[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:07] Welcome to the town of Yarmouth's planning board meeting for April 8, 2020, six of a roll call. Denise Cameron here, Ian Cromarty, Jerry King, George Viscala, Matt Schumacher is absent and Kelly Williams is absent, I am here, Janet Hansen.
[0:32] We have the minutes from our March 25th meeting with any one like to make a motion
[0:40] I'll move to approve the meeting minutes
[0:44] Second. Okay, great. Denise Cameron approved. Ian Cromarty
[0:51] Jerry King, approved George riskala. Approved Matt Schumacher is absent Kelly Williams is also absent and I also approve the minutes
[1:02] Erin, do you have notices or, yep, port for us?
[1:06] Um, so just as a reminder, the April 22nd planning board meeting is canceled because, um,
[1:12] we do not have a quorum. It's also school vacation week. So, um, that's probably fine.
[1:17] Um, the next meeting after that will be May.
[1:22] Uh, something. Um, I do not have an outlook. It will be May 13th. Um, I do not have an outlook of what's on
[1:31] agenda yet because the deadline for that meeting is next week. So, stay tuned. Things will
[1:38] be posted before the end of next week, if we receive anything. And then additionally,
[1:43] next Monday, at the in the Patriot Insurance Event Space, which is at 701 Route 1,
[1:51] the Department and the Comprehensive Planning Committee will hold another forum to inform the
[1:58] community about LD1829, which is a new state law that mandates certain density and
[2:03] dimensional controls in growth areas, so we are planning an interactive forum to learn
[2:11] more about what that density looks like and how that might play out on different lots in
[2:18] the community. So I hope to see you there. We'll have some light refreshments and
[2:23] It is family-friendly, so kids can hang out to and participate if they want to, but other than that,
[2:32] just status, usual status in the department.
[2:35] Great.
[2:35] Thank you.
[2:37] We have no old business to review tonight, but we do have one item of new business.
[2:42] It's an action item.
[2:44] A shoreland permit, relocation of the waterming under US Route 1, Yarmouth Water District, applicant.
[2:50] The Yarmouth Water District is requesting review of a shore land zoning permit for proposed
[2:57] installation of approximately 3,300 linear feet of re- replacement water main on U.S.
[3:04] route 1 from Delorum Drive to the former Muddy Rutter Restaurant. Approximately 1,400 linear
[3:12] feet is located within the shore land zone. The existing water main is in the southbound
[3:18] shoulder of root one and will be relocated to within the
[3:22] pay portion of the right of white to accommodate water
[3:26] surfaces, side street, tines and hydrants, and to tie into
[3:31] the existing water main before the Cousin River Bridge. The
[3:36] board may vote and after public comment is received. So I
[3:41] think we have a presentation from Eric Enging from the water
[3:45] district this evening.
[3:49] Good evening, Eric
[3:51] with the Yarmouth Water District. Thanks for taking this on the agenda. We're pretty anxious to get this going.
[3:58] So I appreciate you guys taking this in at the last second and oh my application. What is in at the 12th hour.
[4:06] So as you folks have in front of you, we are planning to replace 3300 feet of waterline from approximately the Garmin entrance to the muddy rudder entrance.
[4:19] We have a new connection that goes underneath the river to connect a free port, so we have an interconnection with them.
[4:29] And we've also replaced the significant portion of the line from the exit 17 bridge, Garmin area,
[4:37] all the way to like the Cumberland Farm's area. It's weird. We don't follow route one once you get past the exit. We go down Route 88.
[4:44] And so it's not as intuitive as you'd think where the water main is, but we have a very new section of pipe, so this is kind of one of the portions to build a stronger interconnection there.
[4:57] We have had a few issues out there. We hate to say the L word, but the water was escaping at some points through the last couple of years.
[5:07] And MDOT is going to be, hopefully, doing a project in 2027 that includes the extension
[5:16] of the Beth Condon Parkway all the way to the router, and connecting to the current bridge
[5:21] work that are going to be doing some stuff before fall.
