ORONO – The town council is expected to vote in the near future on on ordinance amendments for parcels of land in the C-2 district with frontage along Park Street.

The updated Comprehensive Plan called for a transportation management plan for the Park Street corridor in an effort to improve conditions on the street for all modes of transportation, and last year, the town had a transportation study done for the street. Due to an influx in recent years of large-scale apartment developments, the corridor was seeing more traffic and usage than before.

There were three main recommendations to come out of the study: improvements to the street system, transportation management strategies, and changes to the Land Use Ordinance. The proposed amendments deal directly with the third recommendation, but also lay the foundation for the other recommendations to take place.

The goals of the amendment are to make Park Street a connector rather than a divider, set the foundation for human scale development, and create an outdoor room effect on the corridor to allow for a safer experience. The amendment sets to accomplish the above goals by making several changes.

The biggest of those is changing the setback requirements for parcels with frontage on Park St. Other changes proposed in the amendment include limiting driveway widths, increasing the distance between curb cuts, and better aligning the Town’s standards with those of MDOT.

Public hearings have been held by both the planning board and town council on the amendments, with no apparent opposition to the changes. It is anticipated the ordinance amendments could come as soon as next month.

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