By Ashley St. Michel
Staff Writer
    Arundel held a special Town Meeting last Tuesday, Nov. 13 at the Arundel Fire Station, which centered largely on amendments to both the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Use Ordinance the town has been adjusting during the past year.
    Town Planner Aaron Shields released a statement in the November 2007 edition of The Arrow, Arundel’s monthly newsletter, detailing the articles to be considered for amendments.
    The first article was to choose a moderator to host the evening and keep the meeting on task.
    Article 2 asked for an amendment to the Arundel Comprehensive Plan, that affects the business/office park/industrial area that encompasses the northern end of the Route 1 corridor in Arundel. Shields said the intention of the amendment was to accommodate larger, more nonresidential uses, including businesses, while creating a high quality environment that makes it attractive to more businesses.
    The amendment included removing the part of the article that limited retail uses to within the first 250 feet of Route 1.  
    “This was basically a correction to the comprehensive plan based on what got adopted in June,” Shields said, adding local business people requested the town remove the restrictions for retail uses to be limited within that 250 feet.
    The article includes the development standards for the area, focusing on a well-designed and attractive site when any business is looking to build. The standards also require a landscaped area on or around the Eastern Trail or the residential areas adjacent to the area.
    Shields said he suspects more businesses may become interested in the area with the amended article, citing they would no longer be limited to such a small space. Shields said the vote wasn’t surprising since the amendment had passed in the fixed land use article.
    Article 3 asked to accept the amendment to the Arudnel Land Use Ordinance which set regulations and site specifications including agricultural processing and demonstration facilities.
    Shields said the amendment of the article first developed one year ago when Kate’s Homemade Butter approached the town of Arundel about developing a plant or small business in the area.
    “They found a piece of land in our agricultural area, and they wanted to construct a factory on the land,” Shields said.
    Shields said it wouldn’t be difficult to fit Kate’s Butter in with the area because the business could fit in an agriculture or an industrial area. While the amendment was made in direct relationship with Kate’s Butter, it includes the responsibilities and requirements for all facilities looking to come to Arundel.  
    According to the amendment any businesses that develop in the area have to follow guidelines, including promoting clean, agriculturally related facilities with an educational component, without compromising the rural area that surrounds it. Shields said Kate’s Butter would have guided tours of the plant so students and teachers can come to the facility and learn more about how butter is made. Other requirements include a minimum lot size of 20 acres and 50 percent of the lot area must be dedicated and permanently preserved as open space, which should be as near its natural state as possible unless it is utilized for forest or agricultural land. The educational aspect of the amendment also includes presenting a New England agricultural appearance in the area.
    Shields said he was happy with the passing of the amendment since it should only create more opportunities for the town to welcome new industrial businesses.
    Article 4 asked for the adoption of amendments to the Arundel Comprehensive Plan regarding future use of land. Shields said the amendment was necessary to allow Agricultural Processing and Demonstration Facilities, needed after the amendment was made for Kate’s Butter.
    “This was a very simple Comprehensive Plan amendment,” Shields said. “It specifically allowed agricultural uses in that district.”
    With the amended article, the uses of the Rural Conservation (R4) land is limited to residential, agricultural and other natural resource uses, including agricultural processing and demonstration facilities.   
    The Planning Board Committee and the Arundel Board of Selectmen also passed an amendment to update residential growth areas and structure requirements for future development in those areas.  
    Shields said this ordinance passed in accordance with Article 6, which asked if the town should adopt amendments to the Arundel Land Use Ordinance and district regulations regarding specific site and use performance.
    Shields said this particular amendment was passed in order to apply guidelines to seasonal resorts in the town. He said Arundel didn’t really have area set aside for seasonal cottages and resorts, but after a Stantec asked about the land the planning board and selectmen agreed the ordinance should be reevaluated.
    “Because they weren’t allowed anywhere in the town we had to look at whether or not they should be permitted and where that area would be,” Shields said, adding development of resorts in the area aren’t planned for the immediate future.
    “The big thing is the planning board and myself took a lot of time trying to figure out where other areas in the state have gone right and where they have gone wrong,” he said. “We did a lot of research of what was good for the town and what wouldn’t be good.”
    Stantec engineer Rick Light said the company, which is a nationwide company providing professional design and consulting services to busineses, is working with R.E.M. Development to help design and develop the area for seasonal cottages and resorts. R.E.M. is Vermont’s largest developer of commercial real estate. Light said he was enthusiastic about the passing of the ordinance and said the next step for Stantec and the town of Arundel would be to start moving forward with the redesigning of the properties, after which development could begin.
    The specific site and use performance standards outline how the units would be used, including the requirement of being located on more than 10 acres of land and the resorts must be open from May 1 to Oct. 31 every year.
    “It was a win, win for Arundel,” Shields said. “Over the next couple years we are going to see these amendments provide future development and ease taxes.”