The purpose of this chapter is to further the maintenance of
safe and healthful conditions; to prevent and control water pollution;
to protect fish spawning grounds, aquatic life, bird and other wildlife
habitat; to protect buildings and lands from flooding and accelerated
erosion; to protect archaeological and historic resources; to protect
commercial fishing and maritime industries; to protect freshwater
and coastal wetlands; to control building sites, placement of structures
and land uses; to conserve shore cover, and visual as well as actual
points of access to inland and coastal waters; to conserve natural
beauty and open space; and to anticipate and respond to the impacts
of development in shoreland areas.
A.
This chapter regulates land uses within 250 feet, horizontal distance,
of:
B.
This chapter is also applicable to areas within:
C.
This chapter distinguishes between the regulated horizontal limit
and the stipulated setback distances or other requirements for uses
within the zone area.
D.
This chapter also applies to any structure built on, over or abutting
a dock, wharf or pier, or other structure extending or located below
the normal high-water line of a water body or within a wetland.
A.
Effective date of ordinance and ordinance amendments. This chapter,
which was adopted by the municipal legislative body on August 31,
2010, shall not be effective unless approved by the Commissioner of
the Department of Environmental Protection. A certified copy of the
ordinance, or ordinance amendment, attested and signed by the Municipal
Clerk, shall be forwarded to the Commissioner for approval. If the
Commissioner fails to act on this chapter or ordinance amendment within
45 days of his/her receipt of the ordinance or ordinance amendment,
it shall be automatically approved. Any application for a permit submitted
to the municipality within the forty-five-day period shall be governed
by the terms of this chapter, or ordinance Amendment, if the ordinance,
or ordinance amendment, is approved by the Commissioner.
A certified copy of this chapter shall be filed with the Municipal
Clerk and shall be accessible to any member of the public. Copies
shall be made available to the public at reasonable cost at the expense
of the person making the request. Notice of availability of this chapter
shall be posted.
Should any section or provision of this chapter be declared
by the courts to be invalid, such decision shall not invalidate any
other section or provision of the ordinance.
Whenever a provision of this chapter conflicts with or is inconsistent
with another provision of this chapter or of any other ordinance,
regulation or statute administered by the municipality, the more restrictive
provision shall control.
A.
An amendment to this chapter may be initiated by:
(1)
Written petition of a number of voters equal to at least 10% of the
registered voters of the Town and following the provisions of the
Town Charter, Article VIII, Section 2.
(2)
The Town Council, provided that a majority of the Council so voted.
(3)
The Planning Board, provided that a majority of the Board has so
voted.
(4)
An application by any individual to the Planning Board, as long as
a majority of the Board so votes.
B.
An amendment to this chapter may be adopted by:
(1)
The Town Council, following the provisions of the Town Charter, Article II, Section 3, Subsection VI, if the amendment is initiated by the Town Council, the Planning Board or an application approved by the Planning Board.
C.
Copies of amendments, attested and signed by the Municipal Clerk,
shall be submitted to the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental
Protection following adoption by the municipal legislative body and
shall not be effective unless approved by the Commissioner. If the
Commissioner fails to act on any amendment within 45 days of his/her
receipt of the amendment, the amendment is automatically approved.
Any application for a permit submitted to the municipality within
the forty-five-day period shall be governed by the terms of the amendment,
if such amendment is approved by the Commissioner.
A.
Said districts are located as shown on the Official Shoreland Zoning Map, entitled "Shoreland Zoning Map of South Berwick, Maine," based upon the written descriptions contained in Article III, § 110-18, District boundaries, of this chapter, dated and on file in the Planning Office. The Official Map shall be signed by the Town Clerk and Chairman of the Town Council at the time of adoption or amendment of this chapter, certifying the date of such adoption or amendment. Additional copies of the Shoreland Zoning Map may be seen in the municipal offices.
C.
