Lewiston Zoning Board elects new officers, approves used car dealership permit

[3:27] Bernie McAllister: 5.30, we'll call the meeting to order. I'm Bernie McAllister, the current vice chair of the committee. This is June 3rd. The meeting of the Houston Board of Appeals is now called to order. Since our longtime board chair recently resigned, and I'd like to thank him for his service. He's been a long-term standing member of this committee, and I want to acknowledge Jeff's service to the community. I'll be presiding over the first part of the meeting tonight until we elect new officers. We will start with the roll call. [4:06] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): Yes, Bernie McAllister. Melanie Dorn here. David Projansky. Amanda Karamba absent. Rilwan Osman. Yeah. William Coffin. Yes. Walter Shostak here. Paul Call Asante here. Matthew Doyon. Here. Are [4:34] Bernie McAllister: there any adjustments to tonight's agenda? There are none. Article 4, the election of officers. We're electing a chair, a vice chair, a secretary in that order. As a presiding officer, I will continue to lead the process even if I'm nominated for an office. I will open the nominations for the office of chairperson. [5:01] Speaker C (unidentified): I'll make a motion that Bernie be the chair. Second. We [5:11] Bernie McAllister: have a motion. Is there any other nominations? Is there any other nominations? Is there any other nominations? [5:20] Speaker C (unidentified): I'll make a motion that we close nominations and have the secretary cast one ballot for Bernie as the chair. [5:30] Bernie McAllister: I'll call for a vote. Roll call vote. [5:34] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Did you make a motion? [5:35] Speaker C (unidentified): I MADE THE MOTION THAT WE CAN CLOSE NOMINATIONS. [5:40] Speaker E (unidentified): SECOND THE MOTION. THERE YOU GO. [6:04] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): OKAY. I APOLOGIZE. [6:06] Speaker C (unidentified): I HAVE A POINT OF ORDER. ALL WE'RE DOING IS THIS MOTION IS TO CLOSE THE NOMINATIONS. CORRECT. SO THAT CAN BE JUST A SIMPLE MAJORITY. I DON'T THINK WE NEED A ROLL CALL FOR THAT. [6:17] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): TO MAKE THE MOTION TO CLOSE THE NOMINATIONS. YOU ARE CORRECT. OKAY. [6:23] Speaker C (unidentified): So that can just be it, so that just like that's not a roll call vote, so [Bernie McAllister: we make] another motion that the secretary cast one ballot for Bernie as chair. We have a [6:43] Bernie McAllister: motion. Do we have a second? Just as a point of order, we're using last year's secretary to do this until she gets correct, till it to the new vote. Yep. [7:41] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): So just so Shelly has everything correct, there was a motion for a slate for Bernie and for the secretary. No, not yet, I'm sorry. Okay, just that's right. So that one will need a roll call vote for the, for the, for because you're, you're nominating Bernie as the chair, right? Yeah, and so that needs to go through a vote, a formal process, [8:09] Speaker C (unidentified): even though he was on a post, correct, you still have, yeah, you still have to have the vote. [8:14] Bernie McAllister: Okay. Yep. All right. Would you call the roll? Certainly. I [8:24] Speaker C (unidentified): Apologize. Matthew Doyon. Point of order. So a yes is to vote for Bernie? Correct. Okay. Yes. [8:34] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): Walter Shostak. Yes. Paul Colasante. Yes. David Projansky. Yes. Melanie Dorn. Yes. William Coffin. Yes. And Rowan Osmond. Yes. [8:52] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Mr. Chair, if I may. It's been a little while since we've all gotten together. So you have all but one of your normal members. You'll have to appoint one of your alternate members for voting tonight. So you are sitting at... So your two associate members are Paul and Matthew and you do not have Amanda here tonight so you'll need to appoint one and then the other will not be voting so I think we cast we captured votes from both associate members tonight Aaron Lee so only one of those will count and it'll be the one that you appoint tonight as a voting member okay so Matthew is the voting member tonight and just to just to remind everybody so the other associate member can still deliberate can still discuss have Questions and whatnot just cannot vote [Speaker F (unidentified): And] I believe that brings us up to the next officer position Mr. Chair thank [10:26] Bernie McAllister: You for your support now we'll proceed to the remaining election I'll open the nominations for the vice chair office of vice chair I would like to nominate Melanie okay I accept that [10:47] Speaker F (unidentified): Accept the nomination I [10:53] Speaker G (unidentified): Second are there [10:57] Bernie McAllister: Any other nominations are there any other nominations I move to close nominations and move to close nominations all in favor I understand we need to do a full vote on this so if there are no other nominations are now closed and we'll [11:28] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): Move to calling of the role Matthew Doyon yes William Shostak Walter oh Walter I apologize yes Paul Colasante yes David Projansky yes Bernard McAllister yes William Coffin. Yes. And Rowan Osmond. Yes. Melanie, [12:12] Bernie McAllister: Do you accept? I accept. Thank you. Congratulations. So now I move to electing a secretary. Correct. Just so that the new members could perhaps get a sense of what that is because a lot of the stuff does get done by the staff. So it's not like you're going to be setting agendas [12:38] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Correct in your packet. You should have had believe a memo from Craig and the back of the last page talks about the duties of the officers. So the brief description Interestingly enough the secretary is the longest paragraph Duty, so if you'd like to read that to know what you're getting into [13:47] Speaker H (unidentified): I think just to reiterate the person is essentially responsible for reviewing the minutes that staff prepares and calling the role those are the primary things that happen on a regular basis. Are [14:07] Bernie McAllister: there any other nominations? Are there any other nominations? I'll make a [14:24] Speaker C (unidentified): motion to close nominations. Move [14:29] Bernie McAllister: to close nominations. