10/17/2015

Ordinance committee to review proposed standards for town center village green

The Town Council on Oct. 14, 2015 referred to committee a proposal to adjust setback requirements in the town center to allow a traditional, New England village green.

One of the goals of the town center plan, updated in 2014, is to create a village green to serve as a community gathering place. Building standards for the town center, however, limit setbacks to discourage large parking areas in front of buildings and to promote pedestrian safety. The same front-setback limit would also force a village green to the rear of a town-center development if that plan included a village green - not what the town center plan has in mind.

"Village greens are a traditional part of New England life going back to 17th century," said Planning Board Chair Peter Curry. "They come in all sizes and shapes, and we thought it was important to have some sort of control over a village green that would be compatible with Cape Elizabeth and meet the goals of the town and the town government," he said.

The proposed ordinance amendment sets standards for a village green: It must have at least 100 feet of frontage on Ocean House Road, with a minimum depth of 100 feet and minimum size of 20,000 square feet, about half an acre.

A developer who chooses to include a green in an Ocean House Road development would not have to convey ownership of the green to the town, but must make it available for public use as a town green, Curry told members of the Town Council Oct. 14.

And, responding to a question from Jessica Sullivan, a member of the council's ordinance subcommittee, Curry said that creating a green is voluntary. "This is not some kind of a planning tool we're using to try to assure that we'll have a village green," Curry said. "A developer can say 'I'd like to do this', or, 'I'm really not interested in doing this, I'm going to develop it the old fashioned way without the green'. And that's fine too," he said.

The amendment is intended to apply to any town-center property along Ocean House Road, although the "catalyst", Curry said, was an informal proposal for a development at 326 Ocean House Road. "This parcel next door (to Town Hall) was obviously an example of how it might work, but we intended to go more broadly," he said. The result was the concept of new site standards for developments that include a village green.

"There has to be somebody who's willing to do it and to go along with this proposal. But If somebody wants to, we think it is important to make it possible. And that's what this amendment seeks to do," Curry said.

The council's ordinance committee will review the proposal before bringing it back to the full council for public hearing and adoption.