| Joanne Cole |
Matt Ray of Five Maples, LLC, which wants to convert a farmhouse to a four-unit multiplex in the Upper Village, was back Tuesday night for a public hearing and follow-up conversation with the Planning Board. Five Maples hopes to use the renovated property for short-term Airbnb-type rentals. The property, located at 52 Peacock Hill Road next to the Post Office, is in the Upper Village zone (Map 19 Lot 26).
The upshot: Five Maples will make a return visit in the new year. Items to clarify include fire protection requirements and whether sprinklers are required, proposed visual buffers, the site’s net residential acreage, and the permissibility of short-term rentals with a multiplex. New Gloucester’s zoning ordinance doesn’t explicitly address short-term rentals, so the board has urged Ray to request written confirmation from the Code Enforcement Officer that the use is allowed.
In the public hearing, Barbara Bartlett and Misty Coolidge of Peacock Hill Road raised questions about possible future changes in the type of rental or to the site. Barbara Bartlett wanted to know whether the renters will be transitory or permanent, and whether there will be a public hearing beforehand if the use changes from short-term to long-term, ‘permanent’ rentals.
Misty Coolidge, who has a wedding venue and other properties on both sides of the Five Maples parcel, wondered about further development. She said she welcomes the renovations beautifying the house and barn but if, for example, more apartment buildings could be built on the site and detract from what Coolidge called a “beautiful country setting,” she would be opposed. The current plan for Airbnb-style rentals in the restored farmhouse is a win-win, she said, because her couples could rent and help Five Maples make money.
Later, following up, board members said Five Maples’s current plan and any future additional structures might hinge on the site’s net residential acreage – that is, how much land area is considered buildable after subtracting for unsuitable soils, resource protection areas, filled wetlands and such. Under the zoning ordinance, the four-unit multiplex needs a minimum of four acres of net residential area: one acre per unit.
Depending on Five Maples’s yet-to-be submitted net residential acreage analysis, it’s possible that the 5.5-acre site will be maxed out with four units, or possibly just three, board members said. A wild card is whether a new state law applies, LD 2003, that might allow denser development in that zone.
If the site can support further development beyond what’s currently proposed, the question whether there would be Planning Board review will depend on what exactly Five Maples proposes and whether that change requires review in the opinion of the Code Enforcement Officer. The CEO, not the Planning Board, makes that initial call, member Don Libby noted.
“Tidbits.” With the Five Maples discussion wrapped up for now, Planning Board Chair Doug McAtee turned to the ‘other business’ item on the agenda. McAtee, in his first season as chair, has taken to sharing what he calls “tidbits,” notes and reminders he’s gleaned in the course of reviewing laws and guidance regarding Planning Board procedures and practices. He shares them, with a light touch, if time allows.
Time allowed once again at the December 20 meeting.
McAtee reminded everyone of his question at the previous meeting: when was the Planning Board was established in New Gloucester? Jean Libby, long-term Planning Board member and current alternate, had answered immediately and definitively via text message during the December 6 meeting (answer: 1960, Town Meeting).
McAtee now thanked Jean Libby. He also mentioned members’ ongoing questions over whether Robert’s Rules of Order apply to Planning Board proceedings. He thanked Select Board Chair Peter Bragdon for sending along a town policy that says all town board and committee meetings are to follow Robert’s Rules.
With that as preface, McAtee pulled up an Amazon carton and began dealing out books: Robert’s Rules of Order, latest edition, for everyone, including for Jean Libby as a thank-you. The Meetinghouse erupted in laughter, with more laughter as members realized they each had a personalized copy inscribed by Doug McAtee. Light reading for your Christmas vacation, McAtee suggested.
As if that weren’t enough, McAtee next pulled out a stack of laminated Robert’s Rules quick study guides, one for everyone, prompting more smiles and laughs.
Substantive discussion briefly followed over whether the Planning Board might apply Robert’s Rules ‘flexibly’ and ‘with discretion.’ With consensus agreement on that point, and unanimity on a motion to adjourn, the board adjourned until 2023 and more of Chair Doug McAtee’s “tidbits.”