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? [14:41] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Passes, I believe. So now you're voting for the? Secretary's position. Correct. [14:51] Bernie McAllister: Shelly, if you would call the role. Matthew Doyon. [14:54] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): Yes. Walter Shawstack. Yes. David Projanski. Yes. Bernie McCallister. Yes. Melanie Dorn. Yes. William Coffin. Yes. And Rilwan Osman. Yes. Do [15:17] Bernie McAllister: you accept, Matthew? I accept. We'll now move on to [15:23] Speaker F (unidentified): congratulations to all the [15:24] Bernie McAllister: the new officers. I was gonna throw my head, it will be fine after the first couple of meetings. Next up, the next item on the agenda is to look at item number five, the adoption of the 2026 policies and procedures. I will entertain a motion to adopt the 2026 board of appeals policies and procedures. So moved. Second. So we have a, let the secretary know who's [15:57] Speaker C (unidentified): do you catch that? Okay. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I moved it. Paul seconded. Okay, any other discussion? [16:13] Bernie McAllister: Just as a point of order, perhaps you could just entertain, there hasn't been, hasn't been really any major policy changes to this over last year. No, and operating [16:24] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): and if anybody has any questions on any of them, feel free to reach out to our staff and we'll glad to clarify or answer any questions you have. [16:47] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): Matthew Doyon, yes. Walter Shostak, yes. Paul Colasante, oh you're correct, David Projansky. Yes. Bernard McAllister. Yes. Melanie Dorn. Yes. William Coffin. No. And Rill Juan Osmond. Yes. Motion [17:22] Bernie McAllister: carried by a majority vote. Ready now to move into the orientation and member training segment. [17:58] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): So again, as we, as I said earlier, we'll go through these fairly quickly. We will also send them out to you guys all in an email. So you'll have them. We don't expect you guys to know everything by the end of this slide show. And there's, there's a lot to digest. So feel free to ask any questions as we go along. We'll answer the best we can. But this is a training slideshow that's been put together for, we have one for the planning board as well as the board of appeals. I'd like to thank Shelly for all the hard work that she's put into, to this training slideshow. So this is just going to give you a quick basic legal and land use training. I won't read every single slide. If you can't read it, you know, this is meant to provide a basic foundation for new members and refresher annually to continue to, continuing board members. How many of you have been through this before, so quite a few. Yep, trainings on these topics are also available on the MMA's website. If you haven't been to the MMA website, I highly encourage you to do so. Lots of great information on there. These are some of the topics that we'll go over, just the staff and the board duties, the roles and responsibilities, the different types of applications and appeals that you may see, go over some FOIA training and right to know liability, and then conflict of interest and biases as well as making the motion and voting, which you guys pretty much already mastered tonight. So the planning staff is responsible for reviewing the board of appeals applications that come to our office. We check them for completeness and then we schedule the hearings. Obviously you guys have already done this with our staff, so you guys are all here tonight. The city administrator, he may bring or he or she may bring issues from the council to the planning board or other boards on occasion. The mayor appoints all of you and may call special meetings of the board, and then finally the council appoints board members and may adopt and amend ordinances in the comprehensive plan. Your different powers and duties as you sit on the appeals board, there's administrative appeals to affirm, modify, or reverse the action of the code enforcement officers. This is what we were joking around with earlier. So if a code enforcement officer makes a decision and a resident wants to appeal that, they have a certain amount of time to do so, and then that will then become becoming before you. They can make appeals of staff decisions on development review to affirm, modify, or reverse the action of the staff review committee in approving or denying applications for development review and approval of minor projects. Lastly, the appeals of historic preservation review board, so you guys would affirm, modify, or reverse actions of the h of the historic preservation review board in issuing or denying certificates of appropriateness. Any questions so far? Continuing on with the powers and duties, variances, this is one you probably see the most, if i had to guess, to approve with conditions or disapprove applications for variances from strict enforcement of code for space and bulk standards and floodplain management. The board cannot grant a use variance, non-conforming use, to approve with conditions or disapprove any request to change from one non-conforming use to another or from re-establishing of an abandoned Non-conforming use, you also work with determinations of zoning boundaries, to interpret the boundaries on the