The Official Shoreland Zoning Map shall be drawn at a scale of not
less than: one inch equals 2,000 feet. District boundaries shall be
clearly delineated and a legend indicating the symbols for each district
shall be placed on the map.
Except as hereinafter specified, no building, structure or land
shall hereafter be used or occupied, and no building or structure
or part thereof shall hereafter be erected, constructed, expanded,
moved, or altered and no new lot shall be created except in conformity
with all of the regulations herein specified for the district in which
it is located, unless a variance is granted.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
See "animal husbandry."
The cultivation of soil and the producing or raising of crops,
including gardening as a commercial operation. The term shall also
include greenhouses, nurseries and versions thereof; but those two
terms, when used alone, shall refer specifically to a place where
flowers, plants, shrubs and/or trees are grown for sale.
The keeping of any domesticated animals other than household
pets.
The growing or propagation of harvestable freshwater, estuarine,
or marine plant or animal species.
The land in the floodplain having a one percent or greater
chance of flood in any given year.
The area of cross-section of a tree stem at diameter breast
height (4.5 feet above the ground) and includes bark.
The total of the basal area of trees remaining on a harvest
area.
The flood having a one percent chance of being equaled or
exceeded in any given year, alternately referred to as the "one hundred
year flood."
A nonresidential structure designed for the purpose of protecting
or storing boats.
A facility designed primarily for the launching and landing
of watercraft and which may include an access ramp, docking area and
parking spaces for vehicles and trailers.
A facility designed primarily for the launching and landing
of watercraft, and which may include an access ramp, docking area,
and parking spaces for vehicles and trailers.
Any river, stream, brook, wetland, or pond as defined herein.
State of Maine Department of Conservation's Bureau of Forestry.
(The Town has incorporated the state's timber harvesting standards.)
A natural or artificial watercourse with definite beds and
banks to confine and conduct continuously or periodically flowing
water. Channel flow is water flowing within the limits of the defined
channel.
All tidal and sub tidal lands, including all areas with vegetation
that is tolerant of saltwater and occurs primarily in a saltwater
or estuarine habitat; and any swamp, marsh, bog, beach, flat or other
contiguous lowland which is subject to tidal action during the maximum
spring tide level as identified in tide tables published by the National
Ocean Service.
The cross-sectional area of a stream or tributary stream
channel is determined by multiplying the stream or tributary stream
channel width by the average stream or tributary stream channel depth.
The stream or tributary stream channel width is the straight-line
distance from the normal high-water line on one side of the channel
to the normal high-water line on the opposite side of the channel.
The average stream or tributary stream channel depth is the average
of the vertical distances from a straight line between the normal
high-water line of the stream or tributary stream channel to the bottom
of the channel.
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "driveway" means
a vehicular accessway less than 500 feet in length serving two single-family
dwellings or one two-family dwelling, or less.
A temporary rise in stream flow or tidal surge that results
in water overflowing its banks and inundating adjacent areas.
The official map on which the Department of Housing and Urban
Development or the Federal Emergency Management Agency has delineated
both the areas of special flood hazard and the risk premium zones
applicable to the Town.
The lands adjacent to a body of water, which have been or
may be covered by the regional flood.
A combination of structural provisions, changes or adjustments
to properties subject to flooding, primarily for the reduction or
elimination of flood damages to properties, water and sanitary facilities,
structures and contents of buildings.
The maximum known flood of a body of water; either the one
hundred year frequency flood, where calculated, or the flood of record
or evidence of vegetative changes.
The channel of a natural stream or river and portions of
the floodplain adjoining the channel which are reasonably required
to carry and discharge the floodwater or flood flow of any natural
stream or river.
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "floor area" means
the sum of the horizontal areas of the floor(s) of a structure enclosed
by exterior walls, plus the horizontal area of any unenclosed portions
of a structure such as porches and decks as measured from exterior
points.
A freshwater wetland dominated by woody vegetation that is
six meters tall (approximately 20 feet) or taller.
