Ex BDN reporter Tom Groening (reporting State news) did an article for the flooding to my property. The BDN news office in Belfast is center downtown Belfast. Office on the same floor as City Council Heil Mike Hurley's office and Belfast City Video Director Ned Lightner office for the airing of the local public TV channel where Ned does interviews promoting the City of Belfast. Abby Curtis, the local reporter for BDN does not want to report on local Belfast corruption. I see some of my comments are deleted after the thread has been closed down. BDN refuses to respond.
The Republican Journal did 2 articles for the flooding to my property (one article was before the RJ closed down, another article after a new owner bought it) All articles danced around the corruption, investigative reporting would have confirmed the corruption. Now, they omit me completely. I am at meetings that they are reporting, I speak publicly with specific issues pertaining to the article they will report. They don't report that, they discriminate, enable the corruption and with hold information to the public.
This recent article below proves it. I spoke before Katy Green and uploaded it to you tube. Not a mention. Heil Hurley. A few months ago, I had told the reporter, Ben Holbrook that he had sold out journalism. He blocked me. His colleague, Jordan Bailey also enabled the corruption to Seaview Terrace with her discrimination against me. I'll include her discrimination, supported by the Republican Journal below.
City takes first look at proposed Congress Street subdivision plan By Ben Holbrook | Sep 05, 2015
Courtesy of: City of Belfast
Planning Board members will visit 179 Congress St.
Sept. 9 as they consider an application for this subdivision of the
property.
The application, submitted by Megan and Daniel Britton, seeks to create a subdivision at 179 Congress St. on a parcel of land that is slightly less than 5 acres. Lots 1 and 2, which are 1.8 acres and 1.7 acres, respectively, would be used for agricultural and residential purposes, Thomas Fowler, a civil engineer who helped prepare the subdivision plans, told Planning Board members Aug. 26.
Lot 3, according to Fowler, is large enough for single-family use at 0.17 acres and Lot 4 is large enough for multi-family use at 0.2 acres.
According to preliminary subdivision site plans, the Brittons will have a house with an attached garage and a horse barn on Lot 1. Both of those projects are being permitted separately from the subdivision application.
“It is A-OK for this applicant, the Brittons, to come forward and ask for a building permit on the house even though the subdivision application hasn't started because, at present time, they own the whole [property] so what we've done is basically issued one single-family house permit on a four-and-a-half-acre tract of ground,” City Planner Wayne Marshall said.
“Should it be subsequently divided, it still falls well within regulations and so there was no reason to delay their ability to obtain a building permit,” he said.
Fowler said the property contains about 20,000 square feet of wetlands. As part of the proposed project, he estimated about 2,400 square feet of those wetlands would be disturbed for the purpose of constructing a road or driveway to access Lot 1 from Congress Street.
During a public hearing regarding the subdivision application, concerns were raised about stormwater drainage from the property, and suggestions were offered to Planning Board members about how to address those and other issues.
Formal stormwater management plans have not been submitted to the city, Fowler said, for two reasons, the first being because the “vast majority” of development drains to a stable drainage swale in Congress Street.
The second reason is that “the applicants [are] not planning to develop any of the lots themselves beyond their own home," he said.
Katy Green, who lives at 167 Congress St., said details of the subdivision plan are of particular interest because she and her husband have had to deal with significant amounts of water above and below ground on their property. A sump pump in her home runs year-round in a “basement that is constantly wet despite our best efforts,” and she said a public works crew had to increase the depth of a ditch along the front border of her property in an effort to contain heavy rain and snow melt events that cause minor flooding on the street.
She also requested that any manure storage be covered and manure spread in a well-buffered area.
To address those concerns, Green suggested placing restrictions on how much fill can be used in the wetlands on the property, establishing parameters for building envelope size, and requiring some form of mitigation, either through planting trees or having a retention system, among other options.
After the public hearing, Chairman Steve Ryan suggested postponing further discussion on the application, noting there were only three Planning Board members present at the meeting.
Before a motion was made following Ryan's suggestion, Planning Board member Roger Pickering requested the board conduct a site visit to view the wetlands on the property and get a better idea of what the applicants want to do with the property. Planning Board member Margot Carpenter also said she would like to see stormwater plans.
The board then voted 3-0 to table further discussion on the application and to conduct a site visit Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 5:15 p.m. Marshall said the public is welcome to attend the site visit but they cannot ask questions of the board or applicants at that time.
(Choreographed Corruption. Marshall will lead the conversation, manipulated cover up. These site meetings and work shops are not taped and the public is misled as vital public information is with held and maimed. As in the case of the Seaview Terrace Boundary Maps altered by City Planner Wayne Marshall).
Everyone in the State of Maine knows that my flood zone A private property drainage ditch has been illegally made into water slaughter hell by Belfast City Hall. All proclaiming my ditch, put in by the developer of this prior farm, is a "100 year old natural stream" Because they say so.
Regardless of facts, development plans, the BELFAST CITY ENGINEER 1987 REPORT STATING MY DITCH IS MY PRIVATE PROPERTY DRAINAGE DITCH PUT IN MY THE DEVELOPER (ALSO WITH HELD ALONG WITH ORIGINAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS).
Reporter Jordan Bailey was given these corrupt maps, knowing the City made water slaughter ravine was my property. These maps show a stream and that is not through my property. I was never shown these maps, they were not printed with the actual paper printing. I caught it online by chance. I was sitting right next to her in this work shop. I worked relentlessly for 5 years to get Seaview Terrace paved with drainage, properly according to local and state law.
This work shop was because of me and Jordan never informed me of these corrupt maps, nor asked for my comments.They slaughtered me more and used my brother's Alabama funeral to do it on 9/8/2014. Below is my private property drainage ditch. At purchase in 6/2010, no stream or water issues disclosed and were my number one refusal of all properties with such. DJ Brown Property Inspector, China Village recommended by my real estate agent, Jan Andrews (retired) of Town and Country, BH&G Realtors, Belfast, now Masiello Group did not report any stream or water or stabilization concerns in his April 2010 (spring melt) inspection. Supervised by Sam Mitchell, agent from same agency. Listed by Bill Ingersoll, same agency.