zoning map when there is uncertainty about the location of district boundaries, and Condition, conditional use permits, what we're here to hear tonight. So to hear and decide on applications for conditional use permit when development review is required. The conditional use permit is heard by the planning board. So what is a conditional use? Perfect timing, a use that isn't appropriate unless controlled in terms of number, area, location, and relation to the neighborhood. The zoning and land use code lists what uses, what uses require a conditional use permit to be allowed. When a proposed development is a major project or involves development review, the Conditional use permit is reviewed by the Planning Board. Article 10 of the zoning and land use code has required standards for issuance of the conditional use permit to use during permit review, the standards hit on effect of the neighborhood, that's what you're gonna be looking at, the traffic as well as the pedestrian safe access, adequate municipal services, land and soil capacity for development, typical commercial, i'm sorry, what is the development review, typically commercial activity or multi-family residential, review of issues that affect public health, safety, and welfare related to the location of or sitting of the new facility, and reuse, the review based on the criteria in the city code, addresses vehicular access, parking, traffic impacts, addresses the water resources such as the aquifers, the wetlands, lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, storm water by regulation, local flooding, increased flow and speed, lighting, security, safety, public nuisance issues such as noise, odor, or vibration, permits or reviews required from other agencies. Any questions on any of these, feel free to jump in, and Shelly, if you'd like to jump in any time, and feel free [23:53] Speaker H (unidentified): Yes, the reason the slide is in here is that if you got an appeal on a staff determination on development review, You, it's staff or the planning board that do development review. So this would just be an appeal. [24:08] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): What requires development review? It's outlined in the zoning and land use code, but certain activities, a minor or a major development review, creation of an amendment to a subdivision, a construction of a new non-residential building or structure, or expansion of a thousand square feet or more, conversion of a building use or change in use, earth moving or filling of 5,000 cubic yards or more, development or expansion of a mobile home park, others as dictated by the code of the city code. It's a nice little pictorial image of the different relationships. Obviously staff, you know, that's a decision that is appealed will come to the board of appeals application review as you guys are looking at tonight, and then the city council can make recommendations and obviously make appointments as well and [25:06] Speaker H (unidentified): I just wanted to point out that your decisions are meant to be independent of influence from other boards or the council or staff so [25:19] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): the board functioning, the directing documents. So the Board of the Board of Appeals zoning and land use code article 8 establishes the Board of Appeals, its authority, its rules, its powers, its duties, and its responsibilities. If you haven't already looked at article 8, highly suggest you take a look through that. It's a, it's a pretty short subsection for you, so that's good information in there. Board of appeals, the policies and procedures direct board meeting operations including organization and meeting structure. So public involvement, we've all heard the foa acronym, so the main freedom of access act aka the right to know law. The public has a right to attend all meetings, workshops, site visits, etc. The public must be given ample notice of these meetings. That's what staff will take care of for you. The exception is a landowner does not have to allow the public on his or her land. The planning board record, records are public and the public has a right to access them during normal business hours. I believe that was meant to say the board of appeals, sorry about that. We use these slides interchangeably. The public has a right to record audio or video any of the meetings without giving notice as long as they're not, you know, being disruptive. Just remember that all the meetings of the board of appeals are public. Continuing on, the public has a right to speak at a public hearing, not at any other time though, unless there might be an occasion where you'll, you'll bring the public again but It's different. Public notice is required. There's required time frames, and the city staff will make sure that we get those public notices out in the appropriate time frame to meet state law and local ordinance. Noticing a non-emergency meeting will reach as many people as possible. We'll follow the required time frame if none must be, if none must be ample and reasonable. So we, there may be times where we have a, you know, emergency meeting, and we'll, we'll do the best we can to get the information out and disseminate it to as many people as possible. Notifying a media representative, notice requirements are outlined in the city code and state statutes. You know, we're zipping through kind of faster. I'm doing a lot of reading. Any questions so far? Ex parte communications. So no board business that's substantive should be taking place outside of the advertised meetings. The state legislature requires that the public be allowed to be present when business is being discussed. Members can't discuss projects, applications, future projects that they think may come before the board outside of a publicized board meeting, workshop, or site visit, or hearing. If you see each other outside of a meeting, you can talk about other stuff, you know, the