ROCKPORT — The Rockport Planning Board met with consulting Town Planner Bill Najpauer Nov. 28 to discuss possible amendments to the town’s current Land Use Ordinance to better manage construction site plan reviews, marijuana growing rules and short term rentals. 

The board’s recommendations, when complete, will be sent to  the Select Board and Ordinance Review Committee for consideration.

Najpauer lead the workshop, placing  three recommended changes that he and Hannah Sisk, administrative assistant for Assessing, Planning and Codes, had identified.

They include:

1. Ask that any preapplications for site review be submitted at least two weeks prior to a Planning Board meeting;
2. create a contemporary definition for “aquaculture” and add it  to the town’s Use Chart; and,
3. incorporate a restriction to pertaining to common marijuana growing.

   Najpauer said it was important that Rockport define “aquaculture” in its  LUO in light of a recent boom in businesses throughout the state  that are focusing on raising products that range from elvers to clams. He cited  the land-based salmon farm proposed by Nordic Aquafarms in Belfast as an example.

Marijuana

The planning board considered a possible restriction on personal marijuana growing in Rockport to prohibit growing marijuana off-site or on someone else’s property. 

Although citizens are allowed to grow up six marijuana plants for personal use, Najpauer said that some individuals have grown these off site or entrusted someone else with their cultivation. 

Although this restriction would not go into the LUO but into its own municipal ordinance, he and the board spoke in favor of drafting a paragraph that would prohibit a third person grower or growing marijuana at an off-site location.

Unfinished projects

Having expressed disappointment in some construction projects in town that received approval by the board but had not yet met agreed upon landscaping obligations, members of the Planning Board discussed with Najpauer the idea of implementing a site completion visit, as well as periodic curbside visits to ensure that performance standards were met. 

They also discussed making the online version of the LUO more accessible to residents. This might include providing links on the table of contents, which would deliver visitors directly to various sections of the document rather than scrolling through one page at a time.

Board member Joe Sternowski referenced the various green spaces in town currently preserved as part of land trusts, such as the Beech Hill Preserve, which constitute a large portion of the town’s undeveloped natural landscape, and asked if there were any conditions in the LUO which would prevent it from future sale and development. 

Beech Hill is part of the Coastal Mountain Land Trust, as is the Harkness Preserve; the Erickson Fields Preserve on Route 90 is managed by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust. 

Although these trusts  have tax-free status from the town, Najpauer said that they have the option of selling the properties if they so choose. 

Members of the board said that they are considering meeting with the various trusts in the new year to discuss a possible addition to the LUO which would prevent the preserves from development.

Short term rentals 

With the recent popularity of online sites that offer short-term rentals, the board considered whether any provisions should be made in light of the rapid turnover of rental properties in town, particularly in the village district. 

“People have always done this with seasonal housing, but at the very least we should make sure that we have adequate police nuisance laws to handle nuisance laws and parking on the street,” said Najpauer, adding that tenants who book properties online may not be vetted in the same manner as they would if going through a brick-and-mortar property rental agency in person.

The town’s Land Use Ordinance was last amended by Rockport residents during the June elections. 

Citizens then had voted in favor of deleting places where "special exception" appeared in the LUO and replacing them with "permitted" for various uses throughout some of the town's zoning districts. 

As a result, these uses would no longer require an exception from the town, but would be permitted. Section 703.3 of the LUO, then titled "special exceptions," was replaced with a new section 919, titled "conditional uses." 

The Rockport Select Board will meet Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Geoffrey Parker Room of the Rockport Opera House. The next meeting of the Rockport Planning Board will be held Dec. 26 at 5:30 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House.

Reach Louis Bettcher at penbaylouis@gmail.com