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "foundation" means
the supporting substructure of a building or other structure, excluding
wooden sills and post supports, but including basements, slabs, frostwalls,
or other base consisting of concrete, block, brick or similar material.
Freshwater swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas (other
than forested wetlands) which are:
Ten or more contiguous acres; or of less than 10 contiguous
acres and adjacent to a surface water body excluding any river, stream
or brook such that in a natural state, the combined surface area is
in excess of 10 acres; and
Inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a
frequency and for a duration sufficient to support, and under which
under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of wetland vegetation
typically adapted for life in saturated soils. Freshwater wetlands
may contain small stream channels or inclusions of land that do not
conform to the criteria of this definition.
A wetland of two or more contiguous acres, excluding major
freshwater wetlands, as identified on the Federal National Wetlands
Inventory.
Those uses that require, for their primary purpose, location
on submerged lands or that require direct access to or location in
coastal and inland waters and which cannot be located away from these
waters. The uses include, but are not limited to, commercial and recreational
fishing and boating facilities, excluding recreational boat storage
buildings, finfish and shellfish processing, fish storage and retail
and wholesale fish marketing facilities, waterfront dock and port
facilities, shipyards and boat-building facilities, marinas, navigation
aides, basins and channels, industrial uses dependent upon waterborne
transportation or requiring large volumes of cooling or processing
water and which cannot reasonably be located or operated at an inland
site, and uses which primarily provide general public access to marine
or tidal waters.
Any inland body of water which, in a natural state, has a
surface area in excess of 10 acres, and any inland body of water artificially
formed or increased which has a surface area in excess of 30 acres
except for the purposes of this chapter, where the artificially formed
or increased inland body of water is completely surrounded by land
held by a single owner.
See § 140-9, Definitions.
Inland Wading Waterfowl Habitat (IWWH) resource protection
areas suitable for residential and recreational development which
are used less intensively than those in the Business Districts and
currently developed. This district shall include areas as shown on
the South Berwick Official Shoreland Zoning Map and Table C, footnote
(4).[1]
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "lot area" means
the area of land enclosed within the boundary lines of a lot, minus
land below the normal high-water line of a water body or the upland
edge of a wetland and areas beneath roads serving more than two lots.
Any lot abutting a body of water.
A business establishment having frontage on navigable water
and, as its principal use, providing for hire offshore moorings or
docking facilities for boats, and which may also provide accessory
services such as boat and related sales, boat repair and construction,
indoor and outdoor storage of boats and marine equipment, boat and
tackle shops and marine fuel service facilities.
See § 140-9, Definitions.
See § 140-9, Definitions.
That line which is apparent from visible markings, changes
in the character of soils due to prolonged action of the water or
changes in vegetation, and which distinguishes between predominantly
aquatic and predominantly terrestrial land. In the case of wetlands
adjacent to rivers and great ponds, the normal high-water line is
the upland edge of the wetland and not the edge of open water. Areas
contiguous with rivers and great ponds that support wetland vegetation
and hydric soils and that are at the same or lower elevation as the
water level of the river or great pond during the period of normal
high water are considered part of the river or great pond.
See § 140-9, Definitions.
See § 140-9, Definitions.
The following soil series as described and identified by
the National Cooperative Soil Survey:
|
Alluvial
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Charles
|
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Cornish
|
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Fryeburg
|
|
Hadley
|
|
Limerick
|
|
Lovewell
|
|
Medomak
|
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Ondawa
|
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Podunk
|
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Rumney
|
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Saco
|
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Suncook
|
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Sunday
|
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Winooski
|
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "residential dwelling
unit" means a room or group of rooms designed and equipped exclusively
for use as permanent, seasonal, or temporary living quarters for only
one family at a time, and containing cooking, sleeping and toilet
facilities. The term shall include mobile homes and rental units that
contain cooking, sleeping, and toilet facilities, regardless of the
time period rented. Recreational vehicles are not residential dwelling
units.