[5:27] So in part of that project, they're going to be installing Stormdrain, which is where we're
[5:32] So we're being somewhat forced to move out of their way.
[5:37] That's just the power of the DOT.
[5:40] Anyways, so it's the project's plan to start in early June.
[5:46] And last through the fall, it's a significant portion of our system.
[5:51] Traffic control, large pipe, and just given the significance of all the connections.
[5:56] Large diameter connections.
[5:57] It'll take some time for us to get through there.
[5:59] plus it's all open-cut, so it's an open excavation project.
[6:03] The plan is to keep two lanes of traffic open.
[6:08] So for the majority of the time,
[6:10] they'll have two lanes of traffic.
[6:13] There will be moments I think
[6:14] where they're doing connections and whatnot.
[6:17] And where the islands are,
[6:19] the concrete islands are near the MDOT Information Center.
[6:22] They may have to alternate traffic
[6:24] just because of the configuration of the road,
[6:26] But that'll be a short duration.
[6:30] The schedule is somewhat tentative.
[6:32] We had a pre-construction meeting today that included the MDOT folks in their contractors that are doing the bridge.
[6:39] And we're trying to work with them.
[6:41] So we're not creating a bigger mess than what's out there now with that stop light.
[6:46] Hopefully crossing our fingers that we can coordinate that when they get both lanes open, we're going to start.
[6:52] So that way, the red light, that light at the bridge will be gone.
[6:57] Two lanes over the bridge will be open,
[6:58] and then we'll start doing our work.
[7:01] As they continue doing their night work and
[7:04] and work through until the fall until we're completed.
[7:09] Yeah, so I think that's really it.
[7:11] If you guys have any questions,
[7:13] I'm here to answer anything.
[7:18] The question is the pipeline underneath, the river is it like straddle down to the great questions.
[7:30] The old bridge at the old bridge was underneath, but we decided to directionally drill to go underneath the river, so we're not at the mercy of MDOT.
[7:40] Whenever they replace the bridge, it's not cheap to attach yourself to the bridge then you have to add insulation and that pipe is a little bit more expensive than your typical pipe.
[7:49] The cost of that project honestly was like a wash, but we felt like for the future of the system in the long run it's going to be cheaper for us to be under the river than on attached to the bridge.
[8:03] And that was in conjunction with with the main water, who controls free port.
[8:09] Yep.
[8:11] So do you already have a contract to line up?
[8:13] We do, yep, we went out to bid really early this year, actually might even have been late in 2025,
[8:21] uh, Jen-Drin and Jen-Drin out of Loostins. Got that, they've, they've got a little bigger over the
[8:27] class, couple of years acquiring a few other contractors. Um, we've worked with them in the past
[8:33] and they're forming and whatnot. So we're pleased to have them on board. Cool. Thank you.
[8:43] Does anyone else have any questions for Eric?
[8:49] What's the life cycle around these pipes?
[8:53] That's a great question.
[8:55] So our current system is built of mostly cast iron.
[8:58] Some of it's online.
[9:00] So we have some water quality issues
[9:01] because it develops rust and red water.
[9:05] The newer stuff is Dr. Lyon with cement lining.
[9:08] And that's a 75-ish year life cycle.
[9:11] That being said, there's some soil conditions
[9:14] in certain areas of Yarmith and just, you know, generally, yeah, that we have some problems with
[9:21] and we feel that this is one of those areas. It might be some saltwater intrusion going on in there.
[9:28] So we're actually going to be putting in, they call it CPVC. It's a C909 product, so it's plastic.
[9:37] Then walled plastic, pretty durable, folks have been using it quite a bit outside of this area.
[9:43] where we're new to using PVC in Yarmeth.
[9:47] We've been tried and showed up the lion folks,
[9:50] but given the circumstances and how we're seeing
[9:55] the deterioration of the existing pipe,
[9:57] we feel like there's some sort of soils
[9:58] thing happening there.
[10:00] And the plastic would help with that.
[10:03] And it has the same life cycle.
