China planners review town’s subdivision ordinance

by Mary Grow

Four China Planning Board members spent a short Feb. 25 meeting reviewing preliminary updates and clarifications to the town’s subdivision ordinance.

Board chairman Toni Wall had suggested mostly minor changes throughout the document, and other board members recommended others. Milton Dudley proposed adding a time-line to help would-be subdivision developers navigate the document.

Codes Officer Nicholas French wants to add regulations for cluster developments, which are prohibited in the current ordinance. A cluster development, he explained, requires the same total land area for the number of houses built as a conventional subdivision; but the houses are closer together and more of the area is left undeveloped.

The result, in French’s opinion, is housing that requires less road-building and road maintenance, minimizes sprawl and preserves larger natural areas.

Wall shared copies of two Maine towns’ cluster development rules for the other board members to review. Dudley said the veterans’ housing at Togus is an example of a cluster development.

Types of changes Wall recommended included updating references to outside sources, like state regulatory documents whose titles had changed since the China ordinance was last substantively revised in 1993; and deleting phrases that give the planning board discretionary authority.

The first example of the latter she highlighted was a sentence allowing the board, “where it deems it necessary,” to require a minor subdivision to meet some or all of the more comprehensive application requirements for a major subdivision.

Cluster development regulations will be the main topic of the next discussion. Board members canceled their March 11 meeting, because at least one board member will not be available and to give themselves more time to consider the issue. Their next meeting is now scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 25, in the town office meeting room.