This ditch when I moved in was a 2'x2' drainage ditch, the same as the ones on each side of property. Minister Tarpley, the previous owner, filled it in and covered it up prior to my inspection and purchase. I paid cash and was not even told I was in a flood zone A. I have many emails documenting my refusal of any water issues for all properties. I would have never bought this property. They set me up, knowing I was beat up and crawling with my children. Easy prey- I needed to stay under all radar. They were counting on that. They counted wrong.
Spring 2011, 9 months after purchase, wild rapids thundered through my yard for almost 2 weeks. Belfast City Hall locked down information and began beating on me. Tons of emails. They were stupid. City Manager Joe Slocum bullying me, stating the erosion is not severe, it's a 100 year old natural stream, and due to my high anxiety I may not be satisfied with his findings that include his loafer shoe test. Seriously- I have such great material for comedy City Hall corruption. Slocum declares "No fault of the City". He hopes he has been helpful and encourages me to file a claim with the City insurance and hire legal counsel. Case closed, 9/2011. I don't think so.
I am the link to the corruption. My private property receives it. Sell hell to another is lucrative for the agents and City corruption continues. Until Little Laurie Lee crawled to town, fighting for a new life of privacy, protection and peace. What a story. Underestimating me was a mistake. All that know me, know better. Truth is my only way. This page is particular to Republican Journal reporting corruption. Many other pages link in sync to the incredible slaughter to MANY private properties that I have exposed. Selling hell to another is impossible with my best buddy google. You're welcome innocent buyers to be. Sellers of hell, shame on you. Make the City fix the slaughter. Integrity sells itself.
9/5/2015- Hmm, I can't find the article that Jordan wrote for the Seaview Terrace un-taped paving and drainage workshop in 8/2014. I got this corrupt map only online (not in the paper version) that appeared with her article. I didn't see this until after the paving was done. My big brother Donald had died, the one that had stood by me until my other brother (George) bought him. . George is of the same greed and ego disease as Heil Hurley, City Planner Wayne Marshall, City Manager Joe Slocum and City Attorney Bill Kelly (to name just a few). Incapable of caring, capable of anything. My life has been plagued with danger, punishment and theft for choosing truth. The corrupt easily target the bait to the best of the integrity. Few resist and those that do choose to look away. Not their problem, that is even more dangerous. Watching the bullies instead of stopping them. Along comes a little woman, taking on all the bullies. Family, businesses, clergy, courts, schools, local government and up the ladder, community, online, "friends", strangers, so so many, all active through actions to stop me from protecting my children, my home, our private lives and rights. From New Jersey to Maine, the numbers are astounding. Anyway, if I find the article- I'll post it here. Found it.
The only legal option is 1. That is why City Planner Wayne Marshall made this fraudulent map. My house is 3rd up on the right. And that blue line is the ditch aka City Water Slaughter that cuts IS my property. All properties up from me own part of the nightmare. The 2 houses down from me do not.
That portion belongs to Mid Coast Mental Health (as of 2012). Not sure if the Hospital has bought it or some other stinking deal has been cut. Back to the options, all the other options break the very law that City Attorney Bill Kelly stated in this work to encourage neighbors to sue each other under Title 17- Ch 91 Nuisance It is criminal to send accumulating water to another. Which is exactly what Belfast City Hall does and will do again by corrupting the boundaries.
Title 38: WATERS AND NAVIGATION
Chapter 3: PROTECTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF WATERS
Subchapter 1: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BOARD
Article 2: POLLUTION CONTROL
§420-C. Erosion and sedimentation control
A
person who conducts, or causes to be conducted, an activity that
involves filling, displacing or exposing soil or other earthen materials
shall take measures to prevent unreasonable erosion of soil or sediment
beyond the project site or into a protected natural resource as defined
in section 480-B. Erosion control measures must be in place before the
activity begins. Measures must remain in place and functional until the
site is permanently stabilized. Adequate and timely temporary and
permanent stabilization measures must be taken and the site must be
maintained to prevent unreasonable erosion and sedimentation. [1997, c. 502, §1 (AMD).]
A
person who owns property that is subject to erosion because of a human
activity before July 1, 1997 involving filling, displacing or exposing
soil or other earthen materials shall take measures in accordance with
the dates established under this paragraph to prevent unreasonable
erosion of soil or sediment into a protected natural resource as defined
in section 480-B, subsection 8. Adequate and timely temporary and
permanent stabilization measures must be taken and maintained on that
site to prevent unreasonable erosion and sedimentation. This paragraph
applies on and after July 1, 2005 to property that is located in the
watershed of a body of water most at risk as identified in the
department's storm water rules adopted pursuant to section 420-D and
that is subject to erosion of soil or sediment into a protected natural
resource as defined in section 480-B, subsection 8. This paragraph
applies on and after July 1, 2010 to other property that is subject to
erosion of soil or sediment into a protected natural resource as defined
in section 480-B, subsection 8. [1997, c. 748, §1 (NEW).]
This
section applies to a project or any portion of a project located within
an organized area of this State. This section does not apply to
agricultural fields. Forest management activities, including associated
road construction or maintenance, conducted in accordance with
applicable standards of the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, are
deemed to comply with this section. This section may not be construed to
limit a municipality's authority under home rule to adopt ordinances
containing stricter standards than those contained in this section.[1995, c. 704, Pt. B, §2 (NEW); 1995, c. 704, Pt. C, §2 (AFF); 2011, c. 682, §38 (REV).]
