Planning Board Chair Bill Hamblen said the board would continue to take the Department of Environmental Protection’s suggestions and refine the proposals to submit to selectmen. Hamblen said he asked the town lawyer via email to look at the recommendations "with an eye to their legality under Maine's zoning laws." Hamblen said his last email to the lawyer was Aug. 17 and he had not received a reply yet.

Hamblen said matters with the comprehensive plan should not come as a surprise. He cited a moment from the advisory board process in which Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce said changes to the comprehensive plan may not be precluded. Hamblen said he has found language that would support or deny the zoning proposals. He said both planners in the advisory process – Faunce and Gorrill Palmer's Dan Bacon – have said zoning changes often come with amending a comprehensive plan.

Touching on audience comments that the zoning proposals and comprehensive plan are both in the planning board’s purview, member Tom Churchill said he was concerned the planning board is not fulfilling its duty.

“I think if we're going to move this forward … if we're going to do it in concert with these other recommendations, then I think we should be writing a proposed amendment to the comprehensive plan as part of our submission to the select board.”

The planning board reviewed the proposals one by one and identified the issues raised by the DEP's Colin Clark. Clark has suggested having the high-water setback data exclude properties considered as water-dependent uses -- a zero-foot setback; raising the parking setback from 25 feet to 50 feet; redoing dimensional standards for dwelling units to exclude Carousel condominiums; and taking another look at lot coverage.

Members discussed the 25-foot setback and Hamblen ran the average actual setback, this time excluding data of properties with water-dependent uses which sit at a zero-foot setback. The average was 23.5 feet. Hamblen asked if everyone was happy  sticking to the originally proposed 25 feet.

"No, I am not happy with that," said board alternate Lee Corbin.

Corbin preferred 50 feet, seeing as the average depth of commercial lots, excluding existing dock space, is 176 feet.

"If you subtract out a 50-foot setback from the water and add a … 25-foot setback from the street … development potential still has over 100 feet to deal with depth-wise," said Corbin.

Asked for the benefit of increasing the setback, Corbin argued view corridors between structures would open up significantly the further the structures are from the water.

Following debate, Hamblen called for a motion and Churchill put Corbin's suggestion on the table. It failed, 1-4.

Issues with the parking setback and dimensional standards seemed quite non-negotiable with the DEP, said Code Enforcement Officer Geoff Smith. Discussion over increasing the recommendation of 25 feet to 50 feet from the highwater mark was relatively short with everyone agreeing the suggested change was acceptable.

"I firmly believe that if we get parking any closer than 50 feet, we're going to have a water quality problem and then we won't have water-dependent uses there at all," said member Margaret Perritt.

The DEP suggestion on square footage per use – which the board was recommending at 7,260 square feet – was to exclude outlying data from Carousel Marina condominiums where there are 27 units on nearly 48,000 square feet. Clark ran the numbers, which showed 11,000 square feet to be consistent. He said he would be willing to accept 10,000 square feet to keep standards consistent throughout the harbor. Board members were reluctant, but accepted the suggested change.

Churchill suggested a name change to the proposed title of the district – Atlantic Avenue Mixed Use District – to something that nominally falls more in line with the state's term, "Limited Commercial District." He suggested "Limited Commercial and Maritime District.” The board will consider it.

Additionally, Churchill said he is concerned that after all the work the advisory workgroup and the planning board have done, what has been created has caused serious divisiveness in the community. He said it deeply troubles him and he would like to think there would be a way to make some changes to the proposals that would receive support from a vast majority of residents.

Said Churchill, "'Cause right now I don't know if it's going to pass. If it doesn't pass, where are we? … We have a unique resource. This zone is so unique that I just am terribly afraid of squandering it."