[10:06] Is that like an outside covering?
[10:08] No, the whole, yeah, it's just, it's an entire plastic pipe.
[10:13] So if you have like after the construction is this is just out of curiosity, so if there's a rupture like say you're later
[10:21] Who's responsible for that?
[10:23] Within there's a year warranty and it's not typical for something to happen that short, but so after that, it's on us
[10:33] Yep, yep
[10:34] Usually things I mean we press your test to at least 150 pounds of pressure
[10:39] which is one and a half times the pressure that's out there, so usually if there's some sort
[10:44] of installation issues or defect that's prominent, we would find it out then. Yeah, and that's kind
[10:53] of, it's not really common to outside of the pressure test passing that you have something happen
[10:58] that soon. Yeah, thank you. Yep. We are going to be planning on putting in additional services
[11:06] is to like even kill those areas so that you don't have to dig up or want again. So I know there's
[11:12] some been conversations about some development there and potentially the land near Garmin as
[11:18] well we've been talking with them to say hey what's your future plans because we're going to be
[11:23] in the pavement now and it's not going to be cheap and honestly you won't be allowed to dig it up for a
[11:27] while if we're there. So we're working with them to figure out what their needs are.
[11:39] The board has no more questions. We'll open for public comment.
[11:45] Yeah.
[11:49] When you go to the mic, could you please state your name and your dress. Thank you.
[11:54] Yes, well, my name.
[11:58] I'm short.
[12:00] My name is in Monkern, and I live at one 91's, this was a trail.
[12:06] So if you follow the Cousins River down and around the corner paths that you can kill
[12:11] boat yard, we're on the other side of the river, and we've been there for 40 some years.
[12:21] And we've seen a lot of effort to develop the land that was formerly owned by Howard Small.
[12:32] And we have had continuing concerns about that.
[12:38] So, why I'm here tonight and, you know, my husband and I have talked about this.
[12:43] I am here to basically put something forward for consideration by the board, not challenging the
[12:55] design of this water main replacement, but to just understand what the heck is going on now.
[13:06] All right? So our question is, why is the town department doing the expansion?
[13:13] of this magnitude for those few businesses that are there and you just answered the question
[13:19] and this was our biggest concern. Is it there? Is something going on with regard to the
[13:26] development of the former Howard small property which is now owned by DeLorm and there was an
[13:34] illegal clear cutting that he did five years ago and we complained that the town and the town said,
[13:42] Oh no, it's fine. And then they said, oops, maybe it wasn't, but by
[13:46] them, the trees were all gone. It was a five year moratorium because it was
[13:50] an illegal cut. And now the five years are up. And we look out our
[13:56] window. And there are surveyors out there. And there's tape going up
[14:00] all over the place. And nobody has to said, what is in the works? So
[14:07] week, week, have this vision, we have this dream, if you will, that what is going to happen
[14:16] is that we're going to wake up one day, and there's going to be some spot zoning done,
[14:21] and there's going to be some huge use of this fragile landscape, and it goes down into active
[14:29] plant beds, and it is a very important resource to the community.
[14:34] And what I am saying is we have issues with the capacity of the sewer, we're increasing
[14:41] the capacity of the water, and this is raising all of the alarms that we have as to
[14:50] the scope, the magnitude of the plans that are in the works for that land.
[14:55] you're talking to the lorms, so you have some insights, sir.
[15:00] I don't know what the planning board understands. No, but it's time for us to know what's happening because they're walking across the river to our property. They're up and down, this was a, you know, this was a trail riverside. And you know, we're all like going, what is going on here. So this, this coming in at the same time, simultaneously, is causing us to worry that we're not.
[15:30] informed and if you have any information to share with us we would really like to hear
[15:36] it because we've been going through this since we've since we moved to town.
[15:43] I'm afraid the planning board is totally unaware of anything happening there.
[15:47] But apparently there is.
[15:49] Because you're in conversation.
[15:58] Yes.
[15:58] Also I think we have help us so that we can.