Title 17: CRIMES
Chapter 91: NUISANCES
Subchapter 3: PARTICULAR NUISANCES
§2802. Miscellaneous nuisances
The
erection, continuance or use of any building or place for the exercise
of a trade, employment or manufacture that, by noxious exhalations,
offensive smells or other annoyances, becomes injurious and dangerous to
the health, comfort or property of individuals or of the public;
causing or permitting abandoned wells or tin mining shafts to remain
unfilled or uncovered to the injury or prejudice of others; causing or
suffering any offal, filth or noisome substance to collect or to remain
in any place to the prejudice of others; obstructing or impeding,
without legal authority, the passage of any navigable river, harbor or
collection of water; corrupting or rendering unwholesome or impure the
water of a river, stream, pond or aquifer; imprudent operation of a
watercraft as defined in Title 12, section 13068-A, subsection 8;
unlawfully diverting the water of a river, stream, pond or aquifer from
its natural course or state to the injury or prejudice of others; and
the obstructing or encumbering by fences, buildings or otherwise of
highways, private ways, streets, alleys, commons, common landing places
or burying grounds are nuisances within the limitations and exceptions
mentioned. Any places where one or more old, discarded, worn-out or
junked motor vehicles as defined in Title 29-A, section 101, subsection
42, or parts thereof, are gathered together, kept, deposited or allowed
to accumulate, in such manner or in such location or situation either
within or without the limits of any highway, as to be unsightly,
detracting from the natural scenery or injurious to the comfort and
happiness of individuals and the public, and injurious to property
rights, are public nuisances. [2005, c. 397,Pt. A, §11 (AMD).]
Council considers options for improving Seaview Terrace drainage
By Jordan Bailey | Sep 03, 2014
Belfast — Seaview Terrace is up for repaving and the city council is using the opportunity consider options for improving drainage of the roadway.
In an analysis presented to the city council at a special meeting Aug. 26, City Engineer Mandy Olver of Olver Associates in Winterport found that Seaview Terrace does not currently have adequate underdrain or surface drainage capacity. She outlined four options for improving drainage on the roadway.
In-ground drainage systems
The first option is to install a full in-ground drainage system on the south side of the road with seven grates and catch basins. The water would be directed to a culvert on Northport Avenue. This system would cost $132,000 to install, beyond the cost of the paving.
A second option, for a cost of $88,000 would be a reduced collection system using a smaller diameter underdrain that diverts water to the stream behind the houses through a buried pipe across a property on the north side of the road. This option is not possible at this time because the city does not have any easements or rights-of-way across any of the properties.
A third option is to run a perforated pipe along the south side of the street in a deep bed of gravel under a shallow swale. This pipe would collect water that channels into the swale as well as subsurface water from uphill and from gravel bed beneath the road surface. The water would then be diverted through three culverts crossing under the road and into existing swales that channel water across properties on the north side of the road to the stream behind the houses. This option would cost the city $45,500.
A 'sensible' solution
City Manager Joseph Slocum said the council is leaning toward the fourth, least expensive option: replacing existing culverts, grinding the existing road surface and paving over that. The ground pavement would add volume to the gravel base layer, improving drainage and raising the road several inches. A crown shape to the road surface will also help divert water from it. No cost figures over paving costs were included for this option, because it falls under basic maintenance.
Olver's report stated this option "may be the most sensible at this time."
Seaview Terrace, a dead-end residential road, has very little traffic and has not had to be repaved in 16 years. More heavily trafficked roads have higher priority for major drainage improvements to increase the longevity of the road surface, and very few last 16 years before needing to be repaved.
"We've had calls from Belfast residents about drainage concerns every month for as long as I can remember," Slocum said. "If we put in drains for one, we'd have to do it for all of them."
One resident's concerns
Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen has been approaching the city for several years with concerns that uphill developments and failures in the city's drainage systems channel excessive water to her property during rain storms.
Slocum told The Republican Journal in a meeting that uphill developments should not impact Allen's property. The planning board requires any development plans in Belfast to include a study on how runoff from impermeable surfaces will impact city storm drain systems. Usually these developments manage storm water with retention ponds that collect runoff during rainfall, and release the approved volume of water over a longer period. This should never raise the level of any waterways it feeds over their normal height, he said.
In 2011, then City Attorney William Kelley reviewed Allen's claims and found “the city of Belfast has no right, title, interest or obligation to maintain the stream/flood and drainage swale” on the property, and found no evidence that the city was ever deeded any easement to control the stream.
His report also stated that aerial photography evidence shows that the natural drainage system on Seaview Terrace properties has been in existence since at least 1939, with the stream flowing through the area before the subdivision was built, but approximately 35 to 40 feet south of where it runs today. Kelley wrote that the stream was moved by a private entity, not by the city, so houses could be built where the stream had been.
The move did not violate any laws or codes when the houses were built, but it would today, Slocum said.
The report continued: “In policy terms, it would be unlawful for the city to use public funds to improve private property, be that for erosion control or any other reason. That said, the city is obligated to maintain the drainage systems and culverts located within the rights of way, as well as those for which the city has obtained an easement over private property."
Slocum was to meet with residents of Seaview Terrace Wednesday, Sept. 3, to discuss the engineer's report.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slocum never did this analysis(below) either. Bob Richards, Director of Public Works is Old Boy Belfast- family roots that tie and bind. His father the fire chief- I don't know the full tree. Hiring engineers instead of allowing the Richards to report history and present infrastructure implicates Richards and the Old Boys Network. Residents pay for City Hall rhetoric and City Attorney defense to slaughter private properties. Reporters never follow up which enables cover up. I think consulting engineer Mandy Olver got her walking papers after she whistle blew at the Seaview Terrace workshop meeting. Jordan Bailey didn't report that either.
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/belfast-to-conduct-citywide-water-flow-analysis/1233586?cid=2087016
Belfast to conduct citywide water flow analysis By Jordan Bailey | Sep 03, 2014
Belfast — At
the Belfast City Council's request, Olver Associates Inc., the city's
engineering firm, will draw up a scope of services and quote for a
citywide water flow and drainage analysis.
