Design Review Board Puts Adding 37 Properties and Structures To Its Purview On Hold
Vacationland Coffee Roasters Sign Approved
BAR HARBOR—Potentially adding 37 additional historic properties and structures to the town’s Land Use Amendment’s Appendix A has been taken off the table as of now after a duo of recent listening sessions and the Design Review Board Meeting, October 12.
The portion of the amendment at question proposed to add all Bar Harbor properties on the National Register of Historic Places to the purview of the Design Review Board by adding them to Appendix A of the Land Use Ordinance.
Within that appendix is a table of historic properties with historic or architectural merit that warrants their preservation.
These properties require a higher level of review by the Design Review Board if exterior changes are made. Every year, the DSR has to review the list.
During the listening sessions, Community and Housing Planner Cali Martinez said that some property owners were concerned about the time and cost to meet the board’s standards and that it felt like it could limit their ability to make energy efficiency improvements. One architect said the design review standards are not aligned with the current Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Treatment of Historic Properties, and since the town hasn’t adopted those federal standards, it’s unreasonable for the staff and board to hold applicants that are on Appendix A to those Secretary of Interior standards. Those standards are a high bar, they said.
The federal standards are mentioned by the town, but not adopted by the town. The town’s rules are in conflict with those standards Design Review Board member Mike Rogers said, which is was also what Corey Papadopoli of Elliott Architects said during the listening sessions. Papadopoli is currently working with the owners of Redwood, a historic property on the national register but not the town’s list.
The staff recommended to take that historic properties aspect (adding the 37) out of the land use amendment, which would place them into Appendix A. That allows them time to review the LUO design review historic standards. The town Planning Department thinks that because of the complications of that situation, it might need to hire an outside source to review it and the tension between the town’s standards and the federal standards, particularly since the staff is currently heavily focused on housing issues and potential land use amendments that relate to housing.
Historic buildings on the national level have to meet those federal standards when they receive federal money. However, if the board links those standards to the properties, then those standards would have to be met even when not applying for federal money, Bar Harbor Planning Director Michele Gagnon explained.
“How do you legislate quality?” Rogers said
“If the buildings talk to each other,” Chair Barbara Sassaman said.
The symmetry of the building, the quality of the materials, the windows, Erin Cough said, all go into it.
OTHER DRAFT AMENDMENT ASPECTS
The rest of the draft land use amendment can be brought to the Planning Board in November and December for the June 2024 ballot.
The remainder of the amendment that could eventually go before voters if it garners Planning Board approval in November would also:
Add and amend definitions related to design review and signage review;
Simplify the review process for signs;
Adjust the design review overlay district boundaries and area names;
Minimize redundancy by removing Appendix B (and all references to it);
Increase the time for the Planning and Code Enforcement Departments to review Design Review Board applications from 7 to 14 days.
Appendix B deals with “locally significant properties in the design review overlay district.”
They also went through the rest of the amendment. Sassaman had questions about the board losing purview over locations of multi-tenant signage plans and off-premises signs. The board agreed.
Campus signage plans were also a concern, Sassaman said. The board decided to keep the amendment which gives that authority to the code enforcement officer.
Vacationland Coffee Roasters
Vacationland Coffee Roasters, run by Christopher Romero, at 43 Rodick Street is part of Hatsana, LLC. It was back to the board on Thursday to request an installation or change in sign or awning location. It’s going to be a year-round business that will continue to offer more and currently has quick breakfast sandwiches, beginning at 6:30 a.m.
The bottom of the sign is 10 feet from the sidewalk. Romero said that they didn’t do the initial plan for the deck. The sign is connected to a wooden post with a stainless steel attachment that goes through the post. It was unanimously approved.
They will still need a building permit for the work.
There was no public comment or emailed comment about the project.