A free-flowing body of water including its associated floodplain
wetlands from that point at which it provides drainage for a watershed
of 25 square miles to its mouth.
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "road" means a route
or track consisting of a bed of exposed mineral soil, gravel, asphalt,
or other surfacing material constructed for or created by the repeated
passage of motorized vehicles, excluding a driveway as defined.
The horizontal distance from the normal high water elevation
to the nearest part of a structure, road parking space, or other regulated
object or area.
The length of a lot bordering on a water body or wetland
measured in a straight line between the intersections of the lot lines
with the shoreline.
The land area located within 250 feet, horizontal distance,
of the normal high-water line of any great pond, river, or saltwater
body; within 250 feet of the upland edge of a coastal or freshwater
wetland; or within 250 feet of the normal high water line of a stream.
A free flowing body of water from the outlet of a great pond
or the confluence of two perennial tributary streams as depicted on
the most recent edition of a United States Geological Survey 7.5 minute
series topographic map, or if not available, a fifteen-minute series
topographic map, to the point where the body of water becomes a river
or flows to another water body or wetland within the shoreland area.
"Stream" does not mean a ditch or other drainageway constructed, or
constructed and maintained, solely for the purpose of draining stormwater
or a grassy swale.
Anything built for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons,
animals, goods or property of any kind, together with anything constructed
or erected with a fixed location on or in the ground, exclusive of
fences, and poles, wiring and other aerial equipment normally associated
with service drops as well as guying and guy anchors. The term includes
structures temporarily or permanently located.
All waters affected by tidal action during the maximum spring
tide.
A channel between defined banks not identified in § 110-18A or B. A channel is created by the action of surface water and has two or more of the following characteristics:
It is depicted as a solid line or broken blue line on the most
recent edition of the U.S. Geological Survey 7.5 minute series topographic
map.
It contains or is known to contain flowing water continuously
for a period of at least three months of the year in most years.
The channel bed is primarily composed of mineral material such
as sand and gravel, parent material or bedrock that has been deposited
or scoured by water.
The channel contains aquatic animals such as fish, aquatic insects
or mollusks in the water or, if no surface water is present, within
the stream bed.
The channel contains aquatic vegetation and is essentially devoid
of upland vegetation.
A tributary stream does not mean a ditch or other drainageway
constructed and maintained solely for the purpose of draining stormwater
or a grassy swale.
The boundary between upland and wetland. For purposes of
a coastal wetland, this boundary is the line formed by the landward
limits of the salt tolerant vegetation and/or the maximum spring tide
level, including all areas affected by tidal action. For purposes
of a freshwater wetland, the upland edge is formed where the soils
are not saturated for a duration sufficient to support wetland vegetation.
In shoreland zoned areas only, the term "volume of a structure"
means the volume of all portions of a structure enclosed by roof and
fixed exterior walls as measured from the exterior faces of these
walls and roof.
Any great pond, river, stream or tidal area or wetland.
Any project extending from one bank to the opposite bank
of a river or stream, whether under, through, or over the watercourse.
Such projects include but may not be limited to roads, fords, bridges,
culverts, waterlines, sewer lines and cables as well as maintenance
work on these crossings.
Commercial and industrial facilities which by the nature
of their operations require a shorefront location, such as but not
limited to boatyards, marinas, bathhouses and commercial fisheries
facilities.
A freshwater or coastal wetland.
Wetlands contiguous with or adjacent to a great pond or river
and which, during normal high water, are connected by surface water
to the great pond or river. Also included are wetlands which are separated
from the great pond or river by a berm, causeway, or similar feature
less than 100 feet in width, and which have a surface elevation at
or below the normal high-water line of the great pond or river. Wetlands
associated with great ponds or rivers are considered part of that
great pond or river except as noted herein.
[1]
Editor's Note: Table C is included at the end of this chapter.