budget, meeting schedule, local events, things of that nature. Avoid anything you may be, you may need to take up or make a decision on, and feel free to remind each other. The meeting minutes, you guys, those of you that have sat on boards before, you're familiar with meeting minutes. It's a record of the public proceedings. Required generally a record of each public proceeding for which notice is required by state statute must be made within a reasonable period of time after the process, and so that must be open to a public inspection. So at a minimum, the record must include the date and time, place of the public proceeding, the members of the body holding the public proceeding recorded as either present or absent, and all motions and votes taken by individual members if there is a roll call. So that's why we, rely on Shelly to get those motions and the seconds and all of that. So we ask you to bear with us as if we have to ask you to get those. There's a reason why. Due process, obviously goes without saying, we treat everyone fairly. Board members must be physically present to participate unless a remote meeting policy is in effect. Lewiston does not have one. If a board member is absent from a meeting or a substantive evidence regarding a particular Application is presented. It may violate due process if the member participates in decision-making at a public hearing. Everyone who wants must be given a chance to speak. Applications must be reviewed on ordinance criteria only, so private restrictions and disputes do not affect the decisions and action of the board. Factors like ownership, type of business, or anticipated tax revenue may not be considered either. The exception, executive session, there is one exception to the public meeting and that's the executive session. But three rules must be followed. The board must make a public vote to go into executive session during a public meeting, which was preceding, preceded by the public notice. Agenda has to say executive session on it. Following the procedures in title 1 section 405 for which executive session is allowed, motion making, etc. Do not make any final decisions in executive session. You're merely just talking about the private matter, and no minutes or written notes are taken of the executive session. FOA and records retention. Incoming and outgoing email received or created in the course of business is an official public record. No official public records may be destroyed unless authorized. Follow the retention schedule. We use the state's policy. If any of you would like that, we can get a copy of that too if you don't have one. Records are treated differently based on content, non archival, non-permanent versus archival, which are permanent. If it exists and was supposed to have been destroyed, you may have, you may be required to produce it in discovery. So eliminate exposure by a regular review and timely deletion. The state requires that board members receive annual FOA training. I think it is. Have any of you had the actual FOA training with the state? Yes, yeah, okay. We can look into, we can look into that training as well for those that may need it and if it's required. Talking about the liability of board members. So non-performance of duty, municipal officials neglects duty or commits civil violation, it can be a hundred dollar fine for each offense when no other penalty is provided. Negligent acts or omissions in the normal scope of work as employee, board member, personal liability limit of ten thousand dollars. City pays the cost for quasi legislative, you know, adoption of bylaws or procedures, quasi judicial, granting or denying a permit, discretionary where there's a choice like whether to hold a site visit, and intentional if acted in good faith. Continuing on with Liability you must provide notice of the suit, immediate notification. If you don't notify the city, you could be liable for the costs. Individual liability 10,000 plus for negligent action, so not made in good faith, outside of your authority. Criminally liable for acts or emissions, or if the employee board member settles the claim without the consent of the city. Conflicts of interest, specifically financial, the statutory test must be both officer, director, partner, associate, employee, or stockholder of a private corporation, business, or other economic entity, and directly or indirectly the owner of at least 10 percent of the stock of the private corporation, or owns at least 10, a 10 percent interest in the business or other economic entity. We ask you interpret this conservatively in any situation where you could receive financial gain from the approval of the project. So best to use, you know, most of this is common sense, and so if it feels like it's a conflict of interest, make sure you disclose that. If you have any biases, or you know, a relationship, state of mind, if you're required to be disinterested or indifferent and make a quasi judicial decision whether, you know, you're granting or denying a permit or application which involves a person that is related to you by blood or marriage in the sixth degree. I see the list there includes parents, grandparents, brother, sister, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., or if you're impartial, if you have impartial decisions, so your personal grudge, you public position that you are opposed to a type of project and would never vote to support that type of development. Those are, those are biases. How to handle the conflict of interest or the bias, consult the bylaws or the rules and procedures. If no written process disclosed for the record, abstain from further discussion and voting. Feel free to leave the table to sit with the audience. You can participate as a member of the public from the audience if you so choose. Do this at the beginning of the agenda item before any discussion has taken place. So what if it isn't clear, board members, you know, don't think they have, you know, if you