DEP questions legality of Edgecomb subdivision
Edgecomb Planning Board chairman Jack French and alternate member Dave Boucher review a letter during the Aug. 20 meeting regarding an action taken in February. The state Department of Environment sent the letter informing both the planning board and Salt Point Development, LLC, that the subdivision violates the Site Location Development Act. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
Edgecomb Planning Board chairman Jack French and alternate member Dave Boucher review a letter during the Aug. 20 meeting regarding an action taken in February. The state Department of Environment sent the letter informing both the planning board and Salt Point Development, LLC, that the subdivision violates the Site Location Development Act. BILL PEARSON/Boothbay Register
The Maine Department of Environment Protection has asked the Edgecomb Planning Board and a local landowner to rethink a decision.
In February, the planning board approved a clarification made by the Salt Point Subdivision, LLC, a 35.5 acre subdivision on River Road, to its original 2010 application.
The planning board reached an agreement with Salt Point’s legal representative and consultant to describe a parcel on the subdivision’s northwest section as a numbered lot. The change also clarified the farmhouse lot as exempt from the subdivision. Another clarification combined two lots sold last year into one.
But the DEP has ruled those changes don’t conform to the state’s Site Location of Development Act. In an Aug. 12 letter, the DEP ruled the subdivision owned by Jonathan, Laurent and Ruth Rioux has 17 lots, not the 14 described in the revised site plan.
In 2010, the subdivision parcel was created out of two lots. One owned by Jonathan and Laurent Rioux. The other by Jonathan, Laurent and Ruth Rioux.
DEP licensing and Compliance Coordinator Michael Mullen informed Salt Point legal representative Damariscotta attorney Peter Drum and the planning board that he considered the Riouxs and Salt Point, LLC “the same person” and all of the contiguous land as “a parcel of land” pursuant to department rules.
Mullen ruled a sale of two parcels last year, which were later merged into one, triggered the state’s Site Location of Development Act. Subdivisions consisting of 15 or more lots with an aggregate area of more than 30 acres sold or leased are covered under the law.
“Because site law regulates subdivisions of 15 or more, this lot should be considered the 15th lot, and therefore trigger the Site Law,” wrote DEP licensing and Compliance Coordinator Michael Mullen, of the Division of Land Resource and Regulation.
Mullen ruled three subdivision lots need to be conveyed back to the subdivision’s owners: Laurent, Jonathan and Ruth Rioux. Once done, the DEP would consider the matter resolved provided these lots and any others not depicted as a numbered lot on the subdivision are not sold to the general public for a five-year period, according to Mullen.
The planning board plans on contacting Drum to see how Salt Point, LLC, plans to proceed. On Tuesday, French contacted Drum about the DEP’s request.
“I’m not really sure what the DEP wants us to do, but I will contact Mr. Drum,” French said. “They (Salt Point) just can’t change plans without planning board approval. So anything they do has to come before us. The DEP really wasn’t clear how they want us to resolve it.”
In the letter, Mullen wrote since the subdivision was initially created using the department’s opinion, he was willing to resolve the matter informally in allowing the Riouxs to work out a solution.
Related:
Planning board negotiates deal with Salt Point representatives
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