The Marion Planning Board Master Plan/Bylaw Subcommittee, which set out to formulate a new “Formula Business” Bylaw to protect the character of Marion and restrict the construction of “big box” stores, has moved beyond the rhetoric of CVS and drive-thru windows typical of one of its meetings and arrived at a place of precariousness – creating a bylaw that does not conflict with or duplicate already existing zoning bylaws.
The current draft bylaw, which continues to evolve, actually proposes three separate bylaws to address the three issues of dimensional use, formula business, and blight/nuisance.
The draft Dimensional Use Bylaw proposes adding two more columns to the existing Dimensional Requirements Table, addressing maximum lot coverage and minimum green space.
It gives ratios for all business zoning districts and proposes a ratio of 60 percent lot coverage and 20 percent green space for the general business zone.
Discussion began with the acknowledgement that this proposed bylaw might already conflict with existing zoning regulations.
Vice-Chairman of the subcommittee Norman Hills right away asked how someone came up with the ratios proposed and called the numbers “absurd.”
“Some of these numbers…” said Hills. “You could still come up with a pretty damned big building.” He suggested separating impervious surfaces like walkways and parking lots from the building lot coverage to address them as separate entities, in his words.
Subcommittee member Ted North mentioned capping the building size in Marion to not exceed maximum building dimensions of “X, Y, and Z” as the way to go.
Although this draft bylaw would have no affect on a tentatively proposed CVS for the corner of Front Street and Route 6, Hills acknowledged that CVS was the impetus for the Zoning Bylaw Subcommittee’s efforts to protect the character of the town.
“I’m not sure this solves that problem,” said Hills. “This whole concept needs to be flushed out one time so we don’t keep springing back trying to solve the same problem. We need numbers that are going to do what we want them to do. And that’s something you can’t do overnight.”
Hills said the bylaw should address minimum lot size, but was wary of how the subcommittee could avoid conflicting with current zoning bylaws.
“You twist something here and something else falls off the edge over here,” said Hills.
In a memorandum to Planning Board Chairman Steve Kokkins, Building Commissioner Scott Shippey responded to the draft bylaws the board sent to him for comment, saying right away that he found several conflicts and issues.
“The proposed ‘Maximum Lot Coverage’ and ‘Minimum Green Space Coverage’ numbers may be in conflict with other existing bylaws,” wrote Shippey. “Most of the lots in Marion are preexisting nonconforming lots and are already held to only 40% coverage … for residential districts.”
Shippey also wrote that general, marine, and limited industrial zones are already required to maintain 20 percent of the lot area as “open space.” Under the proposed bylaw, marine and limited industrial would be at 70 percent max lot coverage and 30 percent green space.
“This is a very difficult task for a proposed business to achieve in accordance with the existing bylaws and the new proposed bylaw,” stated Shippey. “The numbers do not match up and are in direct conflict with existing bylaws.”
During discussions about the draft Formula Business Bylaw, the subcommittee again acknowledged that the Town cannot exclude the so-called ‘big box’ stores from coming to Marion, but they can restrict them.
“Which we have done,” stated North. Hills replied, “Which is what we are trying to do.”
There was talk about businesses using large windows to display signs typical of a franchise, and the subcommittee debated whether restricting that is beyond the Planning Board’s purview of regulating the exterior of the building and not the interior.
North reminded the subcommittee that the bylaw seeks mainly to define a formula business and make the determination for the site plan review process.
“We restrict signage on the outside,” as well as certain elements of a formula business, said Subcommittee Chairman Rico Ferrari. “And we dumb it down, yet we have glass space that dumbs it back up because you can see it from the outside.”
After some discussion, the subcommittee determined that this matter would fall under the Town’s sign ordinance, which is Shippey’s territory.
Within the draft Formula Business Bylaw, there is language to regulate and minimize “business branding,” anything on the exterior designed to identify the structure with any particular franchise or chain store. Under the draft bylaw, businesses would have to construct buildings more “consistent with the town’s architectural composition, character, and historical context … including the preservation of the colonial and early New England styles, colors, and textures of a small rural seaside community.”
Shippey commented on this, writing: “I believe case law allows reasonable restriction but not exclusion.” He continued, “Using the guidelines Marion has set forth for ‘Big Box’ stores can ensure the continuity and characteristic s of Marion.”
The sense of urgency of past meetings to have a Formula Business Bylaw for the May Town Meeting seems to have subsided, as subcommittee members acknowledge that there might not be enough time before article submission deadlines.
“I’m not feeling the pressure … that pressure that was given with the solar bylaw…” said Ferrari. “I don’t want to fall into that pitfall of hurry, hurry, hurry.”
Hills concurred, saying, “There doesn’t seem to be a dying need for this right this second.”
Attention turned to the need to codify the Town’s Zoning Bylaws, which some members have already discussed with the town administrator who mentioned hiring a contractor to assist in the process.
After the meeting, Kokkins said the winter weather, which accounted for several cancelations and postponements of Planning Board and subcommittee meetings, was an impediment to the formula bylaw process.
“At a point when time was very critical,” added Kokkins.
The subcommittee has not scheduled its next meeting, but the Marion Planning Board will meet on Tuesday, February 17 at 5:00 pm at the Marion Town House.
By Jean Perry
