By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

As roughly 60 percent of the lots in South Portland do not conform to
current zoning in one way or another, Planning Director Tex Haeuser
said a set of proposed zoning amendments may be “of interest (maybe
concern) to many South Portlanders.”

Nearly a year ago, the nine-member land use committee was created with
the intent of updating the regulations in Chapter 27, which had not
undergone any substantial changes in roughly 20 years. With the help of
Planning Director Tex Haeuser and Mark Eyerman, a consultant with the
South Portland firm Planning Decisions, the group sought to make the
zoning regulations easier to interpret not only for the code
enforcement officer and the board of appeals, but also for residents.
 

Faced with complaints from residents, who say homes built on the city’s
smaller lots are incompatible with the neighborhood, the work of a land
use committee has been to make the ordinance more consistent. As a
result, a proposed amendment will allow development if setbacks and
other dimension requirements of the zoning district are met and if the
applicant receives approval from the planning board after a site plan
review process.  

Currently, the city’s zoning regulations or Chapter 27 of the Code of
Ordinance, prohibit the issuance of building permits for lots with less
than 5,000 square feet in area, however, residents can circumvent that
restriction by requesting a variance from the board of appeals.

Many properties in South Portland are considered nonconforming in
respect to setback and height requirements of current zoning rules.
Those lots with less than 5,000 square feet in area or less than 50
feet of road frontage are considered nonconforming small lots, Haeuser
said.  

Within the city, there are currently 983 lots with less than 5,000
square feet. Of those 983 lots, there are 129 vacant lots that could
potentially be developed, Haeuser said. The remaining 854 lots have
principal structures.  

While the intent is to bring the city’s zoning regulations more in line
with the comprehensive plan, which calls for among other initiatives,
allowing a variety of land use, establishing efficient development
patterns, protecting natural resources and improving municipal
services; most of the discussion thus far has been focused on the
city’s treatment of nonconforming small lots.

In an inversion of the usual process to bring about ordinance
amendments, the committee first presented the changes to the city
council for a first reading at the Sept. 5 council meeting rather than
in a workshop format. By first outlining the changes in a televised,
public hearing, the committee hoped to bring more public exposure to
their work.

 At a later workshop on Monday, Councilor Maxine Bleecher,
chairman of the land use committee, said within the last five years, 29
applications for vacant lots with less than 5,000 square feet have been
filed with the board of appeals. Out of those 29 applications, 21 lots
were approved, seven were denied and one was withdrawn.

“We’re in a changing environment from what originally happened,” Beecher said. “There was a day everybody wanted huge yards.”

Beecher said with the city’s aging population and more people choosing
to live alone, development on smaller lots is a growing trend.

Gerard Jalbert, board of appeals chairman, said the planning board is
better equipped to deal with requests for small lot development, as it
has the authority to put forward conditions or restrictions on the
application. While residents might provide the board of appeals with a
survey, they are not required to present design plans. Jalbert said the
smaller the lot, the more important the design element becomes for
abutters.

“People come forward as applicants, but 90 percent of the time no one comes forward as an abutter,” Jalbert said.

The intent of planning board review is to encourage input from
neighbors while working with the builder to improve neighborhood
compatibility by following a set of design criteria. Outlining
examples, Haeuser said entries facing streets or an entrance framed by
a porch would be favored over a side or rear main entry or a large
expanse of blank wall. Recommendations for roofing would include
avoiding highly different styles, shapes, pitches and materials for
compatible massing and pitches. Structures with compatible heights
would also be favored over single, monolithic forms with no variations.


While Councilor Jim Soule favored the planning board review process, he
questioned whether the city, by referendum, could prohibit small lot
development.

“Before long, there will be no green space and everything that is a postage stamp lot will be built upon,” Soule said.

City Attorney Mary Kahl said the city could run into legal problems, as
declaring grandfathered lots under 5,000 square feet unbuildable could
constitute the taking of the owner’s beneficial enjoyment of the
property. Kahl said the ordinances could be amended in such a way that
owners of small lots would have to prove they cannot do anything with
their property without a variance. She said a “kinder, gentler”
standard – residents have to prove there would be a significant adverse
economic impact without a variance – could be applied to lots 5,000
square feet and larger.

Councilor Linda Boudreau said the city needs to differentiate between
isolated small lots and abutting vacant lots of common ownership that
could potentially be subdivided to allow for more houses. She
questioned how not allowing a house to be built could be taking when
having open space such as a yard is often thought to be more valuable
than a lot with no open space.

Although the intent has been to bring the amendments forward to the
next council meeting, the council will instead discuss them at another
workshop on Sept. 24.