The request was prompted by comments by Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen at the Aug. 19 council meeting, in which she presented diagrams showing how she believed some of the city's drainage systems were failing, causing excess water to be channeled onto her property.
During discussion at that meeting, councilors said they would like to know how drainage systems citywide are holding up and how water flows throughout the city.
While the city is not authorized to construct or maintain drainage systems on private property, it is responsible for maintaining public roads. Keeping them well-drained is a high priority, according to City Manager Joseph Slocum.
Road surfaces should sit on a bed of about a foot of gravel, not on standing water, Slocum said during a meeting with The Republican Journal. When water gets under the surface it can lead to "alligator cracking," or, when it freezes, frost heaves, reducing the longevity of the road surface.
On the most heavily trafficked roads, the city installs and maintains in-ground storm- drain systems, with catch basins and tubes laid out so that gravity diverts water from the roadways. On less trafficked roads, the city sometimes employs other drainage options, including deep ditches or ditches filled in with gravel and perforated piping.
"Most of these drainage systems were designed to sustain for a 25-year storm," said Slocum. The city has been experiencing heavier rainfalls than that in recent years, he said.
A 25-year storm is one which, based on the amount of rainfall, has a 4-percent, or one-in-25, chance of occurring. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists Belfast in a zone where 4 inches of rainfall in 24 hours is considered a 25-year storm.
"We're going to look at drainage issues to understand natural water flows and natural streams and where are people impacted," he said. "We'd also like [Public Works Director] Bob Richards to tell us the 10 worst spots."
However, he said, the city will not be fixing every issue identified in the analysis.
Slocum said the scope of services and quote should be completed by Sept. 5, and that he will present it at a council meeting for approval.
The request was prompted by comments by Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen at the Aug. 19 council meeting, in which she presented diagrams showing how she believed some of the city's drainage systems were failing, causing excess water to be channeled onto her property.
During discussion at that meeting, councilors said they would like to know how drainage systems citywide are holding up and how water flows throughout the city.
While the city is not authorized to construct or maintain drainage systems on private property, it is responsible for maintaining public roads. Keeping them well-drained is a high priority, according to City Manager Joseph Slocum.
Road surfaces should sit on a bed of about a foot of gravel, not on standing water, Slocum said during a meeting with The Republican Journal. When water gets under the surface it can lead to "alligator cracking," or, when it freezes, frost heaves, reducing the longevity of the road surface.
On the most heavily trafficked roads, the city installs and maintains in-ground storm- drain systems, with catch basins and tubes laid out so that gravity diverts water from the roadways. On less trafficked roads, the city sometimes employs other drainage options, including deep ditches or ditches filled in with gravel and perforated piping.
"Most of these drainage systems were designed to sustain for a 25-year storm," said Slocum. The city has been experiencing heavier rainfalls than that in recent years, he said.
A 25-year storm is one which, based on the amount of rainfall, has a 4-percent, or one-in-25, chance of occurring. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lists Belfast in a zone where 4 inches of rainfall in 24 hours is considered a 25-year storm.
"We're going to look at drainage issues to understand natural water flows and natural streams and where are people impacted," he said. "We'd also like [Public Works Director] Bob Richards to tell us the 10 worst spots."
However, he said, the city will not be fixing every issue identified in the analysis.
Slocum said the scope of services and quote should be completed by Sept. 5, and that he will present it at a council meeting for approval.
Below was the first article before the paper closed. Ethan knows more, He doesn't share his knowledge. None of the reporters do. I ask them all the time.
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/whose-problem-is-erosion-on-seaview-terrace/486073?cid=1970101#
Whose problem is erosion on Seaview Terrace? By Ethan Andrews | Mar 01, 2012
The new Rte 1 Bypass running parallel to Seaview Terrace. Ditch filled in houses built. You can see at the top of Seaview Terrace, a ditch has been dug along side Rte 1 for Rte 1 runoff to drain into the private property of Seaview Terrace. The beginning of the forcing and destroying 1970.
(9/5/2015- Note- Ethan makes it sound like the water is not running through my property. It runs through my property, not behind it) At installation my fence was at least 20 foot in from my boundary line ( on the other side of the ravine)
City says 'not us' as a resident who disagrees continues to beat the drum
City says 'not us' as a resident who disagrees continues to beat the drum
Belfast — Sometimes a lot of water
runs through the stream behind Laurie Allen's home on Seaview Terrace.
By erosion, the flow has been gradually widening the streambed at the
expense of her backyard. The water comes from as far away as the Captain
Albert Stevens School a half mile up the grade leading to the Route 1
bypass, and other culverts and swales converge on the stream from the
east and west.
On these points, Allen and city officials would agree. But the consensus in a drawn-out and at times ugly public battle over the management of the stream ends there.
The stream continues past Allen’s house, passing beneath Northport Avenue, Waldo County General Hospital and eventually emptying into the bay.
As Allen sees it, this qualifies it a branch, or maybe a trunk, in the city's stormwater management system, analogous in function to a sewer pipe or drainage ditch.
City officials regard the stream, which appears on maps dating back nearly a century, as a natural waterway akin to larger outlets like Little River, Wescott Stream or even Penobscot Bay. Stormwater, the thinking goes, drains into natural waterways and this one is no different.
With one exception.
The course of the stream between the Seaview Terrace homes and what is now the Waldo County General Hospital annex was shifted in the late 1960s to make way for the construction of a new subdivision, of which Allen's house was a part. The natural waterway originally ran beneath where Allen's home stands today.
Environmental regulations relating to stormwater management were different then, and the stream diversion probably didn't draw the attention it would today. Nor did the developer make provisions for future developments in the area that would increase the volume of water trying to find its way to the bay, and starting in the 1980s lead to flooding in the homes on Seaview Terrace.