[16:01] We have because at the end of the day, the town currently has as I understand it
[16:08] a moratorium because the sewer can't, it's not that part of town, not that part of town is not covered.
[16:15] They're not in the sewer system?
[16:17] No, it's that it is served by a different pump station.
[16:21] I see. Okay, well that's helpful. That's helpful. All right, so you can understand
[16:27] We look out the window, that's our backyard, and that's where we plan.
[16:34] So we're very concerned.
[16:36] So thank you.
[16:36] If you can help us out.
[16:39] Do you have questions from me by the way before I step up the sign?
[16:46] No, only we have some people online that might have comments they'd like to make.
[16:52] So maybe Eric, we should wait till they make their comments.
[16:54] Okay, okay,
[17:00] if anybody online would like to make a comment, could you turn your microphone on and let us hear from you?
[17:15] I guess not. Okay, Eric, then that would be helpful. Thanks.
[17:22] All right, thank you for the questions. A few things that I can answer.
[17:27] the reasoning, the big reason why we're going out there, even though this was on our very long
[17:33] term capitalist, is the interconnection with freeport being significant.
[17:38] We like to interconnect with folks where interconnected with Portland, water, interconnection
[17:43] with freeport.
[17:44] But MDOT's making us move, so at this time, it's like, well, if we're going to move, we're
[17:50] going to do it right.
[17:51] We're going to put bigger pipe in, we don't want to be back out there for 75 years and hopefully
[17:55] at least my duration there to fix anything, too, right?
[17:59] So that's the biggest reason.
[18:01] His MDOT is forcing us to move.
[18:04] We have an interconnection with freeport.
[18:06] It won't increase capacity unless some other development is out there.
[18:10] So there's not any additional customers.
[18:12] Even though there's bigger pipe, the capacity will be the staying the same.
[18:17] In regards to development, we know that there was some talk about even
[18:21] field, having some sort of development out there.
[18:25] I think they were struggling with water at one point.
[18:28] We did have a service agreement with them to have a seasonal service line.
[18:34] It hasn't kind of gained any traction, but knowing that we are going to drop off a connection
[18:40] there so they could be set for a long time without having to dig up the road.
[18:45] And again, that doesn't increase capacities, just like dropping off a service.
[18:49] They don't have to attach to it, but at least it'll be there, and they've already made it
[18:53] to deposit to us to do that. So it's, you know, no additional expenses for the water district or our
[18:59] ratepayers. It's funny enough when I drove by the root one parcel that you're talking about and
[19:07] seeing those flags. Like, I was honestly just as surprised. When we have conversations with folks,
[19:13] it's to address mostly all larger land parcels because we know like if water systems are built
[19:20] for the next 50 plus years, if we don't ask these questions and say, hey, do you have
[19:26] anything, any inkling of anything now's the time? We already planned on dropping off a larger
[19:32] service and what they have currently. They already have a 12 inch line that goes around
[19:38] their current building. So they have, well before my time here in Yarmeth, considered expanding
[19:45] and doing certain things out there. So we're just making sure that we're doing the right
[19:49] thing by approaching large parcel owners to say, hey, if you need anything, this is the time
[19:54] to do it. It'll be a certain cost, but it'll be cheaper now because you're not going to have to
[19:59] redig and do it on your own. We're going to share some of those costs. So the really isn't,
[20:04] We don't know of anything.
[20:06] We always see the rumor mill, like I think everybody else does,
[20:09] when you go to the coffee shops, like,
[20:10] oh, there might be something happening here.
[20:13] And we have not heard anything specific about that.
[20:16] They are working with us to put a larger line in there
[20:20] for potential.
[20:22] And honestly, if I was thinking for the future,
[20:25] I probably would do the same thing,
[20:26] because it makes sense to do it now.
[20:27] And it's going to be so much cheaper to do it while
[20:29] we're digging than to hire somebody else after the fact.
[20:33] Yeah, I think that's really it.
[20:36] Unless you had anything else that I missed,
[20:38] but I quickly jotted down things.
