Comprehensive Planning Committee Minutes

COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING COMMITTEE MINUTES

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2012

MUNICIPAL BUILDING COUNCIL CHAMBERS – 7:00 P.M.

Present: Kenny Fergusson, Phil Ruck, Mark Kittridge, Christa Schwintzer and Vinal Applebee from the

Planning Board; Farahad Dastoor, Sharon Quinn-Fitzgerald, Abe Furth and John Jemison;

Town Manager Sophie Wilson; Town Planner Evan Richert and Secretary Ruth Vaughan.

Two agenda items were added: (1) Public Meeting, and (2) Council update.

The minutes of January 3, 2013 were approved by consensus.

Evan reported that we are getting toward the end of the fact finding portion of this review. Next month we will review Municipal Finance and then the following month Land Use, which is the largest portion. In May he hopes to start on Policy, which could continue into June and July.

Municipal Services and Infrastructure –

Town Manager Sophie Wilson feels Orono is a unique community and is one of 12 of the most populous towns in the state, but operates and feels like a small town. Orono offers the following:

65 full time employees (includes all departments)
Steady workforce
Full service community

Public transportation (Black Bear Express)
Curbside trash collection
Recycling – currently we are at 21% and state requires 50% of garbage to be recycled.
Single-stream being looked at and is one of the Town’s priorities
PERC tonnage includes the University

Parks and Rec. is a more visible service

Youth sports
Afterschool
Daycare

University is a big driver of municipal services

20+ miles of sewer line
CSO permitted and regulated

Lines include interceptors either side of Stillwater River and in Island Avenue area
Costly to fix and difficult to get to
Island Avenue due for repairs to collector in FY 2014 and following two years town will put money into interceptors along the Stillwater River.

Public Works garage on Penobscot Street that is 60 years old. Too small, air quality issues. Feasibility study done to identify potential spaces around town to relocate.

Build on existing site and construct road to Rt. 2, but vernal pools were located there and not enough space once you meet setbacks
A site has been identified and is being evaluated
Engineered metal building with office space to be approximately 16,000 sq. ft. design with crane and wash bay. Cost for this plus site work and cost of acquiring land = $5.5 million.

Roads/Infrastructure issues

$700,000/year put into rebuilding roads
Need outside resources to build roads
Urban compact area – Town is responsible for capital repairs
Outside compact area (Forest Avenue, Bennoch Road and Stillwater Avenue) the State has more responsibility

One bridge (Ayer’s Island) that Town has responsibility to maintain. This has a weight limit issue and was downgraded by the State. Close to being shut down completely. Repairs estimated at $3-4 million.

Space in Municipal Building

Not as crowded as other towns but not a lot of extra space
Anticipating storage space at new Public Works garage
Treadwell Building being demolished as part of Katahdin project and will impact Parks and Rec. staff. Looking at relocating within downtown area to maintain services.

Solid waste

Residential curbside pick-up and recycling; commercial and multi-family facilities pay to have their solid waste removed
1/3 of solid waste generated by residential properties, 1/3 by university, 1/3 by commercial/multi-family
Likely will be moving to single stream recycling (no sorting required). Pay per bag also considered but administration was not feasible for Orono – Orono would lose money

Questions/concerns

Has IBC/IRC building codes had an impact on town in terms of development? No, it was already in place this just made it uniform throughout the State and has not affected Orono.
Timber harvesting – should it be called out in the Comp Plan?
Drinking water comes from one aquifer and 4 wells treated with chlorination. Trihalomethanes (TTHM) occurring because of reaction of chlorine with organic matter. Those close to source get larger concentrations of chlorine. It was suggested that a booster station close to Veazie might ensure a better distribution.
Sewer extensions

Need to serve proposed Kelley Rd Business Park; extending under I-95 to rest of Economic Development Zone also has been discussed
List as an issue under exits 91 and 93 to the designated growth area and include EDZ that crosses I-95 at both interchanges.

Future of composting sludge

Orono/Old Town have partnership in composting facility in Old Town
Orono pays per yard to dispose of sludge
Juniper Ridge wants sewer sludge in their creation of methane
Possibility the composting facility will be shut down and then Orono and Old Town would deliver the waste to Juniper Ridge; lower cost to taxpayers to deliver to Juniper Ridge vs. compost facility
All services except sewer run off tax dollars
Savings in sewer does not correlate to tax savings dollars
Infrastructure/improvements to sewers are funded from user fees

Looping of water lines

Currently there are 3 dead-end lines and looping lines increases reliability and may reduce sitting time and thus TTHM in the lines
Ideal loop would go under I-95 to Stillwater Avenue, pick up Forest Avenue and go up to exit 93. You would have to get under I-95 twice to do this. Would be a boost to economic development in the Stillwater corridor
Water looping important to Fire Dept. and to water district
Distrtict is looking at possibility of an alternate well location so wells are not all in one area.
Fire protection: response time goal is 5-7 minutes 90% of the time
Clarify sewer ordinance regarding impact fees

3 types of fees to WPCF:

User fee
Connector fee
Impact fee (for brand new development adding demand to system)

Issues

Aging infrastructure
Since last comp plan:

New Library
New WPCF
Replacement of several major sewer collection lines
Public Works garage planning

Upgrading Public Works facility
End of existing solid waste contract in 2018
Regionalization of services
Multi-family/commercial uses encouraged to install sprinkler systems

Fire code to address being looked at

Scenic Resources that were identified on the east side of I-95:

Horse stables
Vista towards Eddington and Chick Hill
Union Street boat launch
Mainewood Avenue to Pine Street – Maine Historical District with 29 buildings eligible
Ridge behind the school
Bridge on Rt. 2 looking up/down river
Stillwater River trail
Webster Park
Summer Street Park
Webster Point
Boat launch at the Steam Plant
University historical district
Piney Knoll
Brownie’s Park

West Side of I-95:

Orono bog walk
Newman’s Hill
Beaver pond on Taylor Road (part of Dorion property)
Hsu property
Forest Avenue corridor
IF & W lot/trail east of Pushaw
Gould’s Landing
MDOT lot

To be added to the above list:

Walking bridge along railroad trestle
Forest Avenue corridor with tall pine trees (vicinity of Bryan Pearce’s home)

What to do with this inventory?

Identify in Comp Plan?

Just a resource that is great to have?

Use in positive way
Stimulating local economy
Policy on scenic standard within the comp plan a possibility
Use of trails and river

Next meeting is scheduled for March 7 with Municipal Finance to be discussed.

Date of next public meeting on strategies with postcards sent out directing to website for information is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24 from 6-8:30 p.m. Ryan Tipping-Spitz will be asked to make contact at the University to let people know this is occurring. At this meeting issues will be discussed with the same facilitator (Jane Haskell)to be utilized, if available.

A follow-up public meeting will be held on Thursday, June 6 from 6-8:30 p.m. with the public.

The regular June meeting will be moved to June 12 from 7-9:00 p.m.

Evan Richert and Phil Ruck will give Council an update on Wednesday, March 20 at 5:30 p.m.

Ruth Vaughan is to email those not at this meeting dates of the public meetings to put on their calendars.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ruth Vaughan