Bangor Planning Board recommends code change for temporary food sales

[0:53] Jonathan Boucher: Use your iPhone to try and muting to test your audio. [1:12] Edwin Brush: There we go. Can you hear me now? [1:15] Jonathan Boucher: You can yeah, we hear you. Okay. Thank you and then With Janet as well who was planning to join. I don't see Janet on the meeting yet Should we give him another minute before we? Yeah, let's start it Ken could you confirm your audio is fine? fine you can hear us fine yeah I can hear you great thanks again we're gonna give it to 7 0 5 to see if Janet Jones Janet joins and we'll go from there [2:43] Edwin Brush: that's great I saw earlier that she said she was going to join remotely so yeah [5:37] Speaker C (unidentified): you can let her jump in you can just say that member Genesis joined late good [6:09] Jonathan Boucher: evening and welcome to the staff and board members the members of the members of the public this is the June 2nd 2026 meeting of the city of Bangor's planning board it's 705. my name is Jonathan boucher I'm the chair of the board members are volunteers from the Bangor community other board members in attendance this evening include Ted brush Trisha Hayes Greg Hobson Ken hewn vice chair Jenna Jonas may be attending will we'll announce when she arrives, Ross Whitford and we have alternate member Justin Cartier is absent this evening. City staff members in attendance this evening include Planning Officer Anya Collette, Assistant Solicitor Grace Innes, and Planning Analyst Matthew Altiero. We thank them for their help in preparation for this meeting. We'll start with Old Business, and that includes the meeting minutes from May 19th are there any comments modifications otherwise I'll look for a motion in a second [7:19] Edwin Brush: member brush I'll second to approve the minutes of meeting of May 19th thank you [7:26] Jonathan Boucher: and remember Hobson with a second and we'll do a roll call vote member brush Yes. Member Hayes? Yes. Member Hobson? Yes. Member Huynh? Yes. Member Woodford? Yes. And the Chair votes yes. Okay. Next, we have review of the adoption of findings for 111 Union Street, 375 Pushaw Road, and 10 Broadway. way are there is there any discussion on these items otherwise I look for a motion on the adoption of findings for these member brush chair I move we [8:09] Edwin Brush: approve but we adopt the findings and decisions for and 11 Union Street and 375 Shaw Road and 10 Broadway. [8:23] Jonathan Boucher: Thank you, and a second? Second. Member Hobson, a roll call vote. Member Brush? Yes. Member Hayes? Yes. Member Hobson? Yes. Member Huynh? Yes. Member Woodford? Yes. And the chair votes yes. Okay, so that brings us to new business. The planning board has two main roles. First, we review amendments to the land development code, which typically include either changes to zoning districts or changes to text within the code. Our review of these amendments includes adherence to the comprehensive plan as well as considering any applicable concerns from the public. Our vote on these items is in the form of a recommendation to the city council as to whether the item ought to pass or not to pass. The city council makes the final decision on zoning and the land development code changes. There's one item on the agenda that is code amendment. Secondly, the board serves as a regulatory authority for land development permits commonly known as site plan review. There are no items on the agenda that are land development permits. and further information on the city 's codes and standards and the comprehensive plan may be found at the city's website for tonight's item that we have city staff will present the proposed code amendment and once the item has been presented we will allow public comment for public comment the person should come to the podium introduce themselves state if they're a Bangor resident and or in a butter it's not applicable it's also helpful to present your thoughts based upon the code the city codes the city's codes and standards and the comprehensive plan, as these are the primary documents used by the board to make our decision. All comments and discussions should remain respectful and consider others. Once public comment is completed, we will close the item to public comment and the board will then deliberate on the proposal using the applicable standards. And that brings us to our new business, which is the to amend the land development code section 165-31 for temporary sales of food and merchandise to allow increased flexibility for this use and planning officer Colette. Okay, presentation? Yep. [10:28] Speaker D (unidentified): Sorry for my running nose. So I don't want to hash this out too much because we went over it in more detail at our workshop, but just for anybody on YouTube watching, this amendment would pretty much add flexibility for temporary sales, which means things like food trucks or things selling, could be farm products, depending on the use. Use. But basically, this would allow temporary sales of food outside of