As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
A use or structure which is incidental and subordinate to
the principal use or structure. Accessory uses, when aggregated, shall
not subordinate the principal use of the lot. A deck or similar extension
of the principal structure or a garage attached to the principal structure
by a roof or a common wall is considered part of the principal structure.
An owner of land whose property is directly or indirectly
affected by the granting or denial of a permit or variance under this
chapter; a person whose land abuts land for which a permit or variance
has been granted; or any other person or group of persons who have
suffered particularized injury as a result of the granting or denial
of such permit or variance.
The production, keeping or maintenance for sale or lease
of plants and/or animals, including but not limited to forage and
sod crops, grains and seed crops, dairy animals and dairy products,
poultry and poultry products, livestock, fruits and vegetables, and
ornamental and greenhouse products. "Agriculture" does not include
forest management and timber harvesting activities.
The growing or propagation of harvestable freshwater, estuarine,
or marine plant or animal species.
The area of cross section of a tree stem at 4 1/2 feet
above ground level and inclusive of bark.
Any portion of a structure with a floor-to-ceiling height
of six feet or more and having more than 50% of its volume below the
existing ground level.
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.
State of Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and
Forestry, Bureau of Forestry.
Any area or tract of land to accommodate two or more parties
in temporary living quarters, including but not limited to tents,
recreational vehicles or other shelters.
The more or less continuous cover formed by tree crowns in
a wooded area.
All tidal and subtidal lands; all lands with vegetation present
that is tolerant of salt water and occurs primarily in a salt water
or estuarine habitat; and any swamp, marsh, bog, beach, flat or other
contiguous low land that is subject to tidal action during the highest
tide level for the year in which an activity is proposed as identified
in tide tables published by the National Ocean Service. Coastal wetlands
may include portions of coastal sand dunes.
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NOTE: All areas below the highest annual tide level are coastal
wetlands. These areas may consist of rocky ledges, sand and cobble
beaches, mud flats, etc., in addition to salt marshes and salt meadows.
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The use of lands, buildings, or structures, other than a
home occupation defined below, the intent and result of which activity
is the production of income from the buying and selling of goods and/or
services, exclusive of rental of residential buildings and/or dwelling
units.
The diameter of a standing tree measured 4.5 feet from ground
level.
A change in land use involving alteration of the land, water
or vegetation or the addition or alteration of structures or other
construction not naturally occurring.
Numerical standards relating to spatial relationships, including
but not limited to setback, lot area, shore frontage, and height.
Any disability, infirmity, malformation, disfigurement, congenital
defect or mental condition caused by bodily injury, accident, disease,
birth defect, environmental conditions or illness, and also includes
the physical or mental condition of a person which constitutes a substantial
handicap as determined by a physician or, in the case of mental handicap,
by a psychiatrist or psychologist, as well as any other health or
sensory impairment which requires special education, vocational rehabilitation
or related services.
A vehicular accessway less than 500 feet in length serving
two single-family dwellings or one two-family dwelling, or less.
Operations conducted for the public health, safety, or general
welfare, such as protection of resources from immediate destruction
or loss, law enforcement, and operations to rescue human beings, property,
and livestock from the threat of destruction or injury.
Gas, electrical or communication facilities; steam, fuel,
electric power or water transmission or distribution lines, towers
and related equipment; telephone cables or lines, poles and related
equipment; gas, oil, water, slurry or other similar pipelines; municipal
sewage lines, collection or supply systems; and associated storage
tanks. Such systems may include towers, poles, wires, mains, drains,
pipes, conduits, cables, fire alarms and police call boxes, traffic
signals, hydrants and similar accessories but shall not include service
drops or buildings which are necessary for the furnishing of such
services.
An increase in the footprint or height of a structure, including
all extensions, such as, but not limited to, attached decks, garages,
porches, and greenhouses.
The addition of one or more months to a use's operating season
or the use of more footprint of a structure or ground area devoted
to a particular use.