When Allen bought the property in 2010, she didn't know the stream had been moved. In fact, she didn't know it was there at all.
She had been living in New Jersey, and much of her house hunting was done online. The one time she visited the Seaview Terrace house, she said, there was so much snow that the stream couldn't be seen. She also contends that the real estate agent didn’t disclose the stream.
“Had I known that that stream was there, I would have never bought the property,” she said, adding that she has an ongoing dispute with the real estate agent over the issue.
Allen was able to buy the home without taking out a mortgage. Ironically, this allowed her to bypass the standard flood hazard determination lenders typically require, which would have revealed the home to be in a flood zone.
The spring after she moved in, Allen witnessed what she described as a roaring run-off that filled the four-foot-deep streambed and nearly spilled over into her yard, and those of her neighbors.
Typical of subdivisions from the 1960s, the topography of Seaview Terrace is essentially flat. As a consequence, Allen worries that even minor flooding from the stream could cause widespread damage in the neighborhood.
Last April, she started petitioning the city to shore up the banks of the stream. By her account she was initially given helpful information but officials quickly turned a cold shoulder.
City officials have stated publicly that they considered Allen concerns but concluded that the stream was not the city's responsibility.
This view was reiterated in late December by City Attorney Bill Kelly who was asked to weigh in after a series of impassioned and sometimes-pointed appeals by Allen given during the public comment portion of three City Council meetings.
“I am significantly influenced by the fact that in 1987 an engineer was hired by the City … and he found no evidence of any obligation of the City to maintain the stream/drainage swale in that area at that time,” Kelly wrote. “That was 24 years ago. I have to assume that when the matter was freshly being discussed in 1987, they also looked at the historical evidence of the prior 20 years in terms of any control or maintenance over that drainage swale as exercised by the City. I have not found any evidence that the City was ever deeded any form of easement or took control of it.”
Kelly's opinion served as the last word from the city on the subject, and officials contacted by VillageSoup for this article declined to comment further.
Allen recently pulled down the fabric screening material from the chain link fence that surrounds her back yard and draped it over the eroded stream bank adding large stones to hold it down. To stabilize the bank in a way that would comply with DEP regulations, she said, would cost $45,000 to $75,000, according to an estimate she got from a private contractor — more than she can afford or is willing to pay.
She added that she wouldn't feel right selling the house knowing, as she does now, the problems with the stream.
Recently, Allen parked her car outside of City Hall and propped a display in the open hatchback of the vehicle. On it were photocopies of documents relating to stream and a large hand-drawn map showing the path of stormwater runoff in the area using symbols suggestive of an offensive football strategy.
She carried a sign reading “Stop Flooding Seaview Terrace.”
It was her latest attempt in an ongoing effort to call attention to a problem the city says is hers.
In a letter dated Feb. 17, City Manager Joe Slocum wrote to Allen to ask that she consider no longer voicing the same concern at Council meetings. The letter expressed sympathy, but said the drainage problems were not the city's, and that this view was not particular to her property or even the city of Belfast.
“The Council has heard you,” the letter read, “they have all discussed the matter with me and the City Attorney, and there is nothing left for us to do except respectfully agree to disagree.”
Allen disagrees. In the past she has accused certain city officials of conspiring to direct storm runoff to the stream, thus imperiling her property. By the city’s “natural waterway” view of the stream, the property was inherently imperiled, though officials have not said this explicitly.
Speaking at her home on Feb. 29, Allen vented her frustration at what she regarded as Slocum's request to, in effect, stop complaining to the city.
“How far do you want to go with it,” she said.
The comment was made rhetorically, as though addressing city officials. Allen noted that she moved to Belfast to get away from New Jersey and that she plans to stay here.
“I’m not going away,” she said.
Article after the Republican Journal was bought and reopened. Since this story, hands down Belfast is not a great place. It is a great disgrace, fooling the innocent and true.
(9/5/15 note- This was National Occupy Movement Day. I called TV media and told them I'd be outside Belfast City Hall protesting. It was pouring. I was there, they were not. Republican Journal is right across the street. Ben had never met me. He came out to get the story.)
On these points, Allen and city officials would agree. But the consensus in a drawn-out and at times ugly public battle over the management of the stream ends there.
The stream continues past Allen’s house, passing beneath Northport Avenue, Waldo County General Hospital and eventually emptying into the bay.
As Allen sees it, this qualifies it a branch, or maybe a trunk, in the city's stormwater management system, analogous in function to a sewer pipe or drainage ditch.
City officials regard the stream, which appears on maps dating back nearly a century, as a natural waterway akin to larger outlets like Little River, Wescott Stream or even Penobscot Bay. Stormwater, the thinking goes, drains into natural waterways and this one is no different.
With one exception.
The course of the stream between the Seaview Terrace homes and what is now the Waldo County General Hospital annex was shifted in the late 1960s to make way for the construction of a new subdivision, of which Allen's house was a part. The natural waterway originally ran beneath where Allen's home stands today.
Environmental regulations relating to stormwater management were different then, and the stream diversion probably didn't draw the attention it would today. Nor did the developer make provisions for future developments in the area that would increase the volume of water trying to find its way to the bay, and starting in the 1980s lead to flooding in the homes on Seaview Terrace.
When Allen bought the property in 2010, she didn't know the stream had been moved. In fact, she didn't know it was there at all.
She had been living in New Jersey, and much of her house hunting was done online. The one time she visited the Seaview Terrace house, she said, there was so much snow that the stream couldn't be seen. She also contends that the real estate agent didn’t disclose the stream.
“Had I known that that stream was there, I would have never bought the property,” she said, adding that she has an ongoing dispute with the real estate agent over the issue.
Allen was able to buy the home without taking out a mortgage. Ironically, this allowed her to bypass the standard flood hazard determination lenders typically require, which would have revealed the home to be in a flood zone.