don't think that you have a conflict or bias but other members disagree, members of the board may vote on the issue. If the board finds there's conflict or bias based on the facts, then the board may order the member not to participate. Board member isn't sure if the, if they have a conflict or a bias, you can ask the rest of the board to consider The facts and vote on it. Participation by a board member with a legal conflict of interest or bias may taint the board's decision and can cause an invalidation of the vote if it is challenged in court. So just keep that in mind. Findings of fact and conclusions of law. All decisions by the board must be backed up by the record. These include basic information about the application and the review criteria that the city must consider. Staff determines that an application is complete and then it is sent to the board for your review. A board or individual member voting to deny an application or request should state for the record the reason for the denial. All right, we, you guys have already started this tonight, so making a motion. There's three steps for presenting a motion. A member makes or moves or offers a motion, another member seconds the motion, and then the chair states the question on the motion or has the secretary read it. Has been moved and seconded to approve, you know, whatever the project is, with conditions, if no conditions. If the motion needs messaging, it is up to the chair to do that and to restate it. Now the motion is pending before the board and open for debate. Members debate if there is any. The chair asks if the board is ready for the question, is or is interested in further debate, then calls a vote and announces the results of the vote. And then here are some further resources. Again, if you haven't been on MMA's website and checked out their manual for local planning boards and boards of appeals, great resource. Those of you that wish to attend, if you haven't already, the, there is a course for planning boards and boards of appeals. If you let staff know that you're interested in going, we'll look at the schedule and try to find the next one and work with you to get to get that scheduled. They have them all over the state. We'll try to get one close by the city. Yes, I have a question. So are we going to one other thing just for protocol or we're going to need everybody to make sure we're speaking to the mic so that everything's being recorded. So for those of you that don't know, video and audio are being recorded. It'll be posted on YouTube usually the next business day. So we just asked that everybody make sure you use their mic so that everybody that's going to be watching to follow will hear everything that we're that we're talking about. [38:22] Speaker E (unidentified): So thank you. Yeah, okay, so I have a question about the MMA membership. Are we de facto members of MMA by being on the board? I don't, so you are, you get the [38:37] Speaker H (unidentified): member rate. So if you register through the city, then we would have the member rate, and typically we would pay for your training, and then if you're looking to actually get on their portal for resources, and if you need a login, we can find out about that and hopefully get you set up, or staff can provide you the information that you're looking for off the website, because there are some things on their website that are member only. Okay, so just to [39:04] Speaker E (unidentified): clarify, if we wanted to attend one of those trainings, the city would pay the cost for that? [39:09] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Right, okay, yeah, we have a training budget allocated for, obviously for the stipend for each of you, as well as training. Yep, and some of that will have costs associated with it. They'll cover, I believe they cover mileage and they cover meals too, if I'm not mistaken. [39:28] Speaker H (unidentified): Yeah, most of the MMA trainings happen over the meal time, so you won't see a morning one. It's usually like 4 30 to like 8 o'clock, and there's usually a dinner involved, so that's part of the registration cost we would cover. They do also have some that are Zoom only, if that's more convenient, so there's quite a few in the course of the year. Again, I encourage you [39:50] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): all to look at the city's land use code, familiarize yourself with the Charter and with the code of ordinances. Feel free to use city staff. You've got some great staff that are here support you. Again, we already talked about the Planning Board and Board of Appeals members training from MMA, and then APCOG as well has a planning day land use training held annually in November, so these are, these are some of the resources that you can further use and [40:17] Speaker H (unidentified): we would also potentially cover the cost for you to attend that training. So, and there's is usually, they rotate hotels in the region, so it's often the Auburn Hotel or they're up in the Bethel Newry area are usually the two facilities that [40:33] Speaker E (unidentified): are big enough for them to use. Okay, a follow-up question then is, are there any of those that you would recommend that we really should attend, those trainings? [40:43] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): I highly encourage you to attend the MMA's boards. It's, they basically combine Board of Appeals and Planning Board members. Okay, so I highly encourage you to attend both of those. Right, thank you. Yep, absolutely, any other questions from the board on the training? Excellent, thank you guys, appreciate this. [41:19] Bernie McAllister: Will now I'll now open the public hearing on item number B117878, conditional permit application for home occupancy to operate a used automobile dealership at 23 River Road, submitted by, and I just don't want to disannounce names, so if you guys could just say your names, please. [41:43] Matt (Applicant): Say