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Select Board hears concerns about UDRO wording that could affect road projects
Summary
At a public hearing April 7, Newry Code Officer Joelle Corey presented a repeal-and-replace draft of the UDRO; Sunday River Skiway representative Dana Bullen raised attorney-backed concerns about Section 19 A.2’s road-capacity language. The board could not make changes before Town Meeting; voters will decide.
Joelle Corey, Newry’s code enforcement officer and road commissioner, opened a public hearing on April 7 to review a draft that would repeal and replace the town’s Unified Development Review Ordinance (UDRO). Corey described added sections, definition updates and several housekeeping edits proposed in the draft.
Dana Bullen, representing Sunday River Skiway, read an email from the skiway’s attorney and said the skiway had contacted the Town Attorney. Bullen urged caution about Section 19 A.2, which the draft frames to require that existing and proposed roads and intersections expected to carry traffic generated by a subdivision or site plan have capacity or be suitably improved to accommodate that traffic. Bullen said the language could produce unintended consequences for existing roads and future projects and asked the board to consider revisions.
Board members and staff engaged in an extended discussion about how the section could be interpreted and how it might affect traffic improvements and permitting. According to the board record, questions were asked and answered during the hearing, but the Select Board concluded there was insufficient time to make changes to the draft prior to Town Meeting. The board noted that if voters approve the ordinance at Town Meeting, a revised version could be proposed later.
Corey also summarized two other ordinances slated for the warrant: a Land Use Building Code with minor edits that reference the UDRO, and an Appeals Ordinance that had not been adopted at a previous Town Meeting. The board voted to place the UDRO on the Town Meeting warrant.
The Select Board did not adopt language changes to the UDRO at the April 7 meeting. The ordinance, as it appears on the warrant, will be decided by voters at Town Meeting; if it is approved, the board indicated it could consider amendments in a subsequent version.