The spring after she moved in, Allen witnessed what she described as a roaring run-off that filled the four-foot-deep streambed and nearly spilled over into her yard, and those of her neighbors.
Typical of subdivisions from the 1960s, the topography of Seaview Terrace is essentially flat. As a consequence, Allen worries that even minor flooding from the stream could cause widespread damage in the neighborhood.
Last April, she started petitioning the city to shore up the banks of the stream. By her account she was initially given helpful information but officials quickly turned a cold shoulder.
City officials have stated publicly that they considered Allen concerns but concluded that the stream was not the city's responsibility.
This view was reiterated in late December by City Attorney Bill Kelly who was asked to weigh in after a series of impassioned and sometimes-pointed appeals by Allen given during the public comment portion of three City Council meetings.
“I am significantly influenced by the fact that in 1987 an engineer was hired by the City … and he found no evidence of any obligation of the City to maintain the stream/drainage swale in that area at that time,” Kelly wrote. “That was 24 years ago. I have to assume that when the matter was freshly being discussed in 1987, they also looked at the historical evidence of the prior 20 years in terms of any control or maintenance over that drainage swale as exercised by the City. I have not found any evidence that the City was ever deeded any form of easement or took control of it.”
Kelly's opinion served as the last word from the city on the subject, and officials contacted by VillageSoup for this article declined to comment further.
Allen recently pulled down the fabric screening material from the chain link fence that surrounds her back yard and draped it over the eroded stream bank adding large stones to hold it down. To stabilize the bank in a way that would comply with DEP regulations, she said, would cost $45,000 to $75,000, according to an estimate she got from a private contractor — more than she can afford or is willing to pay.
She added that she wouldn't feel right selling the house knowing, as she does now, the problems with the stream.
Recently, Allen parked her car outside of City Hall and propped a display in the open hatchback of the vehicle. On it were photocopies of documents relating to stream and a large hand-drawn map showing the path of stormwater runoff in the area using symbols suggestive of an offensive football strategy.
She carried a sign reading “Stop Flooding Seaview Terrace.”
It was her latest attempt in an ongoing effort to call attention to a problem the city says is hers.
In a letter dated Feb. 17, City Manager Joe Slocum wrote to Allen to ask that she consider no longer voicing the same concern at Council meetings. The letter expressed sympathy, but said the drainage problems were not the city's, and that this view was not particular to her property or even the city of Belfast.
“The Council has heard you,” the letter read, “they have all discussed the matter with me and the City Attorney, and there is nothing left for us to do except respectfully agree to disagree.”
Allen disagrees. In the past she has accused certain city officials of conspiring to direct storm runoff to the stream, thus imperiling her property. By the city’s “natural waterway” view of the stream, the property was inherently imperiled, though officials have not said this explicitly.
Speaking at her home on Feb. 29, Allen vented her frustration at what she regarded as Slocum's request to, in effect, stop complaining to the city.
“How far do you want to go with it,” she said.
The comment was made rhetorically, as though addressing city officials. Allen noted that she moved to Belfast to get away from New Jersey and that she plans to stay here.
“I’m not going away,” she said.
Article after the Republican Journal was bought and reopened. Since this story, hands down Belfast is not a great place. It is a great disgrace, fooling the innocent and true.
Seaview Terrace resident continues flooding fight against city
neighbors upset by signs
By Ben Holbrook | May 09, 2012
Laurie Allen stands outside City Hall in the rain to
protest the city's unwillingness to address flooding issues on her
property.
Belfast — Laurie
Allen’s public battle with the city over storm water drainage behind
her home has begun to draw the ire of her neighbors, who feel she is
undermining the character of the neighborhood.
According to a post on Allen’s website, belfastbullies.blogspot.com, she recently received a letter from City Attorney William Kelly telling her to stop harassing city employees. However, Allen contends she hasn’t been harassing anyone and is trying to get answers as to why the city isn’t addressing the stormwater issue behind her home.
“I’ve been requesting information about an ordinance regarding storm water drainage,” Allen said while standing outside City Hall. “I want to see where the ordinance says the city can drain water into private waterways.”
When asked if she had any concerns the city would take further action against her to stop her protests, Allen said she consulted with the chief of police to make sure what she was doing was legal.
“I’m just going to take it day by day,” she said. “I don’t want to break the law, but if the city doesn’t address this issue I will never be able to leave because I can’t sell my house.”
During a Tuesday, May 1, City Council meeting, Bud Hand, a Seaview Terrace resident, asked councilors if there was any action they could take to get Allen to take down a number of large signs she has posted on her property.
“I invite any of you to drive over to Seaview Terrace and have a look at my neighborhood. If you come to Seaview Terrace — except on a rainy day — when you turn in you will see one residence and you will see very large signs,” Hand said.
Hand, who brought photos of the signs posted by Allen, said the signs have messages such as, “City Corrupt,” and "City Manager and Planner bully the residents.'
“My purpose in submitting this is to see what action the city council can or will take in regards to eliminating the signage, or any recommendations you can give for actions the Seaview Terrace residents can take,” he said.
During a phone interview, Hand said he is waiting to hear back from the City Manager to determine if anything can be done to get Allen to remove the signs.
Allen has been battling the city since the spring of 2011, a few months after she moved into her home on Seaview Terrace, when the spring snow melt caused a large volume of water to rush down the stream behind her home; a stream she was unaware of before.
The course of the stream between the Seaview Terrace homes and what is now the Waldo County General Hospital annex was shifted in the late 1960s to make way for the construction of a new subdivision, of which Allen's house was a part. The natural waterway originally ran beneath where Allen's home stands today.
Environmental regulations relating to stormwater management were different then, and the stream diversion probably didn't draw the attention it would today. Nor did the developer make provisions for future developments in the area that would increase the volume of water trying to find its way to the bay, and starting in the 1980s lead to flooding in the homes on Seaview Terrace.