One or more persons occupying premises and living as a single
housekeeping unit.
The channel of a river or other watercourse and adjacent
land areas that must be reserved in order to discharge the one-hundred-year
flood without cumulatively increasing the water surface elevation
by more than one foot in height.
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.
The entire area of ground covered by the structure(s) on
a lot, including but not limited to cantilevered or similar overhanging
extensions, as well as unenclosed structures, such as patios and decks.
A freshwater wetland dominated by woody vegetation that is
six meters tall (approximately 20 feet) or taller.
Timber cruising and other forest resource evaluation activities,
pesticide or fertilizer application, management planning activities,
timber stand improvement, pruning, regeneration of forest stands,
and other similar or associated activities, exclusive of timber harvesting
and the construction, creation or maintenance of roads.
A freshwater wetland dominated by woody vegetation that is
six meters tall (approximately 20 feet tall) or taller.
The supporting substructure of a building or other structure,
excluding wooden sills and post supports, but including basements,
slabs, frost walls, or other base consisting of concrete, block, brick,
or similar material.
Freshwater swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, other than
forested wetlands, which are:
Of 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; and
Inundated or saturated by surface water or groundwater at a
frequency and for a duration sufficient to support, and 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.
Those uses that require, for their primary purpose, location
on submerged lands or that require direct access to, or location in,
coastal or inland waters and that 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-related storage
and retail and wholesale fish marketing facilities, waterfront dock
and port facilities, shipyards and boat building facilities, marinas,
navigation aids, basins and channels, shoreline structures necessary
for erosion control purposes, industrial uses dependent upon waterborne
transportation or requiring large volumes of cooling or processing
water that cannot reasonably be located or operated at an inland site,
and uses that primarily provide general public access to coastal or
inland waters. Recreational boat storage buildings are not considered
to be a functionally water-dependent use.
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.
Any great pond classified GPA pursuant to 38 M.R.S.A. § 465-A.
This classification includes some but not all impoundments of rivers
that are defined as great ponds.
Small plants, fallen leaves, needles and twigs, and the partially
decayed organic matter of the forest floor.
A tree with a structural defect, combination of defects,
or disease resulting in a structural defect that under the normal
range of environmental conditions at the site exhibits a high probability
of failure and loss of a major structural component of the tree in
a manner that will strike a target. A normal range of environmental
conditions does not include meteorological anomalies, such as, but
not limited to: hurricanes; hurricane-force winds; tornados; microburst;
or significant ice storm events. Hazard trees also include those trees
that pose a serious and imminent risk to bank stability. A target
is the area where personal injury or personal damage could occur if
a tree or a portion of the tree fails. Targets include roads, driveways,
parking areas, structures, campsites and any other developed area
where people frequently gather or linger.
The vertical distance between the mean original (prior to
construction) grade at the downhill side of the structure and the
highest point of the structure, excluding chimneys, steeples, antennas,
and similar appurtenances that have no floor area.
An occupation or profession which is customarily conducted
on or in a residential structure or property and which is clearly
incidental to and compatible with the residential use of the property
and surrounding residential uses and which employs no more than two
persons other than family members residing in the home.
Any change in a structure or property which causes further
deviation from the dimensional standard(s) creating the nonconformity,
such as, but not limited to, reduction in water body, tributary stream
or wetland setback distance, increase in lot coverage, or increase
in height of a structure. Property changes or structure expansions
which either meet the dimensional standard or which cause no further
increase in the linear extent of nonconformance of the existing structure
shall not be considered to increase nonconformity. For example, there
is no increase in nonconformity with the setback requirement for water
bodies, wetlands, or tributary streams if the expansion extends no
further into the required setback area than does any portion of the
existing nonconforming structure. Hence, a structure may be expanded
laterally, provided that the expansion extends no closer to the water
body, tributary stream, or wetland than the closest portion of the
existing structure to that water body, tributary stream, or wetland.