the waterfront development district, where a use might be there seasonally. And then it would allow this in the neighborhood service district, and also allow temporary sales of food and merchandise on vacant lots. It would increase the maximum square footage of these uses to 2000 square feet in the primary commercial zones, get rid of the parking requirement for this use, and then reduce the setbacks to 10 feet from the property lines, and it would also prohibit drive-through service. I don't think at the last workshop that anybody had any revisions to make, so this is the same language that you saw before. Any [11:47] Speaker C (unidentified): questions? Any [11:50] Jonathan Boucher: questions? Number brush one of [11:54] Edwin Brush: the only restrictions in this is the number of vendors per lot, and I wonder it would help to [12:03] Speaker C (unidentified): have a definition of what a lot is. We do have that defined in the code. Yep, but what is that? It's just a parcel of land, but you have parcels of very different sizes. Yeah, [12:17] Edwin Brush: yeah, say 10,000 square feet or 20,000 square feet, right? Restrictions apply to [12:25] Speaker D (unidentified): same restriction for both of those? Yeah, I mean because it does limit also the area, so it would still be a maximum of 2,000 square feet in the area total for all these vendors on one lot. Okay. [12:39] Jonathan Boucher: Yeah. Any other questions? I have a question about if parks are considered vacant lots for this purpose. [12:52] Speaker D (unidentified): No. And these would not be allowed in the parks. Number one, we would have to allow it in the parks and open space zone, and we're not proposing that. That. And then also there's a policy, I think, I don't know if it's an ordinance or a policy that prohibits commercial uses in the parks, except for the waterfront park. [13:12] Jonathan Boucher: So that would include parking lots on public land or church property as well? [13:17] Speaker D (unidentified): If it was in the parks and open space district, although they're also, these aren't allowed in the G and ISD district. A lot of churches are G and ISD. But if a church was in a different zone that was included here, like I'm just thinking possibly smps, unlikely, but it could be, then yes, it would be allowed in church parking lot. But most churches are located in g and isd, sometimes our RNA, and maybe a few residential zones here and there, and these would not be [13:48] Speaker C (unidentified): allowed in residential zones. So number brush, are they not allowed to park on public street? [13:55] Speaker D (unidentified): Correct, they could not park on a public street. [14:02] Jonathan Boucher: Any other questions? Member hewn on the on the phone, do you have any questions? No, it's fine, it's perfectly clear. So i we should open it for public comment. I'm opening this topic to public comment. We don't have anyone in the room or on the meeting that I see, so I will now close it to public comment. Any further discussion or comments from the board or city staff? If not, I'd look for a motion on the proposal, and as a reminder, we'd like to phrase it as the motion ought to pass, and then that gives us the opportunity to vote yes or no against ought to pass. Do we have a motion? Member brush. Mr Chair, I move that the board recommends [15:02] Edwin Brush: that City Council ought to pass the amendment to the land development code section 165-31 temporary sales of building merchandise to allow increased flexibility for this use. Thank you, is [15:17] Jonathan Boucher: second? Second. Member Woodford? And roll call vote. Member Brush? Yes. Member Hayes? Yes. Member Hobson? Yes. Member Huynh? Yes. Member Woodford? Yes. And the chair votes yes. So with that in mind, it will move to the city council to their next meeting to be reviewed. And that was our only item. That brings us to other business. And I'd open it up to see if there's any updates or thoughts on land development code, any anything coming that we should be aware [15:54] Speaker D (unidentified): of. Nothing yet, we are knee-deep in the going through all the proposed uses and everything in the code, and we have a meeting with staff and our consultants over the next few weeks to discuss things more in depth, so we're [16:10] Jonathan Boucher: still working on it. 's anything planned for our next meeting later this month, or as far as the new code? Yeah, any new code? No topics, okay. [16:24] Speaker C (unidentified): Any other updates? I don't i don't think i have anything at this point. [16:32] Jonathan Boucher: Any comments or questions from the board members? Is there anything to sign tonight? [16:41] Speaker D (unidentified): We do have some decisions for you to sign that you adopted earlier, so all right, yeah. [16:48] Jonathan Boucher: Member Huynh, anything from you before we close up? [16:51] Edwin Brush: No, thanks for accommodating me. [16:54] Jonathan Boucher: All right, it's 7.15. This meeting of the City of Bangor's Planning Board is adjourned. Thanks everyone.