ROCKLAND – Rockland City Council held an agenda-setting meeting on Thursday, December 5, for the upcoming regular council meeting, Monday, December 10. Included at the agenda-setting meeting were updates from Rockland Main Street, Comprehensive Planning Commission, Business Park Amendments workshop and Lawn Avenue Property Development report.

Julie Hashem is the department head for community development in Rockland. She headed up the discussion for the workshop on the business park amendments.

The city is proposing to rezone Pleasant Street to allow what it calls business opportunities and light manufacturing to take place in an area adjacent to residences.

During the public comment portion of the agenda-setting meeting, several citizens took to the podium to voice concerns over the proposed business park amendments.

Sarah Gott, of Rockland, lives on a street that intersects Pleasant Street. She raised safety concerns, especially about children waiting outside for the bus with increased heavy truck traffic, when there is snow lining the roads.

“I feel that allowing trucks bigger then five tons is a safety hazard,” she said. “Piles of sand and gravel and scrap metal is not something I want to look at when I drive down the street.”

Gott also cited light pollution in the area.

Peter Futuromo was concerned not so much about changes, but the chance of even larger development.

“I would like to nip it in the bud and keep it from changing at all,” he said. “I understand the city needs tax dollars, but we should look beyond dollars and cents and use common sense in how we approach that.”

Nancy Como and her husband live across the street from the proposed zone change. She voiced a number of concerns.

“Noise pollution, light pollution, safety for children and the road not built for major construction work,” she said. “People should also be looking at what the allotted uses are for the park.”

Hashem clarified what the proposed change would be.

“I think there are some misunderstandings about that,” she said. 

Hashem said the proposal was to rezone five parcels on Pleasant Street and to adjust building and lot coverage limits and setbacks to make more productive use of limited land.

Community development defines business park zoning as a mix of light industrial, wholesale trade, distribution and service uses that are designed, constructed and maintained to be compatible in appearance, and operation with professional offices.

Hashem said the proposed changes were included in the 2002 comprehensive plan.

“That comp plan specifically identified this part of town as appropriate as a growth area,” she said, “for more intensive nonresidential development. It suggested that the area would transform over time and that the city would support that transition.”

Hashem said it comes down to increasing the tax base.

“Only 12 percent of the parcels in Rockland are commercial and industrial,” she said. “That accounts for 28 percent of the tax revenue. If we want to keep our mil rate stable over time, we need to find opportunities to grow and our marching orders are in the comp plan as to how we do that.”

The zoning change for Pleasant Street will be included on the council’s Monday night, December 10, agenda as a final reading and public hearing.

Other city business

In other pre-agenda business, the nonprofit Rockland Main Street reported hosting record-breaking crowds for the Festival of Lights Celebration over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Jake Miller, board president for Rockland Main Street, said the festival is good for downtown business.

“I work at the First National Bank and we had a float in the parade,” he said. “As we traveled down the street you could see that all the shops and restaurants were full of people. If there is ever a question of whether this is good for downtown Rockland. All you have to do is be in downtown Rockland during the tree lighting or parade and you will see that indeed it is.”

Miller noted that there is a new website for Rockland Main Street and an update of its bylaws, as well.

Julie Lewis, chairwoman of Rockland’s Comprehensive Planning Commission, said there is one vacancy on the commission and then she introduced Noel Musson to give councilors an update.

Musson is with the Musson Group, planning consultants based in Southwest Harbor. His business specializes in land use, community planning, economic development, permitting and project management for municipalities.

Rockland’s Comprehensive Plan was updated in 2012.

“Basically I see comprehensive plans as having a few main steps,” he said. “They provide a vision for the future for a community. There are shared community goals and strategies for achieving those goals. They provide the legal protection for land use ordinances and eligibility for grants.”

Musson outlined the work involved in updating a comprehensive plan.

“The first [step] one being data collection and analysis,” he said. “Basically trying to get all the data that we can to paint a picture of what’s going on in a community. What are the opportunities we should be looking at and what are the issues. Once you have that picture, how do you develop strategies and that’s the start of the roadmap.”

He continued: “What we’re really trying to achieve with this comprehensive plan is a plan that is actionable. There are a lot of big issues to address in the plan so we are going to spend some time trying to break those big issues down into smaller pieces so you can move forward with ideas that get presented.”

The goal is to engage the public to test ideas, gather information and share progress.

“We’re going to be doing that in a couple of different ways,” he said. “We’ll be updating the council, having public meetings, we’ll be reaching out directly to existing committees and we’ll be reaching out to other stakeholders.”

Musson said a lot of work has already been done. There was a survey that drew more than 700 responses, input sessions throughout the community and open meetings.

Musson said the analysis phase and should be completed in February. It will transition into the goals phase, which should be completed by early fall. He said the commission would like to start having public meetings by spring of 2019 and have a finished plan by December of the same year.

In other agenda business to be covered December 10:

A letter from Denis Glennon on a zone change for 84 Crescent Street.

Licenses and Permits:

Rockland Elks Lodge – Liquor and Entertainment License

Lodging House License – Limerock Inn

Liquor, Entertainment & Motion Picture Licenses – The Strand Theatre

 Resolves:

Resolve #60 Accepting Donations – Library City Council Resolve

#61 Accepting Donation – Coastal Opportunities City Council Resolve

#62 Accepting Donation – Bench City Council Resolve

#63 Accepting Donation – First Universalist Church City Council Order

#72 Authorizing Blanket Letter of Approval – Games of Chance City Clerk Order

#73 Authorizing Blanket Letter of Approval – Beano/Bingo City Clerk Order

#75 Authorizing Transfer of Funds – Transfer Station Improve. City Manager Order

#76 Authorizing Employee Appreciation Day City Council Order

#77 Authorizing RFP – Street Light Ownership City Manager

#54 Appointment – RSU #13 Board of Directors City Council

#55 Appointments to Boards, Commission and/or Committees Mayor Westkaemper

#56 Re-Appointments to Boards, Commission and/or Committees Mayor Westkaemper #57 Commendation – F. Johnson (Retirement) City Council

#58 Commendation – R. Gibbs (20 yrs of service) City Council

#59 Recognition – EMS Personnel (Baby Delivery) City Council

11. Ordinances in Final Reading & Public Hearing:

#42 Zoning Change – Pleasant St. (Postponed 11/14/18 after PH) Mayor Westkaemper #46 Chapter 19, Section 19-304 BP Zone Regs (Post. 11/14/18 after PH) Mayor Westkaemper

12. Ordinances in First Reading: #48 Chapter 19, Section 19-304 Lot Sizes & Setbacks Mayor Westkaemper

#49 Chapter 17, Section 17-423 Parking Committee Membership Councilor Magjik

The Rockland City Council meeting will take place on December 10 at City Hall, 270 Pleasant Street. Meeting starts at 6 p.m.