By Emma Bouthillette 

Staff Writer

A public hearing on a new location of the clubhouse for a proposed 80-unit “Olde Port Village” drew a smaller crowd than previous hearings, but opponents still made themselves heard. 

The Kennebunk Planning Board’s discussion on the proposed 87-acre “Olde Port Village” subdivision between North and School streets and the public hearing on the conditional use of the subdivision’s clubhouse lasted for the last hour of the Aug. 6 three-hour meeting.

At the previous planning board meeting, Developer Tom Macone of CDMK, LLC Properties announced his decision to move the “Olde Port Village” clubhouse to the center of the development, and planning board members requested a revised plan, which Landscape Architect Bob Metcalf of Mitchell and Associates presented to the board. The board discussed the three multiplexes proposed for the property before opening to public comments regarding the revised clubhouse plan.

“Multiplexes are conditional use in this zone, so we look at it separately to go through the ordinances,” said Planning Board Chairman David Kling.

The board discussed the conditional use of a four-unit multiplex on one lot and the three- and five-unit multiplexes on another lot. Metcalf explained white spruce and balsam fur will be used as supplemental vegetation along the property line as a buffer and retaining walls resembling cobblestone will protect the wetlands from the lot construction. 

Kling opened the public hearing, reminding residents the hearing was to focus on the clubhouse, and resident Laurie Dobson was the first to speak. When Dobson began to voice her concern that the subdivision would have a negative effect on the wetlands in the area, Kling said it was necessary for her to concentrate on the conditional use of the clubhouse only.

Dobson said she had been waiting for two years to speak in regard to the subdivision, and claimed there had not been an opportunity for her to voice her concerns on the subdivision. 

Kling said of more than a dozen public meetings in which CDMK has been on the agenda, at least five included public hearings. He said the first public hearing was in 2007 in regard to the sewer, and then there have been two on the overall application and two on the conditional uses of the clubhouse and multiplexes. 

“These hearings were all for the preliminary application, and when we get to the final application, we will have another round,” Kling said. 

All of the board’s meetings have been televised and repeated, and minutes are published and available for public review, Kling said. 

“Another option is to write us [the planning board] a letter to be entered into public record,” he said.

Along with the code enforcement office, Kling said he decides what goes on the agenda and in what order, trying not to over schedule any meeting. He said they consider the order in which applications were received, the degree of completeness, and public hearings on items such as CDMK, which can be rather open-ended, are usually scheduled last on the agenda to allow time for everyone in the public who wishes to speak, without the pressure of items remaining on the agenda. 

Other Business

In the first two hours of the meeting, the board approved three applications that had been reviewed at previous meeting and began preliminary reviews on two applications submitted by Kennebunkport resident Frederick Trudo.  

Trudo proposed to install a driveway to gain access to a back lot of property on Extended Tall Pines Lane in the first application, and the second application is to revise a 40-acre, six-lot subdivision between 43 and 91 Goose Rocks Road. 

The board focused on the first application and voiced concerns about the three proposed culverts. Board member Gordon 

Ayer wanted to know if construction of the road and such large culverts would cause destruction to the shore land area why there was a 12-foot drop within a 100-foot distance to the sides and if constructing a road is necessary when there is already a driveway running parallel to the proposed.

“I agree that it is over kill, but it is nice to have a client willing to do more than the minimum. The normal recommendation would be 12 to 18 inch culverts,” said soil scientist Jim Logan. 

Board member Leo Famolare recommended a peer review by the town’s engineers, and Ayer agreed.

The board voted unanimously to approve the preliminary application subject to the outcome of a peer review, for which the cost is the applicant’s responsibility.

The next Kennebunkport Planning Board Meeting is at 7 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Village Fire Station, with a public hearing on the conditional use of the multiplexes.