NORWAY – After more than an hour of discussion Thursday night, the Norway Planning Board granted what it called “preliminary approval” for a five-lot subdivision on Ralph Richardson Road.
The board said the plan will not be considered final until Fergus Lea, planning division director for the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, has drafted a list of conditions that will be attached to the document. The main point of contention was Ralph Richardson Road, a portion of which the subdivision developers will be required to upgrade.
Board members said the road is in no condition for traffic that would result from the subdivision. “I still feel strongly that the developer should share some of the burden of the road upgrade,” alternate member Michael Micklon said.
The board agreed that developers Jason Bobrowsky and Coleman Walsh should have to widen Ralph Richardson Road to 16 feet along the length of the proposed Norway Woods subdivision, install culverts and ditching, and lay down 12 inches of gravel.
The Norway Woods application and increasing development have prompted town officials to begin discussing impact fees. These are fees typically charged developers to help pay for infrastructure improvements – such as road upgrades – made necessary by building projects or subdivisions.
Although voters are expected to consider an impact fee ordinance at the June town meeting, there is no such ordinance on the books today.
Micklon said he definitely wouldn’t call the requirement to improve part of Ralph Richardson Road an impact fee, “because it’s not.”
Lea added that the board would be “ill-advised” not to go forward with the requirement.
While drafting language on the road improvement requirement, Lea also is expected to address his own concern that there was no clear erosion-control plan included with the subdivision application.
Robert Greenlaw of Back Bay Boundary Inc., a land surveying company in Portland, said he didn’t expect the lots to be sold or developed immediately, so it was difficult to provide a specific erosion-control plan. He also said he believed the Planning Board would review building plans as the lots were sold and developed.
Greenlaw was told the board does not review site plans for individual houses.
Chairman Dennis Gray had earlier in the meeting explained that Norway has a “one-step” subdivision approval process. It was unclear at 8:45 p.m. whether Bobrowsky and Walsh would have to reappear before the board because only a “preliminary approval” had been granted.
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