviate some resident’s discomfort over larger lot sizes has recently been discussed by the GPC and was voiced for the first time at this meeting. The idea is to have a larger minimum lot size apply to formal subdivision lots but simple single divisions of land that do not constitute subdivisions could remain at their present minimum lot size. (A subdivision is the creation of 3 or more lots or dwelling units in any 5 year period.) The positive side to this idea for landowners is obvious….they can continue to sell a lot at the present minimum lot size every 5 years without triggering formal subdivision review. The negative sides to this idea are that is defeats a more open space/rural aspect that large lot zoning is trying to perpetuate and encourages
circumvention of the subdivision review process.
Another idea with ramifications to landowner’s concerns is the use of gross vs. net acreage in determining the minimum land area for creation of a new lot. At present, if someone wants to create a new 3 acre lot in the present Farm and Forest zone, those 3 acres have to be in upland areas and not part of an easement, right-of-way, or wetland. If a 10 acre minimum lot size was enacted by voters, the future land use ordinance could be written to allow some of these 10 acres to include wetlands.
The public needs to understand that even if such ideas are included in the Comprehensive Plan, another implementation committee will be tasked to rewrite the Land Use Ordinance and present these changes again to town voters. This process will probably take 1-2 years after the Comprehensive Plan is passed. These ideas will undoubtedly be discussed in more detail at the next GPC meeting on 7 Dec 2004 and at the final public forum on Dec 14. Both of these meetings will be held at North St. Fire Station at 7 pm and will be televised.
After the Dec 14th meeting, the GPC will concentrate on using citizen input to finalize the text of the Comp Plan document. The GPC hopes to have the Comp Plan delivered to the State Planning Office by the end of February for their review. At least one formal public hearing will be held in K’bunkport for the completed Comp Plan prior to a June 2005 vote on the plan.
FMI or any questions, contact Gary Lamb, Asst. CEO/Town Planner at Town Hall (967-4243, ext 103).
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