Included in this allowance are expansions which infill irregularly
shaped structures.
An area of land which is not associated with a campground
but which is developed for repeated camping by only one group not
to exceed 10 individuals and which involves site improvements which
may include but not be limited to a gravel pad, parking area, fireplace,
or tent platform.
The assembling, fabrication, finishing, manufacturing, packaging,
or processing of goods or the extraction of minerals.
A nonprofit or quasi-public use or institution such as a
church, library, public or private school, hospital, or municipally
owned or operated building, structure or land used for public purposes.
A forester licensed under Title 32, Chapter 76, of the Maine
Revised Statutes Annotated.
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
upland edge of a wetland and areas beneath roads serving more than
two lots.
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, bait and
tackle shops and marine fuel service facilities.
The estimated price a property will bring in the open market
and under prevailing market conditions in a sale between a willing
seller and a willing buyer, both conversant with the property and
with prevailing general price levels.
Hand sampling, test boring, or other methods of determining
the nature or extent of mineral resources which create minimal disturbance
to the land and which include reasonable measures to restore the land
to its original condition.
Any operation within any twelve-month period which removes
more than 100 cubic yards of soil, topsoil, loam, sand, gravel, clay,
rock, peat, or other like material from its natural location and transports
the product removed away from the extraction site.
The closest distance between the side lot lines of a lot.
When only two lot lines extend into the shoreland zone, both lot lines
shall be considered to be side lot lines.
A residential structure containing three or more residential
dwelling units.
Indigenous to the local forests.
Nonconforming lot, structure, or use which is allowed solely
because it was in lawful existence at the time this chapter or subsequent
amendments took effect.
A single lot of record which, at the effective date of adoption
or amendment of this chapter, does not meet the area, frontage, or
width requirements of the district in which it is located.
A structure which does not meet any one or more of the following
dimensional requirements: setback, height, lot coverage, or footprint
but which is allowed solely because it was in lawful existence at
the time this chapter or subsequent amendments took effect.
Use of buildings, structures, premises, land, or parts thereof
which is not allowed in the district in which it is situated but which
is allowed to remain solely because it was in lawful existence at
the time this chapter or subsequent amendments took effect.
Species of vegetation listed by the Maine Department of Agriculture,
Conservation, and Forestry as being invasive in Maine ecosystems and
not native to Maine ecosystems.
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. Areas contiguous with
rivers and great ponds that support nonforested 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.
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NOTE: Adjacent to tidal waters, setbacks are measured from the
upland edge of the coastal wetland.
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Any perennial or intermittent stream as shown on the most
recent highest resolution version of the national hydrography data
set available from the United States Geological Survey on the website
of the United States Geological Survey or the national map, that flows
from a freshwater wetland.
An individual, corporation, governmental agency, municipality,
trust, estate, partnership, association, two or more individuals having
a joint or common interest, or other legal entity.
A structure other than one which is used for purposes wholly
incidental or accessory to the use of another structure or use on
the same lot.
A use other than one which is wholly incidental or accessory
to another use on the same lot.
Any facility, including but not limited to buildings, property,
recreation areas, and roads, which is owned, leased, or otherwise
operated or funded by a governmental body or public entity.
The following soil series as described and identified by
the National Cooperative Soil Survey:
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Fryeburg
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Hadley
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Limerick
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Lovewell
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Medomak
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Ondawa
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Alluvial
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Cornish
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Charles
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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
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A place designed and equipped for the conduct of sports,
leisure-time activities, and other customary and usual recreational
activities, excluding boat launching facilities.
A vehicle or an attachment to a vehicle designed to be towed
and designed for temporary sleeping or living quarters for one or
more persons and which may include a pickup camper, travel trailer,
tent trailer, camp trailer, and motor home. In order to be considered
as a vehicle and not as a structure, the unit must remain with its
tires on the ground and must be registered with the State Division
of Motor Vehicles.
A system intended to replace:
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.
