When Leucadia, a large national developer, took Islesboro by surprise with its proposed Northeast Point subdivision two winters ago, it was immediately apparent that existing ordinances left the island vulnerable to outsized development. Since then, selectmen have charged the comprehensive planning committee (CPC) with a review of the 2002 plan and existing ordinances to strengthen the island planning board’s ability to manage growth responsibly.
CPC Chairman Tom Daley said the selectmen gave his group a list of tasks, addressing essentially hot-button issues such as groundwater protection, in order to tighten rules. “We all agreed that the theme would be based on protecting ground-water. That gives us the most ammunition because you can apply it to lots of things.”
Vague language in the present ordinances allows developers a lot of room for interpretation, leaving the planning board no way to protect sensitive areas.
In May, the CPC recommended altered language in seven ordinances to improve the rules and submitted them for review to the planning board and chief enforcement officer William Boardman.
The lengthy and complex Northeast Point subdivision application and abutter challenges to it delayed the planning board’s review of the CPC recommendations. At a workshop meeting in September, the board, CPC and the code enforcement officer discussed the new language. On Oct. 16, the comprehensive planning committee revised the wording.
Essentially, changes in two distances affected wording in the seven ordinances. For groundwater concerns, the CPC advised an expansion from the state mandated 100 feet between a septic system and a well to 200 feet. Explaining the 200-foot distance, Tom Daley said that this resulted from a study done by Lissa Robinson, a geologist/hydrologist who explained that it takes waterborne parasites 200 days to die as water travels from septic system back into the ground-water. Water travels one foot a day.
“Do the math,” Daley said, “and you can figure 200 days is 200 feet.”
“Lots of money has been spent since 1985 on groundwater studies, so we have a lot of information to work with,” Daley said. But in all those years since, with a single source aquifer at stake and the need to protect recharge areas, no changes had been made in the ordinances. “We can’t go to another town for water,” Tom said, “If we mess it up we are out of business.”
Concerned about causing problems for existing lots where 200-foot separation is an impossibility, the CPC debated revising the ordinance to assure that the new rules wouldn’t require homeowners to put in new septic systems or wells if they are not now presently 200 feet apart. The new ordinance will only apply to new lots created after adoption of the ordinances.
The other distance changed affects the size of waterfront lots. The new requirement will be for 250 continuous feet of shoreline, an increase from 150 feet. This change will serve to reduce potential shoreline lots by about 50 percent and prevent what Daley describes as a “Monopoly board” effect of house after house along the shore. He commented, “A lot of people could help with this by setting up conservation easements. If they put easements on to say that future owners couldn’t divide the lots, it would go a long way to protect scenic value of the island.”
The ordinance revision recommendations go now to the planning board, which will decide whether or not to accept them and draft them for a public hearing, when changes can be made to the language. The changes then go to a special town meeting where they must be accepted or rejected by the town without amendment.
Among other issues the selectmen have asked the CPC to address are the development of ordinances governing the creation of mobile home parks, apartments, condominiums and cluster development with an eye to affordable housing in particular. Tear-down policies, lot coverage, fire safety and other issues will also be reviewed.