Seaview Terrace is designated as a flood zone, which is why Allen is questioning the legality on the part of the city to direct water into the stream behind her home.
“I want to make sure that water isn’t being dumped into that stream. I’m hoping through raising awareness the city will put in storm drains,” Allen said.
A letter dated from Feb. 17 from City Manager Joseph Slocum asked Allen to stop bringing up the same flooding issue at city council meetings. In the letter, Slocum said that after discussion with the city attorney and council it was determined nothing more could be done by the city to address the issue.
During an interview with The Republican Journal, Slocum said he felt it would be inappropriate to use city funding to address an issue that wasn’t created by the city.
“If a city plow truck hits your car then it’s only fair that the city pays to repair your car,” he said. “We have not created or exacerbated the issue.”
Slocum also said the issue of drainage is a problem that is not relegated to Seaview Terrace. He recalled an incident where a woman had a hill behind her home, which was causing water to run down the hill into her backyard.
“I understand her [Allen’s] frustration and anxiety but I don’t have a budget that says to put in ditches and culverts wherever we want,” Slocum said. “As a City our priority is to keep water off of the roads.”
As she continues her fight, Allen said she hopes someone will look at her situation and offer to help; however, she said she sent a request to the local Occupy Maine group, but didn’t receive a response.
“Belfast is such a great place and I want to be out volunteering," Allen said. "I don’t want to be out here being miserable and causing problems."
Ethan Andrews contributed reporting to this story
Republican Journal reporter Ben Holbrook can be reached by calling 338-3333 or bholbrook@villagesoup.com
According to a post on Allen’s website, belfastbullies.blogspot.com, she recently received a letter from City Attorney William Kelly telling her to stop harassing city employees. However, Allen contends she hasn’t been harassing anyone and is trying to get answers as to why the city isn’t addressing the stormwater issue behind her home.
“I’ve been requesting information about an ordinance regarding storm water drainage,” Allen said while standing outside City Hall. “I want to see where the ordinance says the city can drain water into private waterways.”
When asked if she had any concerns the city would take further action against her to stop her protests, Allen said she consulted with the chief of police to make sure what she was doing was legal.
“I’m just going to take it day by day,” she said. “I don’t want to break the law, but if the city doesn’t address this issue I will never be able to leave because I can’t sell my house.”
During a Tuesday, May 1, City Council meeting, Bud Hand, a Seaview Terrace resident, asked councilors if there was any action they could take to get Allen to take down a number of large signs she has posted on her property.
“I invite any of you to drive over to Seaview Terrace and have a look at my neighborhood. If you come to Seaview Terrace — except on a rainy day — when you turn in you will see one residence and you will see very large signs,” Hand said.
Hand, who brought photos of the signs posted by Allen, said the signs have messages such as, “City Corrupt,” and "City Manager and Planner bully the residents.'
“My purpose in submitting this is to see what action the city council can or will take in regards to eliminating the signage, or any recommendations you can give for actions the Seaview Terrace residents can take,” he said.
During a phone interview, Hand said he is waiting to hear back from the City Manager to determine if anything can be done to get Allen to remove the signs.
Allen has been battling the city since the spring of 2011, a few months after she moved into her home on Seaview Terrace, when the spring snow melt caused a large volume of water to rush down the stream behind her home; a stream she was unaware of before.
The course of the stream between the Seaview Terrace homes and what is now the Waldo County General Hospital annex was shifted in the late 1960s to make way for the construction of a new subdivision, of which Allen's house was a part. The natural waterway originally ran beneath where Allen's home stands today.
Environmental regulations relating to stormwater management were different then, and the stream diversion probably didn't draw the attention it would today. Nor did the developer make provisions for future developments in the area that would increase the volume of water trying to find its way to the bay, and starting in the 1980s lead to flooding in the homes on Seaview Terrace.
Seaview Terrace is designated as a flood zone, which is why Allen is questioning the legality on the part of the city to direct water into the stream behind her home.
“I want to make sure that water isn’t being dumped into that stream. I’m hoping through raising awareness the city will put in storm drains,” Allen said.
A letter dated from Feb. 17 from City Manager Joseph Slocum asked Allen to stop bringing up the same flooding issue at city council meetings. In the letter, Slocum said that after discussion with the city attorney and council it was determined nothing more could be done by the city to address the issue.
During an interview with The Republican Journal, Slocum said he felt it would be inappropriate to use city funding to address an issue that wasn’t created by the city.
“If a city plow truck hits your car then it’s only fair that the city pays to repair your car,” he said. “We have not created or exacerbated the issue.”
Slocum also said the issue of drainage is a problem that is not relegated to Seaview Terrace. He recalled an incident where a woman had a hill behind her home, which was causing water to run down the hill into her backyard.
“I understand her [Allen’s] frustration and anxiety but I don’t have a budget that says to put in ditches and culverts wherever we want,” Slocum said. “As a City our priority is to keep water off of the roads.”
As she continues her fight, Allen said she hopes someone will look at her situation and offer to help; however, she said she sent a request to the local Occupy Maine group, but didn’t receive a response.
“Belfast is such a great place and I want to be out volunteering," Allen said. "I don’t want to be out here being miserable and causing problems."
Ethan Andrews contributed reporting to this story
Republican Journal reporter Ben Holbrook can be reached by calling 338-3333 or bholbrook@villagesoup.com
http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/14/news/midcoast/belfast-woman-fights-city-over-drainage/
I didn't know the public could comment online. I didn't see these comments until the thread closed. I was shocked. I can't imagine how awful the one's were that got deleted.
Tom asked me off the record- Doesn't it make me sick to keep fighting City Hall to save my home, stating that I am so nice. I told Tom yes it makes me very sick but it would make me sicker not to. At that time City Video Director Ned Lightner was still pretending to my Bayside 1969 friend and even came outside with Tom when I was protesting outside their office and the real estate agents that stole my new life for a couple thousand in commission. Ned actually took this picture of me then. Giving me accolades for my bravery and commitment to honesty. Stating if he ever needed support, I would be first on his list. Now, I see all the knives Ned had thrown at my back and will still paint a smile on his face as his media is corrupted. Public TV. His life. His choice.