Rocks, irregularly shaped and at least six inches in diameter,
used for erosion control and soil stabilization, typically used on
ground slopes of two units horizontal to one unit vertical or less.
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.
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NOTE: The portion of a river that is subject to tidal action
is a coastal wetland.
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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.
Areas of coastal wetland (most often along coastal bays)
that support salt-tolerant species and where at average high tide
during the growing season the soil is irregularly inundated by tidal
waters. The predominant species is salt marsh cordgrass (Spartina
alterniflora). More open areas often support widgeon grass, eelgrass,
and sago pondweed.
Areas of a coastal wetland that support salt-tolerant plant
species bordering the landward side of salt marshes or open coastal
water, where the soil is saturated during the growing season but which
is rarely inundated by tidal water. Indigenous plant species include
salt meadow cordgrass (Spartina patens) and black rush; common three-square
occurs in fresher areas.
A tree species that is less than two inches in diameter at
4.5 feet above ground level.
A young tree species that is less than 4.5 feet in height
above ground level.
Any utility line extension which does not cross or run beneath
any portion of a water body, provided that:
The nearest horizontal distance from the normal high-water
line of a water body or tributary stream, or upland edge of a wetland,
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 or river; within 250
feet, horizontal distance, of the upland edge of a coastal wetland,
including all areas affected by tidal action; within 250 feet of the
upland edge of a freshwater wetland; or within 75 feet, horizontal
distance, of the normal high-water line of a stream.
The normal high-water line or upland edge of a freshwater
or coastal wetland.
See 38 M.R.S.A. § 437.
A tree that has been uprooted, blown down, is lying on the
ground, or that remains standing and is damaged beyond the point of
recovery as the result of a storm event.
A free-flowing body of water from the outlet of a great pond
or the confluence of two perennial streams, as depicted on the most
recent highest resolution version edition of the national hydrography
data set available from the United States Geological Survey on the
website of the United States Geological Survey or the national map,
to the point where the stream becomes a river or where the stream
meets the shoreland zone of another water body or wetland. When a
stream meets the shoreland zone of a water body or wetland and a channel
forms downstream of the water body or wetland as an outlet, that channel
is also a stream.
Anything temporarily or permanently located, built, constructed
or erected for the support, shelter or enclosure of persons, animals,
goods or property of any kind, or anything constructed or erected
on or in the ground. The term includes structures temporarily or permanently
located, such as decks, patios, and satellite dishes. Structure does
not include fences; poles and wiring and other ariel equipment normally
associated with service drops, including guy wires and guy anchors;
subsurface wastewater disposal systems as defined by Title 30-A section
4201, subsection 5; geothermal heat exchange wells as defined in Title
32, section 4700-E subsection 3-C; or wells or water wells as defined
in Title 32 section 4700-E, subsection 8.
Completion of 30% of a permitted structure or use measured
as a percentage of estimated total cost.
Any system designed to dispose of waste or wastewater on
or beneath the surface of the earth, including but not limited to
septic tanks, disposal fields, grandfathered cesspools, holding tanks,
pretreatment filter, piping, or any other fixture, mechanism, or apparatus
used for those purposes; it does not include any discharge system
licensed under 38 M.R.S.A. § 414, any surface wastewater
disposal system, or any municipal or quasi-municipal sewer or wastewater
treatment system.
A change in elevation where the referenced percent grade
is substantially maintained or exceeded throughout the measured area.
All waters affected by tidal action during the highest annual
tide.
The cutting and removal of timber for the primary purpose of selling or processing forest products. “Timber harvesting” does not include the cutting or removal of vegetation within the shoreland zone when associated with any other land use activities. The cutting or removal of trees in the shoreland zone on a lot that has less than two acres within the shoreland zone shall not be considered timber harvesting. Such cutting or removal of trees shall be regulated pursuant to § 226-39. Clearing or removal of vegetation for activities other than timber harvesting.
