The Brunswick Planning Board met on March 24, 2026, to review a major development application for a shellfish processing facility and to hold public hearings on two proposed zoning text amendments: one on landscape preservation and one on subdivisions, open space, and conservation development. All three items were approved unanimously after discussion and public comment.
Good evening. Welcome to the March 24th Brunswick Planning Board meeting. I'll introduce members of the planning board who are here on my far right, Kelly Matson next to Kelly Planning Board Vice Chair, newly elected Rob Burgess. Next to Rob. Chris Baldwin next to Chris. Laura Hatmaker on my near left, Alison Harris. Next to Allison, Director of Planning and Development, Julie Erdman. Next to Julie, our principal planner, Jimmy Dealman, and next to Jimmy, our land use planner, Matthew James. Thank you for your quick turnaround. Case number 2526 zoning text amendments. And case number 2610. Another zoning text amendment. With that, I don't know if Steve is coming, but we'll welcome him when he gets here if he is coming. Motion by Allison, second by Rob. All those in favor. That's unanimous of the board members here. And now I'd like a motion that the staff has reviewed the application and determined that it's complete. And the motion that the planning board concurs with planning staff's conclusion that the basic major development and review application materials have been submitted and that the application is complete such that the board may proceed with substantive review of the application and identification of any further information required from the applicant. Do I have a motion to that? Motion by Chris, second by Laura. All in favor. Part of the comments from Mr. Baldwin was about the modeling for the previous pavement system. And that additional or that revised model is uh included in your package. We also worked with Sheridan construction to revise the elevation view to remove the six-foot overhang that was shown on the elevation of the rear of the building. There was a little bit of a um not complication with it, but there was more research needed for it because part of the process that they will go through is they'll be washing some oysters through their processing um cycle and that uh processing water will be just discharged to the septic. So the septic designer wanted to coordinate with the state office to make sure that that was permissible. He did get positive feedback from the state, so uh with that we did um he did come up with a septic design that did include a uh an additional treatment system as part of that uh treatment train leading to the septic field, um and he felt that that was satisfactory for the the design. Um we also uh worked with Sterling Stormwater Services to come up with a five-year stormwater maintenance agreement for the previous payment uh system, and that has been executed and has been sent to the town planning department. Um we also revised the erosion control plan to adjust the sediment barrier uh before we just kind of had it wrapping around the entire site. We now kind of laid it out better so it aligned better with the contours to try to uh limit any concentration points that would come up with the with the grading. Uh the cemetery easement. Um, I did uh work with the the surveyor to revise the the boundary survey to include some additional notes referencing the cemetery easement and referencing the previous um plans that were done by by Thayer. Um we uh revised the the grading and drainage plan to incorporate a foundation drain for the building as well, and that daylights out to the uh roadside drainage swale along Mir Point Road. Uh one of the comments that was brought up the last time was about lighting and if there are any potential to reduce lighting or turn them off. Uh I worked with the owners and they felt that no lighting was going to be necessary after 8 p.m. So we revised the lighting plan to add an additional note that the lighting will be programmed to turn off between the hours of 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. Uh and the last one is um there was questions about um permitting needed for an eagle nest that's located on the property. Um I did talk with US U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Um the the nest has been destroyed from a uh uh windstorm that happened within the past year. Um he informed me that when that happens that there kind of the protections for that nest goes away, but if the nest is rebuilt, then those protections come back. So he recommended that we just go through and get a what's called a general permit for an eagle take disturbance. Um so we move forward and we did that today. We sent that in to the to the town uh today. It's an it's an automatically generated permit, so you go through, you fill through your fill out your information, uh you know, your project, your owner, um time and construction, then it spits out a permit at the end of it. Um and part of that permit is that prior to construction, if construction is during the the breeding season, um the contractor and owner needs to inspect the nest to see if there is uh a net an eagle present. If there is, and there's certain um protections that go in place for that, but since the nest is no longer there and it hasn't been rebuilt since that likelihood that is very low. Um and again that permit has been sent to the planning office.