Good evening.

Welcome to the July 14th, 2026 Brunswick Planning Board meeting.

We're starting an hour early tonight.

We have four cases before us.

Case number 2633, Main Street Olay and Miscellaneous Zoning Text Amendments.

Case number 2614, Thomas Point Campground Phase 3, we'll have a public hearing for that.

Case number 2611, Brunswick Public Works Phase 1.

That's a major development review final plan.

And case number 2612, Dion Farm Farmers Market Major Development Review Final Plan, and we'll have a public hearing on that.

First up will be Jimmy Dealen Dielman, our principal planner.

And whenever you're ready, Jim.

Thank you.

So I'll have my presentation just pulled up and we'll get started.

Great.

So this item is a public hearing on the proposed on proposed zoning text amendments that would establish a new main street overlay district.

I'll provide an overview of why staff are proposing the overlay and summarize some of the highlights.

Next slide.

Downtown Brunswick is a walkable mixed use area served by public transit and surrounded by residential neighborhoods that support its role as a town center.

At the same time, portions of main street of the main street corridor contain surface parking, lower scale development, and other underutilized properties that don't fully reinforce the continuous pedestrian oriented character envisioned for downtown.

The comprehensive plan identifies downtown as an area targeted, an area for targeted improvements that support additional housing, revitalization, and infill development.

The proposed overlay is intended to help implement that vision by establishing zoning standards that encourage encourage high quality mixed use development, additional upper upper story housing, and a stronger pedestrian environment along Main Street.

Next slide.

But in general, the overlay that staff propose allows for greater height and relief to certain parking requirements in exchange for requiring active commercial ground floor uses and specific standards on building massing and design to promote a high quality development that is cohesive with the downtown character.

Next slide.

And where a specific standard in the main street overlay conflicts with another zoning provision, the overlay standard would control.

Another important point to note is that while Brunswick's downtown has existing standards for historic character through the village review overlay that encompasses much of this district, the village review standards would only go so far to provide specificity for developers.

Next slide.

The proposed overlay would allow buildings for buildings up to four and a half stories with a maximum height of 53 feet for flat roof buildings and 65 feet for pitched roof or permitted or permitted non-habitable roof features.

And to ensure that the overlay would not creep into the surrounding neighborhoods.

Additionally, buildings with longer facades would need to be visually divided into smaller increments through changes in the in the wall plane, materials, entrances, roof lines, and other architectural elements.

The important point is that the additional height is paired with more detailed standards, addressing building frontage, storefront design, massing, parking, and pedestrian environment.

Next slide.

So the illustrations on the right were prepared by Able City, an urban design firm that the town consulted, consulted with, and these show a four-story flat roof or pitched roof building, and how it could be organized within these standards.

The overlay would require commercial ground floor to be designed as storefronts with active uses, greater window transparency, visible public entrances, and a sufficient commercial depth to better create functional spaces rather than shallow or decorative storefronts.

The overlay design, the overlay design standards also address facade composition and articulation.

Larger buildings would need to essentially be broken into visually identified identifiable sections that reflect the scale and rhythm of traditional downtown buildings.

Buildings would be required to be designed with high quality durable materials and incorporate pedestrian-scaled elements such as awnings, canopies, lighting, seating planners, display windows, and potentially public art.

Additionally, the overlay would establish a minimum open space requirement.

That space could take the for that open space could take the form of a plaza, a pocket park, or an improved sidewalk area that provides a meaningful public or pedestrian benefit.

Next slide.

For residential uses, one vehicle parking space would be required per dwelling unit, regardless of the number of bedrooms in that unit.

A different requirement could always be approved under a parking demand study, which is currently an option in the current zoning ordinance.

Also in the overlay for retail sales and service services uses, service uses available on street parking could also be considered as part of the parking demand study.

So staff also completed supplemental research looking at downtown streets and communities, other communities, including Rockland, Burlington, Georgetown, and Hoboken.

These examples are not intended to be exact models for Brunswick.

Instead, they help illustrate the relationship between the width of the street and the height of surrounding buildings and the resulting sense of pedestrian scale.

The examples demonstrate that four-story buildings can be incorporated into traditional downtown settings while maintaining an attractive and human-scaled streetscape.

So taken together, this research done by Tyler McGrath, our department's intern, suggests that main streets substantial width can accommodate taller buildings that help to better frame the downtown and create an interesting and proportional streetscape.

Last slide.

So in conclusion, the planning board has asked whether the proposed amendments further the recommendations and strategies contained in Brunswick's comprehensive plan.

Staff believe that they do.

First, the overlay is located within the designated growth area, which directs reinvestment towards areas where infrastructure and services can support more concentrated growth.

Second, the comprehensive plan identifies downtown as one of the areas that has opportunities for additional housing, revitalization and infill development on underutilized properties.

And there are also a handful of other strategies that directly support the overlay, including one that recommend recommends considering form-based zoning in the growth area and additional strategies that speak to planning for infrastructure improvements in areas like the downtown and creating beautiful streets with active ground floors, active commercial ground floors and other standards to sort to support uh shops and pedestrians they serve.

So for those reasons, uh staff believes the proposed amendments are consistent with the comp plan.

Last slide.

So with that, we are requesting the board consider these amendments and vote whether to uh forward a recommendation to the town council uh given that the affected properties are within the village review overlay which has guidelines that are reviewed by the village review board.

Um we've provided a conditional uh recommendation in the staff memo that if if recommended that this proposal be forwarded to the village review board for further review.

With that, happy to answer any questions.

Okay.