title, resident, here, or? Yep. [41:47] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Mr. Chair, can you just move the mic closer for you? [41:50] Bernie McAllister: Thank you sir and the other the other person will that person be testifying as well or okay is Ahmed here no somebody else yeah I have someone else okay well we will So we will follow our standard 12-step tiering procedure. Do any board members have any disclosure or conflict of interest regarding 23 River Road? No. No. No. No. Hearing none, I call on the Director of Planning and Codes or their designee to read the staff memorandum. [42:54] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Good evening, Board. I'm not going to read through the entire thing verbatim. Suffice to say that Yahia and Amid Adnan have submitted the petition for appeal for conditional use permit to operate a used car dealership and a home occupation at 23 River Road. Their brother Safe Adnan will also be involved in the business and I apologize if I have mispronounced those names. The property is a.44 acre lot with a two-unit dwelling and the property is currently owned by the applicants who reside at the premises. The memo that I've provided to you lists an excerpt from article 12 section 22 which defines a home occupation to I won't read that all verbatim for you but it suffice to say that it does permit automobile sales and or detailing. The applicant has referenced the applicable conditional use criteria of article 10 section 3 as well as the home occupation criteria of article 12 section 22 In our review and staffs review of the application we noted a few items And I will read these because I believe they are important So the applicate the applicant is proposing to display one vehicle for safe for sale in the driveway at one time vehicles will be advertised online and with a small sign meeting the standards of the ordinance All in-person visits will be by appointment only, and only during hours of operation, which will be between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. No new structures, modifications, or additional impervious area are proposed for the home occupation. Additional traffic is estimated by the applicant to approximately 40 to 200 vehicle trips per year, or less than one per day. The home occupation is not permitted to use more than 726.5 square feet, which is equal to 25% of the combined floor area of the structures. In response to the home occupation criteria B, the applicant states that they will use 400 square feet for the garage area and 324 square feet for the display vehicle and customer parking, which totals 724 square feet. However, the application indicates that the garage area is 480 square feet, not 400. The applicant should clarify which areas of the garage they are using for the home occupation, and a condition of approval has been added to clarify this. The applicant is proposing to wash all vehicles off-site at a local car wash, with no anticipated impact on quality or quantity of groundwater. Water, however, there is a slight discrepancy in the application on page 8 that addresses the potential water used on site per vehicle. A condition of approval is recommended that will clarify that all washing of the vehicles will be done off-site. There's also a discrepancy in the application where in one part of the response to the criteria of application it states that detailing of vehicles will be done off-site at that same car wash, while another part of the application states that they'll be detailing on the premises. So detailing on the premises can be allowed, provided that it is only done within the garage to minimize the noise. A condition of approval is also recommended to clarify this. The application references one to two employees, but the home occupation standards limit home occupations to one employee that is not a member of the family residing on the premises. As the three individuals connected to the project are all family members, this requirement should not be a problem, so long as at least two of them reside on the premises the applicants response to the home occupation criteria a attest that the individuals involved all reside on the premises and finally this application may be heard pursuant to appendix a article 8 section 4 subsection G and article 10 of the code OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF LOUISTON SO STAFF'S RECOMMENDATION WE RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE APPLICATION WITH THE CONDITIONS NOTED BELOW IN THE SUGGESTED MOTION THE SUGGESTED ACTIONS ARE THAT THE Board conducts a hearing concerning the above-mentioned application. Excuse me, obtain the input on the application, make a motion that the application is or is not complete, and then make a motion pursuant to Appendix A, Article 8, Section 4, G, and Article 10 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Lewiston that a conditionally used permit for a home occupation to operate a used automobile dealership at 23 River Road be granted to Safe Admin with the following conditions, including any that the board decides to make and I'll let you can see all of the conditions there are a few of them that staff recommends and back to you Mr chair invite [48:00] Bernie McAllister: the applicant or their representative to step forward and to present their case. My name is Saif Adnan, as you already know, [48:08] Matt (Applicant): I am applying for a home occupation auto sale. Do you guys have any questions? Or I [48:45] Speaker G (unidentified): think I'm gonna, I think there was a discrepancy about the detailing of your vehicles. Is this business a car sales business or a detailing business or both? [49:18] Matt (Applicant): A car sales. But we'll be buying the cars, cleaning them, and then listing them for sale. OK. Yeah. [49:28] Speaker J (unidentified): Yeah, I think the conditions that I think it says here, prior to the issue of home occupation permit, the applicant shall provide the