[Amended 6-13-2026]
In general, words and terms used in this chapter shall have their customary dictionary meanings. Certain words and terms used herein shall be as defined in this section.
The flood having 1% chance of being equaled or exceeded in any given year.
A point of entry/access from a Town or public way to a piece of property, development, or subdivision.
A safe and sanitary dwelling for a household whose income does not exceed 80% of the median household income for the community.
For purposes of the Town ordinances, "applicant" means the person applying for a subdivision and having title, right or interest in the parcel under question and includes, for purposes of § 185-24B, the parents, grandparents, in-laws, siblings and children of the person submitting the application.
A major thoroughfare that serves as a major traffic way for travel within and through the municipality.
See "stream, river, or brook."
A street serving at least 20 lots or dwelling units, or a street that serves as a feeder to arterial streets and collector of traffic from minor streets.
See "industrial or commercial street."
A vehicle accessway serving three or fewer dwelling units.
An application for which the required fee and all information required by these regulations for a final plan have been submitted or for which a vote of the Board has waived the submission of required information. The Board shall issue a notification to the applicant upon its determination that an application is complete.
Any area on which a site improvement or change is made, including buildings, landscaping, parking areas, and streets.
That portion of the watershed that does not first drain through an upstream lake.
Roads that are maintained by the Town of Wales and/or the State of Maine.
The final drawings on which the applicant's plan of subdivision is presented to the Board for approval and that, if approved, will be recorded at the Registry of Deeds.
Freshwater swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, other than forested wetlands, that:
Are often 10 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;
Are inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a frequency and for a duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of wetland vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soils; and
Are not considered part of a great pond, coastal wetland, river, stream, or brook. These areas may contain small stream channels or inclusions of land that do not conform to the criteria of this definition.
A soil survey conducted by a certified soil scientist, meeting the standards of the National Cooperative Soil Survey, that identifies soil types down to the 1/10 of an acre or less at a scale equivalent to that of the subdivision plan submitted. The mapping units shall be the soil series. Single soil-test pits and their evaluation shall not be considered to constitute high-intensity soil surveys.
Any improvement, building or structure of particular historic or architectural significance to the Town, relating to its heritage, cultural, social, economic or political history; or which exemplifies historic personages or important events in local, state or national history identified in the municipality's Comprehensive Plan, which has been listed or is eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
A street serving industrial or commercial uses.
A subdivision developed exclusively for industrial uses, or a subdivision planned for industrial uses and developed and managed as a unit, usually with provision for common services for the users.
A structural unit or units designated for occupancy and constructed in a manufacturing facility and transported, by the use of its own chassis or an independent chassis, to a building site. The term includes any type of building that is constructed at a manufacturing facility and is transported to a building site where it is used for housing and that may be purchased or sold by a dealer in the interim. For purposes of this section, two types of manufactured housing are included. Those two types are:
Those units constructed after June 15, 1976, commonly called "newer mobile homes," that the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development standards, meaning structures transportable in one or more sections that in the traveling mode are 14 body feet or more in width and are 750 or more square feet and that are built on a permanent chassis and are designed to be used as dwellings, with or without permanent foundations, when connected to the required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or electrical systems contained in the unit. This term also includes any structure that meets all the requirements of this subsection except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification required by the Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and complies with the standards established under the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, 42 U.S.C. § 5401 et. seq.
Those units, commonly called "modular homes," that the manufacturer certifies are constructed in compliance with the 10 M.R.S.A. Ch. 951, and rules adopted under that chapter, meaning structures, transportable in one or more sections, that are not constructed on a permanent chassis and are designed to be used as dwellings on foundation when connected to required utilities, including the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, or electrical systems contained in the unit.
A street serving less than 20 lots or dwelling units.
A parcel of land under unified ownership approved by the municipality for the placement of three or more mobile homes.
The area of land on which an individual home is situated within a mobile home park and that is reserved for use by the occupants of that home. A municipality shall require a lot to be designated on a mobile home park plan.
A residential structure containing three or more residential dwelling units.
The total acreage available for the subdivision and shown on the proposed subdivision plan, minus the area for streets or access and the areas that are unsuitable for development.
The average number of dwelling units per net residential acre.
The date upon which the Board issues a notification indicating that a complete application has been submitted.
A subdivision in which the lot sizes are reduced below those normally required, in return for the provision of permanent open space owned in common by lot/unit owners, the Town, or a land conservation organization. Clustering shall not be used to increase the overall net residential density of the development except as provided under § 185-36C(3)(b)[1].
All contiguous lands in the same ownership, whether or not the tract is separated at any point by an intermittent or nonnavigable stream; tidal waters where there is no flow at low tide; or a private road established by the abutting landowners, provided that lands located on opposite sides of a public or private road are each considered a separate parcel, unless the road was established by the owner of the land on both sides of the road.
The preliminary drawings indicating the proposed layout of the subdivision to be submitted to the Board for its consideration.
A street that is not intended to be dedicated as a Town way.
A copy of the final plan that is recorded at the Registry of Deeds and that need not show information not relevant to the transfer of an interest in the property, such as sewer and water line locations and sizes, culverts, and building lines.
The division of an existing subdivision or any change in the plan for an approved subdivision that affect the lot lines, including land transactions by the subdivider not indicated on the approved plan.
Any public ways and private ways, including collector streets, minor streets, private streets, areas on activity plans designated as rights-of-way, and common driveways for vehicular access, designed and constructed in accordance with Chapter 153, Roads and Driveways, of the Code of the Town of Wales.
Points where scenic views can be accessed, as identified in the Town of Wales Comprehensive Plan.
A channel between defined banks. A channel created by the action of surface water has two or more of the following characteristics:
It is depicted as a solid 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 of the 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 water is present, within the streambed.
As defined in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4401.
Any subdivision containing more than five lots, dwelling units, or units in a shopping center or similar commercial establishment, or any subdivision containing a proposed street.
Any subdivision containing no more than five lots, dwelling units, or units in a shopping center or similar commercial establishment, and in which no street is proposed to be constructed.
The completion of any of the improvement(s) to the total property or individual lots or infrastructure improvements that are equivalent to 30% of the total developer's cost of such improvements.
See "parcel, or tract, of land."