6 Church Street, Gardiner, Maine 04345
{00030026-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} CITY OF GARDINER
BOARD OF APPEALS
REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
MINUTES
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Present: Michael Eldridge, Chair Charlene Kinnelly
John Burgess Harlan Brown
Absent: Daniel Bates
Also present: Dorothy Morang, Recording Secretary
David Cichowski, Code Enforcement Officer (CEO)
1.) Call Meeting to order, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance
Chair, Michael Eldridge called the meeting to order at 6:01 PM.
2.) Roll Call
Chair Eldridge and the Board members introduced themselves.
Chair Eldridge explained the role of the Board of Appeals.
3.) Consideration of Minutes from the January 27, 2009 Meeting
Charlene Kinnelly made a motion to accept the minutes. John Burgess seconded the motion.
Vote: 4 in favor. 0 opposed. Motion passed.
Chair Eldridge asked if there were any conflicts of interest with any member of the Board. All on the Board said no.
Chair Eldridge asked the CEO if he had received the Application on time and if the abutter notices and Kennebec Journal notice were on time. The CEO said yes.
Chair Eldridge read the Applicant’s request for a variance and the section in the Land Use Ordinance requiring a variance.
4.) Dimensional Variance
Jerry J. Charette, Applicant is seeking a sixty-three foot (63’) variance from a seventy-five foot (75’) minimum road set back requirement to construct a two-car garage where a smaller shed now exists. The property, located at 674 Brunswick Av, is within the Planned Development (PD) Zoning District, City Tax Map 16, Lot 17-A.
Chair Eldridge asked the CEO if the Applicant has legal standing. The CEO said yes.
Chair Eldridge asked the Board members if they felt the Application was complete. They all said yes.
Chair Eldridge asked the Applicant to give an overview of what he wants to do. Mr. Charette said that he wants to build a garage within 12’ of his property line.
Chair Eldridge noted that the lot is very narrow and there is a wide right-of-way between the Applicant’s property and the Old Brunswick Rd that was created when Brunswick Av was built. David, the CEO explained that although the garage would be only 12’ from the Applicant’s property line, it would actually be about 58’ from the road due to the old right-of-way. Chair Eldridge also noted that the property rises steeply and there is a lot of ledge on the property. He asked Mr. Charette if he will tear down the existing shed. Mr. Charette said yes.
John asked if they would have to fill in the ditch. Mr. Charette said no. John asked Mr. Charette if he was going keep some of the larger trees. He said yes.
Charlene asked the CEO to explain why it the plan showing the proposed garage shows it way back from the road. David explained the situation where the City right-of-way on Old Brunswick Road and the State right-of-way on Brunswick Av meet and cause a large area of land between the Applicant’s property line and the road.
Harlan asked how close the garage will be to the neighbors. Mr. Charette said the closest will be 26’. Harlan asked how many feet from the garage to the road. David said he though about 60 - 70’ to the pavement. John scaled it out to about 60’.
Chair Eldridge asked if the septic system was to the east of the house. Mr. Charette said yes.
6:16 PM Open Public Hearing
No comments
6:16 PM Close Public Hearing
Chair Eldridge read the Applicant’s responses to the Dimensional Standards criteria and commented on them.
A. It appears to satisfy this standard as there is a lot of ledge on the property, the septic system, a steep embankment and a very narrow lot.
B. It appears that the variance will not produce an undesirable change in the character of the neighborhood or will not unreasonably detrimentally affect the use or market value of abutting properties.
C. The Applicant bought the property as is.
D. There appears to be no feasible alternative to place the garage due to the location of the septic system, the limited dimensions of the lot and the distance between the house and the property line.
E. There is a shed on the property now where the garage would go. It would not unreasonably adversely affect the natural environment.
F. The property is not in the Shoreland.
Chair Eldridge said that he feels the Application meets the criteria. The Application makes
Sense and there appears to be no other choice. He is in favor of granting the variance.
Harlan said that he is also in favor and sees no problems – there is enough room there.
Charlene agreed and said that all of the conditions were met.
John said that he agrees and also feels that the garage would improve the appearance of the
property and would be to the City’s benefit.
John Burgess moved that we accept the Variance request of 63’ from a 75’ road setback
requirement. Harlan Brown seconded the motion.
Vote: 4 in favor. 0 opposed. Motion passed.
Other
David noted that the last three variances granted have made improvements to those
properties. The Eatons’ porch looks very nice, Mr. Mansir has leveled the old garage and Mr.
Eschelman is just overjoyed with his new mobile home. The old one has been taken out and he was able to save most of the large trees. His neighbor also gave him the land to adjust his line. David wanted to thank the Board for helping make a difference for these folks.
John shared that the meeting he went to in Waterville on Alternative Energy was great. There are a lot of good things going on including projects with windmills and tidal power. He spoke about a couple of former students of his that were working on alternative energy sources – one person is part of a well drilling family that is now looking at using geo-thermo energy and another is working on re-greening old buildings. He said the work is exploding in the Northeast.
5.) Adjourn
Meeting adjourned at 6:27 PM
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