Department of Funding Board with the updated dealership plot. I don't know if that was done. And also the vehicles detailing will be done off-site. That's, I think, part of the conditions, I think that was, yeah, the washing of the vehicle should be done off-site. Those are some of the conditions that were listed. I don't know, that's something that you already [49:59] Matt (Applicant): provided. Yeah, the cars won't be washed at home due to noise disturbance or anything or water usage, so it will be taken to a local car wash and vacuumed and washed over there. But if we do anything inside, it would be in the garage. We would be just cleaning the windows pretty much or the seats to minimize noise. [50:31] Speaker E (unidentified): There was a mention of shampooing. Where is the shampooing going to occur? At the car wash. Does Golden Nozzle provide shampooing? Yeah, they do. Mr. [50:52] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): Chair, if I may, just to make sure that the board remembers that all of the questions, make sure that all the board members are recognized by the chair prior to asking, you know, or speaking basically. So I know we're a pretty new board, so just wanted to remind everybody that the chair must recognize you before you speak, and so please look to the chair and then ask your questions at that point in time. Thank you. [51:25] Bernie McAllister: This is a point of clarification where the presenters supplied any information regarding their requests from the Code Enforcement Office. I'm sorry, I'm not following, so there's a list of items. [51:43] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): So the conditions obviously, they are seeking their conditional use permit. That is just the gateway. Then they will have to submit their home occupation permit with our office. And that is when we'll make sure that all of these conditions, the Code Office will make sure that all of these conditions are met prior to issuance of the home occupation license. [52:17] Speaker H (unidentified): I think there's just the city wanted clarification on the square footage, so will [52:26] Matt (Applicant): you guys be able to update that? Yeah, we will. So we would only be using, let me see the plan, so our personal, our personal would be where we like wash, not the, not wash the car, where we would clean the windows or just vacuum, that would be, I believe, 240 square foot, and then the office would be 120 square foot, so it would be a total of 360. We would be using another 40 would be storage. Any other [53:11] Speaker F (unidentified): questions from the board? I have a question. When you take the car to the car wash and you wash it and then you're going to bring it home, yeah, are you going to be doing any buffing or grinding [53:26] Matt (Applicant): on the car? No, there will be no fixes. Also, we won't be doing no mechanical work, so it's just we're going to wash the car, bring it home, wipe it down, make sure it's dry, and park it up in our display. Okay. [53:59] Speaker E (unidentified): Yes. I had a question about the additional traffic estimate. How is, how did you determine that? And it's that, I guess that's a question for Code Enforcement as well as, is that a reasonable, I mean, how do you know if that's a reasonable, reasonably accurate number? [54:24] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): You know, we could obviously go back and look at traffic studies for the road, but we're primarily, you know, relying on the applicant. You know, if they're only selling one car at a time, it's going to be a judgment call, and code officers will drive that road quite often, and if they see a lot of traffic going in and out of that driveway, obviously, you know, they'll raise some concerns, but we're primarily relying on the applicant for those numbers. Just [55:06] Speaker F (unidentified): a question is Someplace in here you had you're gonna operate from 8 to 4 30 Monday through Friday. I hate to say this but I've never bought a car Either I bought it on Saturday Sunday or at night SO I DON'T, IF YOU ARE GOING TO RESTRICT YOUR BUSINESS TO 730 TO 4 MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY, HOW IS PEOPLE GOING TO GET THERE TO [55:42] Matt (Applicant): see your car? Yeah. I understand about that. It would be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., not 4:30. But I could always change, make it from 9 to 5. And I'm not sure if I'll be open Saturday, but I can't take a look at it. Will [56:11] Speaker H (unidentified): you be open by appointment as well outside of those hours? No, it would have [56:16] Matt (Applicant): to be within the hours of operation. I [56:21] Bernie McAllister: thought somewhere it said that they would be by appointment, by appointment. Yeah, right. Any other [56:35] Speaker J (unidentified): questions from the, I have one more. I don't know if it is something that, since car wash is not going to be done, what about the water source? Is it public or private? I don't know. That was mentioned. [56:49] Matt (Applicant): It's public. It's at the local car wash. [56:52] Speaker J (unidentified): It's not at this location? No. Oh, okay. [56:58] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): If I may, Mr. Chair, there was some, that was one of the staff's questions that needed clarification. It was, it was told in the application that they would use, you know, no more than, I think, was 40 gallons at the property, but the applicant has clarified that there will be no washing of the cars at the property. It'll all be off-site. Each [57:24] Bernie McAllister: guys by name, but you just turn your thing just a little bit so I [57:26] Speaker E (unidentified): can recognize you, Walter. Okay, one more question. Will there be any storage of automotive fluids on the site, you know, like oil or transmission fluid, brake fluid, anything like that? [57:41] Matt (Applicant): No, we're not at all. Thank you. [57:49] Speaker C (unidentified): What