Town of Otis
Planning Board Meeting Minutes November 13, 2023
Call to order 7:02 PM
1. Roll Call:
Mark Anthony – Chair
Terry Cook-Visser
Barb Gallagher
Hal Kobrin
2. Approval of September 11, 2023 minutes
Mark motion to accept, Barb second, all in favor.
3. Public Hearing: D&J Special Permit Modification
Mark Amanti, renovating existing building and putting in rental rooms, planning board had requested more information and approval from other boards.
Plans: 3 apartments on middle floor, 4 apartments on top floor, existing well in place that has been tested and is in good working order, new septic system plan, front and rear entrances, lower floor currently storage and possibly retail down the road.
Building will be built for year round use, will only have seasonal rentals.
Matt from SK design, building code doesn’t really let you build to seasonal, so building must be built for year round.
Site plan, everything on plan is the same except one building, current building is about half the size of original proposed footprint.
Septic system, goal is to not have to build the septic system for 50 units on day 1 of the project.
Perc tests have been done and are good, septic field proposed behind post office, currently proposing to have septic tank and leech field to support one building then add septic tank and expand leech field to support additional buildings as they are built.
Original proposed well has been installed, no development, structures, exc, around area for public water supply, current well for this building is just in front of building, drilled well, has been tested, good for short term, long term can switch to public water source.
Hal, you are given 2 years to do substantial work under the permit, we gave extensions no problem, what has been approved was the plan and usage, from permitting point of view, what you are proposing is diverting from original plan and usage. Change in water supply and septic, exc. Full time usage, townhouses, vs seasonal rentals. Previous owners did extensive work on water, sewer, traffic patterns, runnoff water. Does changing the use from townhomes to short term rentals impact that because it is a big divergence from original permit. Building in phases makes sense, but changing the plan and the use is something we need to look at.
Matt SK design, Work that has been done, public water supply has been drilled, tested.
Mark Amanti, we can only do so much because of the cost right now, we need to do something to move this project forward.
Hal, our job as the Planning Board is to make sure it gets done by the law and how it has been permitted, our job is to make sure it is going in the right direction, and we have enough information to do right not only by you but by the town as well. Your intent is theoretically to build the whole thing, but this building is a new thing, with lots of unknowns, our job as board is to ask these questions and look at big picture. Is this the best thing for the town, if you can rent it year round you likely will because you can make more money.
Matt SK design, current well for building is not public water supply, we are under the threshold assuming 11 bedrooms 2 people per room.
Barb, what are you suggesting that they do Hal?
Hal, doesn’t see all the pieces he wants to see, looking for entire plan not just for this building.
Yes this area is for the entire septic and will be used once all buildings are done.
Mark Anthony, question about units per building, townhouse bylaw states no more than 5 units per structure in a townhouse development. What did zoning have to say about this plan?
Mark Amanti, we did not go to zoning with this?
Terry, we already know there will be future plans and changes, what other things do we need to know now, what is restricting us from making this decision, what additional information do we need?
Hal, asking all the questions here, there is a limit on how many units can be in a single building in this town,
Terry, its rentals so that is different than townhomes,
Hal, changes in what subdivision is supposed to be, full time ownership, will become a neighborhood, vs short term rentals throwing parties and such, already dealing with STR issues in the community. Fundamental philosophy of creating STR is a change in the intended use, and the other issue brought up about number of units per building. Is this building a townhome permit because we are changing use of this building from townhomes to rentals?
No structure within a townhome development can contain more than 5 units, this permit was issued under the townhome bylaws. There can not be more than 5 units in the building under the current permit.
Mark Amanti, the building is seasonal, the intent is for people to come rent for a few weeks bring boat and have a dock.
Hal, sure that may be the current intension, but building has to be built for year round so you will be able to rent year round if you want.
Mark Anthony, developer needs to check with zoning on bylaws for number of units allowed in one building and usage for townhomes vs seasonal rentals.
Terry, can we make an amendment?
Hal, we can’t vote until we have the answers to all these questions.
Terry Gould, it may be that they can carve out that building to get a separate permit for just that building to be used for str and keep the remaining plan for town house development.
Hal, but this is part of the overall plan? Not sure if you can do it or not, easy way to be to amend your plan vs making a separate plan with separate permit, that would need to be entirely separate plan and permit,
Mark Amanti, what is currently holding us up?
Mark Anthony, we want clarification on zoning issues.
Barb, what was original plan for this building?
Mark Amanti, 9 buildings, 5 units each.
Hal, this is how things work in government, we need to know the answers to all these questions before we can move forward.
Mark Anthony, bylaws say no more than 5 units in one building we need zonings approval if you are asking for more than 5 units in one building.
Hal, another issue is the lower level, you say it’s for storage with possible retail use in the future. That is a mixed use building, may be rentals, or retails, townhouse subdivision but you are proposing to change use from townhomes to a mixed use building. What is lower level, retail, storage, mixed use building? This is not a town home and does not fit into townhome permit legally. That type of building use can not be approved under your current permit.
Terry Gould, who is permitting board for mixed use buildings? Would need to ask them if it is approvable under a separate permit. A townhome development is residential development.
Hal, that is why taking this building out of the current permit is an option to keep townhome development as is and apply for a separate permit for the mixed use building.
Matt SK design, the issue I am hearing is zoning,
Hal, use of building is affecting permit at large because existing permit does not allow mixed use building it only allows for townhomes. The permit is issued for townhouse, this building is different and has 7 units.
Mark Amanti, if we reduce that to 5 units where would we stand?
Hal, the building can’t be mixed use under the current permit.
Terry, can that area be designated as storage for those units?
Terry Gould, if the language in the permit says its storage then they have to make it storage.
Mark Amanti, why can’t there be retail in there?
Hal, yes 5 units would be good it fits into what has been permitting,
Terry Gould, if you want an amendment to permit, the amendment can say reuse building that exist, planning has power to permit under this permit. A condition would be that the building is a 5 unit town home because it is a townhouse permit. If you want to change what you want to use that building for, ex include retail, the planning board can approve the townhome plan excluding that building and the mixed use building would need a separate permit from zoning board I believe. There are different rules on mixed use buildings and we would need to check the bylaws to see if we can even do residential mixed use,
Mark Amanti, removing mixed use is not a problem but it takes some money out of our pocket.
Terry Gould, the planning board do not have the authority to permit this its not that they have an issue with it.
Mark Amanti, if we come back with 5 units are there no other uses?
Hal, yes that doesn’t change anything in permit.
Terry Gould, would want to confirm with Larry that mixed use is allowed, it’s hard to say no but the truth is you’re going to have to come back.
Mark Anthony, we can continue the public hearing to next month.
Hal, you need to decide which avenue you want to go down, we just need to make sure we are doing this right.
Mark Anthony, motion to continue public hearing to December 11, 2023 at 7:00 PM meeting, Hal second, all in favor.
Terry Gould, we don’t want to discourage business in town, but we do need to make sure it’s done correctly, so that no issues come up in the future, V1 district was drawn up very carefully to go around businesses not leaving much room for additional businesses, no one wants to put anyone out of business, we want to support them all, it’s hard.
4. Any other business old or new.
5. Mark motion to adjourn 8:00 PM. Terry Second. All in favor.