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Committee urges select board to prioritize simplifying land‑use ordinances; proposes public guidance
Summary
After lengthy discussion about opaque permitting rules and shoreline/setback complexities, the committee voted to urge the select board to prioritize clarifying and simplifying land‑use ordinances and suggested creating user‑friendly guidance or a brochure to reduce staff burden.
The Waldoboro Economic Development Committee voted to urge the select board to prioritize simplifying and clarifying the town’s land‑use ordinances, after an extended discussion about permitting complexity and the burden it places on residents and staff.
Committee members described common permitting pain points: technical terms (minimum lot sizes, lot coverage calculations), foundation and setback rules, and differences between shoreland/state rules and town ordinances. Speakers urged a two‑track approach: short‑term user‑friendly guidance (a brochure or web page explaining common permit processes) and longer‑term ordinance reorganization to be timed with the town’s comprehensive/strategic plan.
A number of members said the Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission is already helping municipalities translate ordinances into plain language, and that the planning board will likely lead any substantive ordinance overhaul. “The ordinances are confusing as written and hard for us to navigate,” one planning board participant said, and committee members agreed the planning board and select board should coordinate the work.
The committee moved to ask the select board to encourage the planning board to prioritize ordinance simplification; the motion was seconded and passed by voice vote. Members recommended the economic development committee could prepare an initial brochure or web guidance to help applicants with simple, common steps (for example, how to estimate lot coverage or where to find shoreline setback lines) while the planning board works on longer‑range revisions.
Next steps: committee volunteers will draft suggested brochure content and bring it back for committee review; the committee will report its recommendation to the select board.
