BIDDEFORD — In a packed public meeting Thursday night, city officials and coastal residents gathered for a presentation regarding proposed shoreland zoning ordinance amendments.

The new guidelines were released by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in January 2015, but the DEP never set a date by which municipalities would be required to adopt them.

This has sparked a lengthy battle between the city and residents of Biddeford Pool that has raged for months.

Thursday’s meeting was an attempt by the city to clarify changes to the ordinances, which include alterations to a rule pertaining to the development of nonconforming structures and standards regulating vegetation and lot cover.

The majority of Thursday’s presentation was about non-conforming structures and revisions to the zoning ordinance’s regulations involving building expansions.

A non-conforming structure includes any structure that does not meet setback, height, lot coverage or footprint coverage requirements, but is allowed because it was in lawful existence at the time the current ordinance took effect.

The proposed amendments would allow expansion of a principal non-conforming structure’s footprint by 30 percent depending on how far the building is set back from the water. Currently, non-conforming structures can be expanded or replaced with an allowed 30 percent of the structure’s volume, as long as the structure was in existence before Jan. 1, 1989.

Under the new regulations, for structures located within 25 feet of the normal high-water line, expansion would not be allowed beyond 800 feet, or 30 percent of the structure’s footprint in 1989. These structures would also not be allowed to exceed 15 feet in height, or the height of the existing structure.

Structures located between 25 and 75 feet of the high-water line may not be expanded by 1,000 feet, or 30 percent of the 1989 footprint, although they may reach heights of 20 feet or the height of the existing structure. Structures 75 to 100 feet share the same restrictions as their predecessors, but are allowed to be 25 feet in height.

Structures between 100 to 250 feet of the high-water line, as long as they fall in the city’s limited residential zone, are only subject to a height requirement of no more than 35 feet and the standard 20 percent non-vegetated surface lot coverage regulations.

The idea is to create a “graduated” effect as buildings become shorter toward the water. City Planner Greg Tansley said this was designed to protect peoples’ views of the water.

Concern arose over the where setbacks from the water begin – at the average water line or the high-water line.

“If it’s 7 feet, if you’re on Mile Stretch Road, they measure from your seawall. If it’s 4 feet, which is a federal government definition, it puts you in the middle of the beach. The starting measurement is completely different,” said Kevin Tourangeau, who lives on Miles Stretch Road.

Tourangeau accused the city of more strictly regulating its residents than state law requires.

“Why do you want to be more onerous and penalize us as residents?” Tourangeau said.

Tansley explained that the DEP says the setbacks are to be measured from the highest annual tide, which in Biddeford is 7.4 feet above sea level.

“The state definition says highest annual tide. What we’ve done is define what that number will be now,” Tansley said.

Another major change is a revision of standards regulating vegetation and lot cover.

Currently, property owners in the shoreland zone are not allowed to have more than 20 percent of the property consist of non-vegetated surfaces. Under the new rule, this will now include surfaces from which vegetation has been removed.

Under the approved amendments, naturally occurring ledge and rock outcroppings would be exempt from the rule and not count as non-vegetated surfaces, as long as the lot has been in continuous existence since before March 24, 1990. Lots established after that date must count natural ledges in their lot covers.

Tansley said that if the exemption is adopted, peoples’ lots would be regulated based on the area of land not covered by existing natural ledge or un-vegetated rock.

For example, an 80,000- square-foot lot covered by 40,000 square feet of natural ledge would be viewed as a 40,000-square-foot lot. With the 20 percent rule applied, 8,000 square feet of possible development for patios, decks and other non-vegetated surfaces would be allowed.

The change would also allow people to build on lots where more than 20 percent of the land is covered by naturally-occurring rock ledge – something developers haven’t been able to do under current ordinances.

Tansley reminded those in attendance that, following adoption, the revised zoning ordinances wouldn’t take effect until Sept. 1, 2017. Anyone who has planned an expansion project can obtain a building permit prior to that date, and will be allowed to operate under the current regulations, he said.

Despite some pushback, Tansley said he believes most residents of Biddeford Pool and other coastal areas in the city will benefit from the revised ordinance, because they can expand their buildings outward while maintaining building height.

“By and large, it’s our belief most people on the coast will benefit from the laws on non-conforming structures,” Tansley said.

The City Council has yet to vote on the shoreland zoning amendment. On Aug. 16, it tabled discussion on the matter until October.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].