[20:42] Thank you.
[20:47] I appreciate that.
[20:50] And what I also appreciate is the opportunity
[20:54] to initiate the discussion with this board
[20:59] as to the large community interest
[21:03] and anything that may be happening.
[21:06] And that's the fundamental reason that I'm here tonight is to find out if you know anything.
[21:13] But also to be aware that it's going to be, sorry that's my phone.
[21:21] I'm happy to be here to give you a heads-up that this will become a really big issue going forward.
[21:30] because it is just such an extraordinary piece of land, and the most recent
[21:36] interaction that we had was with the comprehensive plan,
[21:42] and you know they suddenly
[21:42] lifted the low density residential criteria for the lower portion, and it
[21:47] had always been that of course it's commercial along route one, it's totally
[21:51] appropriate, it's commercial area, but where the power lines go through it immediately
[21:58] shifted down to a much more limited development.
[22:02] And our concern is that, you know, through some desire to increase housing capacity and
[22:10] all that there will be some major condominiums, some kind of big development there beyond
[22:17] a commercial enterprise that, you know, on route one, that will just totally change the nature
[22:27] of that whole end town.
[22:31] We have to, we have to fight to protect it. So that's why I'm here tonight and I appreciate your indulging me to express my concerns for the future. Tonight, rather than my specific concerns about the design of your plan.
[22:50] All right.
[22:51] Thank you.
[22:51] Any questions for me?
[22:55] No, I guess so.
[22:56] All right. Thank you very much.
[22:57] Thank you for your comments.
[23:01] Well, I think we could probably have a vote or there's a motion in the package.
[23:12] One
[23:15] would like for the motion.
[23:16] You have the motion.
[23:17] You have the motion.
[23:20] Before you go forward, I did include a condition about Steve Johnson attending the precom meeting.
[23:27] for you all meeting was yesterday Steve Johnson was there if the planning board would like to
[23:32] thank you for moving back condition. I was not in attendance, but I know Steve was there and
[23:38] Eric can confirm that so it's probably moot at this point. And accomplished. Yes, all right.
[23:45] Or leave it in chat. So we'd like me to go ahead and end the motion. On the basis of the plans
[23:52] by the applicant, the testimony, and the public hearing, and the findings of the planning
[23:57] staff dated March 31, 2026, and by adopting the findings, the fact that notice of the decision
[24:03] dated April 8, 2020, 6, regarding the application of the Yarmeth Water District for the
[24:08] relocation of the root 1 water main. For shorelands, own permit review chapters 701, article 4,
[24:16] are 11, A and B. The planning board finds that the plan is in conformance with the standards
[24:22] and the review of this section, and is a proof subject to the following condition.
[24:27] All erosion and sedimentation control best management practices, BMPs, shall be installed
[24:33] prior to the disturbance of site soils and vegetation including BMPs.
[24:39] During construction, the applicant and the construction manager contractor shall perform the
[24:44] required inspections and enforce the erosion control or sedimentation control plan per the
[24:50] main DEP requirements, including weekly inspections and documentation of all inspection work.
[24:56] It is also important that the BMPs be inspected before and after each brainstorm,
[25:01] per main DEP standards. In addition, the town will be performing site inspections and will
[25:05] be reviewing the inspection records for the town's nifties MS4 general permit.
[25:12] Thank you. Do we have a second?
[25:14] I'll second the motion. Thanks, jury. Okay, we'll have a roll call vote. Denise Cameron approved.
[25:21] In Cromarty.
[25:22] Approved.
[25:23] Jerry King.
[25:24] Approved.
[25:24] George Viscala.
[25:26] Approved.
[25:26] Matt Schumacher's Absent.
[25:28] Kelly Williams is also Absent.
[25:30] And I approve as well.
[25:33] Okay.
[25:34] All right.
[25:34] Thank you.
[25:36] Gotcha.
[25:36] Shortly improvement.
[25:42] Thank you.
[25:43] I think the meeting is adjourned.