Gray--The Gray Town Council tabled pending changes
to the Town zones Tuesday night, saying that there
were inconsistencies, unfinished zones, and more to
do before the package is ready for adoption.
The previous Council had been working on revising
most of Gray's Zoning ordinance. They worked for over
two years on making new zones and redefining current
zones. When the new Council came was elected in June,
with three of the four members being new and one vacant
seat that was only recently filled, the new officials
discovered inconsistencies, omissions, typos, and
a generally poor work product, they said.
They also noticed that the administrative portion
of the Zoning ordinance required that the Town's Ordinance
Review Committee (ORC) review the proposed changes
before adoption. That had not been completed yet,
so the draft was sent to the ORC in early September
and after reviewing the proposed revisions, they also
determined that the zones were not ready to be passed.
The biggest hindrance, the Councilors said Tuesday
night, was that there were several zones that not
been reviewed yet, including the town center, called
the Village Center zone (VC). The Wellhead Protection
Zone 1 and 2 (WH) also had not been reviewed.
Initially Councilor John Welch moved to table the
package but since no discussion is allowed on a tabled
motion, the move failed and discussion was opened.
Councilor Denise Duda said that the VC and WH 1 and
2 zones, being in the middle of town and driving the
borders for the rest of the zones, were a high priority
and should be completed before the rest of the changes
are put into place. She also had a concern that the
package had not been sent to the ORC in a timely way
for their input and review. "That process is
not just for show," Ms. Duda said. "Order
99 is missing several zones and I would like to wait
for that before passing this."
The Wellhead Protection zone is part of the Gray Water
District's jurisdiction, and they have been assimilating
engineering data that shows that the protection zones
should be shifted, since the water table underneath
the zone has shifted. They are close to finalizing
where the WH zone should be re-drawn, and the Council
should wait until those elements are firmer before
passing the draft, Ms. Duda said. "People's property
is affected by the change, and it is not fair pass
this and then impact people's property a second time."
Chair Gary Foster agreed, as well as Mr. Welch and
Councilor Skip Crane.
Vice-Chair Andy Upham was the lone dissenter. He said
that he was vehemently opposed to tabling the proposal.
"Lots of effort and time has gone into this and
my biggest hardship would be putting the people through
all this again."
During public comment n the issue, ORC Chair Bill
Getz reiterated what was in a letter the Committee
had sent to the Council. Their opinion was that the
zoning package was not ready and the Committee did
not recommend its passage. Asked how long it would
take to review the inconsistencies they found and
to recommend updates to the un-reviewed zones, Mr.
Getz said four to six months.
Ex-Council Chair Pam Wilkinson told the Council that
"It is real important that when the ORC meets
that you have the ORC and the Planning Board and the
Council there. The ORC could add an meeting to their
schedule and the people who have been involved in
this process all along should be invited too."
Gray business man and Gray Business Association member
Chris Dombrowski said that he would hate to see this
die and that the Council should be thinking about
the wall of people who are moving up to Maine from
south. "Think of the future, you will be glad
in 5 and 10 years down the line that this zoning was
addressed."
Manager Mitchell A. Berkowitz asked Mr. Getz if the
Council passed the package as is, that when the ORC
completes its review of the two zones, wouldn't that
get the issue in the same place six months from now
the same as if they tabled it?
Mr. Getz said, "No. The ORC would not only review
the missing zones but review all the changes to date
and also add in the upcoming definitions of Agritourism,"
an issue that the ORC is addressing now.
The Council then had the task of figuring out how
to move forward with the zones without killing it
or passing it, since motion to table it had already
died. The Council decided to move for a reconsideration
of the tabled motion, which passed, and then the Council
voted 4-1to table(Upham voting no), pending ORC review.