A woody perennial plant with a well-defined trunk(s) at least
two inches in diameter at 4.5 feet above the ground, with a more or
less definite crown, and reaching a height of at least 10 feet at
maturity.
A channel between defined banks created by the action of
surface water which is characterized by the lack of terrestrial vegetation
or by the presence of a bed, devoid of topsoil, containing waterborne
deposits or exposed soil, parent material or bedrock, and which is
connected hydrologically with other water bodies. "Tributary stream"
does not include rills or gullies forming because of accelerated erosion
in disturbed soils where the natural vegetation cover has been removed
by human activity. This definition does not include the term "stream"
as defined elsewhere in this chapter and only applies to that portion
of the tributary stream located within the shoreland zone of the receiving
water body or wetland.
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NOTE: Water setback requirements apply to tributary streams
within the shoreland zone.
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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 highest annual 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,
or where the soils support the growth of wetland vegetation but such
vegetation is dominated by woody stems that are six meters (approximately
20 feet) tall or taller.
All live trees, shrubs, and other plants, including, without
limitation, trees both over and under four inches in diameter measured
at 4 1/2 feet above ground level.
An area of special flood hazard extending from offshore to
the inland limit of the primary frontal dune along an open coast and
any other area subject to high-velocity wave action from storms or
seismic sources.
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, or stream.
Any project extending from one bank to the opposite bank
of a river, stream, tributary stream, or wetland, whether under, through,
or over the water or wetland. 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. This definition
includes crossings for timber harvesting equipment and related activities.
A freshwater or coastal wetland.
Live trees or woody, nonherbaceous shrubs.
The purposes of this chapter are to further the maintenance
of safe and healthful conditions; to prevent and control water pollution;
to protect fish spawning grounds, aquatic life, and 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 and 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.
This chapter has been prepared in accordance with the provisions
of 38 M.R.S.A. §§ 435 to 449.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 449 of Title 38 was repealed by Laws
2011, c. 120.
This chapter applies to:
This chapter, which was adopted by the municipal legislative
body on December 10, 1991, and amended effective June 22, 2009, and
amended effective November 9, 2009, and amended effective May 23,
2011, and amended effective April 25, 2022, shall not be effective
unless approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental
Protection. A certified copy of this chapter, or chapter 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 chapter amendment within 45 days of his/her receipt
of the chapter or chapter 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 chapter amendment, if the chapter or chapter 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.
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.
This chapter may be amended by majority vote of the Town Council.
Copies of amendments to this chapter, attested and signed by the Town
Clerk, shall be submitted to the Commissioner of the Department of
Environmental Protection following adoption by the Town Council, and
such amendment shall not be effective unless approved by the Commissioner
of the Department of Environmental Protection. If the Commissioner
of the Department of Environmental Protection fails to act on any
amendment within 45 days of the Commissioner's 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.
Official Shoreland Zoning Map. The areas to which this chapter is
applicable are hereby divided into the following districts as shown
of the Official Shoreland Zoning Map which is made a part of this
chapter:
B.
Scale of map. The Official Shoreland Zoning Map shall be drawn at
a scale of not less that 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.
C.
Certification of Official Shoreland Zoning Map. The Official Shoreland
Zoning Map shall be certified by the attested signature of the Municipal
Clerk and shall be located in the municipal office.
D.
Changes to the Official Shoreland Zoning Map. If amendments, in accordance with § 226-8, are made in the district boundaries or other matter portrayed on the Official Shoreland Zoning Map, such changes shall be made on the Official Shoreland Zoning Map within 30 days after the amendment has been approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection.
Unless otherwise set forth on the Official Shoreland Zoning
Map, district boundary lines are property lines, the center lines
of streets, roads and rights-of-way, and the boundaries of the shoreland
area as defined herein. Where uncertainty exists as to the exact location
of district boundary lines, the Board of Adjustment and Appeals shall
be the final authority as to location.
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.