do you, what, how many vehicles are you, do you think you're gonna? What's your goal? What's your anticipated sales per year? [57:57] Matt (Applicant): Per year, I want to, I'm trying, I'll try to get over 30 for sure. But okay, start off, I'll get probably more than two to four vehicles, two to six starting off. Is that like a week or a month? Or as of right now, I'm looking at like a month. But if I do find a bigger lot, bigger property, I could storm the vehicles, it would definitely go up. Okay. [58:31] Speaker G (unidentified): Matt, yeah, just to follow up, if your cars do need repair, do you have a plan, a place to take them? Yeah, I have a place in [58:40] Matt (Applicant): Portland and Lewiston. I have mechanics out here that would inspect the vehicle and whatever needs to be done to inspect it, or if it needs something to pass inspection, I'll go ahead and do that over there. Nothing will be done at home or in the garage. Thank you. [59:02] Bernie McAllister: Any other questions by the board? Yeah. [59:06] Speaker C (unidentified): Are you required for this to get a dealership license, or is [59:16] Matt (Applicant): this strictly private sale? Dealers license, dealers license, yeah. [59:22] Speaker G (unidentified): I [59:26] Speaker F (unidentified): gotta, are you applying for a dealer's plate to put on the cars? Yes. So you are actually a business and people will be going and trying out the car? Yes. Any [59:49] Bernie McAllister: other questions? Hey, I'll open it up to public input. Open public, sorry, open public comment. If there's anyone present who wishes to speak in favor of the application, hearing none, public input, is there any one present in opposition or who has questions about the appeal? Noting neither apply to both of those, we'll move on. The applicant may now make a final comment or rebuttals as to, as they hold the burden of proof, so you guys have the burden of proof here, so go ahead and make any final appeals [1:00:43] Matt (Applicant): you'd like to say. I think I've said enough, but I want to appreciate you guys for listening and giving me the time to appeal, but I think I'll just close it here. That [1:01:00] Bernie McAllister: being the case, I will close the public comment portion of the meeting. The portion, public portion will remain closed, and the board will now deliberate. The board, I'll lead the board discussion. No public input is now allowed, though staff may address the board if it needs. Remember, decisions must be based on strict compliance with local ordinances and standard, and not public sentiment. You want to have any questions for staff or any other comments as we deliberate? Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion. Is the application or is not complete? I [1:01:58] Speaker E (unidentified): move that it's complete. [1:02:00] Bernie McAllister: it's been moved by melanie i will second it 's been seconded call [1:02:08] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): the vote. Yes, Walter Shawstack, yes, David Projansky, yes, Bernard McAllister, yes, Melanie Doran, yes, William Coffin, no, and Rowan Osmond, yes. Motion [1:02:40] Bernie McAllister: Carries. I'll call the final action. I'll entertain MOTION PURSUANT TO APPENDIX A ARTICLE 8 SECTION 4G AND ARTICLE 10 OF THE CODE OF ORDINANCES AND TO GRANT OR DENY THE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. I'LL MAKE THAT MOTION. I SECOND THE MOTION. IT'S BEEN MOVED AND SECONDED. COULD [1:03:06] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): WE COULD WE GET CLARIFICATION IS IT A MOTION TO GRANT OR DENY? OKAY THANK YOU FOR [1:03:19] Bernie McAllister: THE STAFF TO memo from recommendation conditions attached such restrictions hours eight to four appointment only off-site washing and naming of Sophie unknown safe Adnan exclusively. Okay to take the vote a minimum of four affirmative votes is required to take any action. Next [1:03:58] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): item mr. chip mr. are you ready for the vote [1:04:00] Bernie McAllister: READY FOR THE VOTE. [1:04:03] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): MATTHEW DOYON. YES. WALTER SHAWSTACK. YES. DAVID PROJANSKI. YES. BERNARD MCCALLISTER. YES. MELANIE DORN. YES. WILLIAM COFFIN. [1:04:19] Speaker F (unidentified): NO. ROJUAN OSMOND. YES. [1:04:26] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): MR. CHAIR, WE WOULD FOR THE RECORD ASK FOR THE MORE CLARIFICATION ON THE NO VOTE. please just [1:04:36] Speaker F (unidentified): have bill explain his no vote. no i'm i'm just worried i drove by the 23 river street and there was five cars in the yard today and there was seven there yesterday or vehicles i don't say cars or trucks and i'm just thinking that this is going to blow up in our faces is [1:05:06] Speaker H (unidentified): thank you thank [1:05:13] Bernie McAllister: you guys thank you for coming in thank you thank you code will be in touch with them yes it's [1:05:25] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): okay i'll get it i'll get it guys thank you thank you thank you guys thank you [1:05:29] Bernie McAllister: next item is item eight. i will entertain a motion to adopt the draft minutes from july 30th 2025 and august 20th 2025. so move i'll second that it's been moved and seconded TO ADOPT THOSE MINUTES, PLEASE CALL THE VOTE. [1:05:50] Unidentified speaker (Secretary): MATTHEW DOYON. YES. WALTER SHAWSTACK. YES. DAVID PROJANSKI. YES. BERNIE MCCALLISTER. YES. MELANIE DORN. YES. WILLIAM COFFIN. YES. RILJUAN OSMAN. YES. I [1:06:19] Bernie McAllister: 'LL ENTERTAIN A MOTION. OUR AGENDA IS COMPLETE. i'll entertain a motion to adjourn. so moved it's been moved second just all in favor is this one okay yeah all in favor good job thank you yeah good job burning thank you for the nomination [1:06:38] Shelly (Staff/Secretary): for the new board members for the new board members just remember we are still live audio and video until that light goes off