Belfast woman fights city over drainage
Laurie Allen gestures to the
stream that runs behind her house on Seaview Terrace in Belfast on
Thursday, May10. She believes the city's decisions about storm water
management have contribute
Posted May 14, 2012, at 6:41 p.m.
Last modified May 14, 2012, at 8:17 p.m.
Last modified May 14, 2012, at 8:17 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — A woman whose backyard is bounded by a
stream she claims the city has created and increased in size remains
locked in conflict with city hall.
Laurie Allen of Seaview Terrace, a street that intersects Northport Avenue near Waldo County General Hospital, can be seen on some weekends carrying placards through the downtown that read “Belfast Bullies.” She maintains a blog on the issue and is a frequent speaker at City Council meetings, claiming the council is conspiring against her as she fights to keep her home dry and her backyard intact.
City officials maintain that the water flow, seen especially during rainy spells such as the area has experienced in the last few weeks, is part of the natural and managed drainage. Much of the city is built on a hill that pitches east to Penobscot Bay.
For Allen, the saga began last year. In June 2010, she purchased the house after a divorce, moving to Belfast from New Jersey. Last spring the stream behind her split-level ranch house filled.
“That was when it came gushing over the banks,” she said last week.
Except as far as Allen is concerned, it’s not a stream. The trench through which the water flows along her backyard was created when the flow was diverted, Allen said, when the Seaview Terrace subdivision was built in 1965. The natural drainage probably followed a course to the south of its current course, she said.
This is a point on which city officials and Allen agree. City Planner Wayne Marshall said aerial photos of the city from 1939 and 1957 show the stream, though it is likely that it was to the south of its current course.
But the city maintains that it has no responsibility to fix the problem. The subdivision, built as it was under the laws of the day, was legal and approved.
On Thursday, May 10, after a couple of days of heavy rain, Allen showed where the stream flowed, noting especially how the bank closest to her house had begun eroding. Her property line lies on the opposite bank of the stream, she said, pointing to a survey stake.
“I probably lost 4 to 5 feet of property,” she said.
Allen asserts that water has plagued the neighborhood for years, in both backyards and on the street side. Marshall confirms that in 1987, at the request of residents, the city engineer completed a report that examined the problem. It concluded the city was not on the hook for any fix.
Allen also notes that in subsequent years, major new building developments have added to runoff. They include the Captain Albert Stevens School, a townhouse development on Cedar Street, the Volunteers of America senior housing complex on Congress Street, a new hospital complex on the west side of Northport Avenue, and expansions of the Tall Pines nursing home and Mid-Coast Mental Health facility, both adjacent to Seaview Terrace.
At the top of Seaview Terrace is a culvert, about 40 inches in diameter, which feeds the trench that flows past Allen’s house. A gravel bank prevents water from flowing farther south and instead diverts it east toward the bay. Allen wants that gravel bank removed.
“I’ve asked for the full history of Seaview Terrace and the flooding,” Allen said. She said she has been stonewalled by city officials, a charge Marshall denies.
Allen said she worked behind the scenes to help city officials find a practical solution to the problem before going public with her complaints, beginning at a council meeting in November.
Some of Allen’s neighbors have grown tired of her activism, though. Bud Hand spoke at a recent council meeting asking the city to dissuade Allen from posting signs on her property complaining about her water problem.
The city’s position, said Marshall, is: “That is an active stream behind her property and it is part of a major drainage basin” for the area. When each new development in the area was built, he said, measures were taken to meet state and local regulations to hold back water from major storms.
And finally, Marshall said, the city can’t fix problems on private property.
Allen believes a fix to the water woes would cost her at least $45,000.
“If you’re not getting services from your city, where do you turn?” she asked.
9/5/2015- In the 9/1/15 Belfast City Council Meeting that suddenly has server issues and is not airing on public TV- clearly to censor my public speaking whistle blowing on the Chief of Police secretly the brother in law to the Belfast TWC tech in everyone's home and computer with TWC "issues"- Tom had been to my house many times for "internet issues" before I made the connection, intimidation tactics by the Chief, Officer Ward, City Hall officials, City Council, the list and corruption is enormous. One topic was this zoning. City Council voting is unknown zoning back in 10/2014. The City refuses to make the official zoning of R1, R2 and R3 public on the City Website. I've been relentless to get it posted. They defer and reporters do not report. Abby is well aware- I email her all the time.
http://bangordailynews.com/2014/06/21/news/midcoast/zoning-changes-on-tap-for-belfast/
http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/residents-belfast-s-seaview-terrace-want-out-proposed-health-care-district/35559
(9/5/15- Note- Ethan is wrong- my home on Seaview Terrace was built in 1967- late 60's, not early.)
Yet residents of the street who addressed the City Council on Tuesday spoke passionately about their street, describing it as quiet haven amidst an otherwise busy part of the city.
As one resident, Kathleen Kearns, put it, “We like it that way.”
A slate of proposed zoning changes scheduled for public hearings starting later this month will take in all properties inside the bypass. Among more sweeping changes proposed for minimum lot sizes and setbacks, the new zoning would earmark Seaview Terrace and several others streets in the vicinity of Waldo County General Hospital for new health care offices.
The so-called Residential 2 district that includes Seaview Terrace today allows such offices. In fact most of the city’s zoning districts currently allow some version of health care offices.
But as Kearns noted, while medical offices have popped up on surrounding streets, Seaview Terrace has remained completely residential.
“Despite the opportunity, there are no doctors’ offices on this street,” she said. “There has been no natural selection in this direction.”
Exacerbating the issue for some residents is the proposal to eliminate health care offices from a list of permitted uses in the two other residential zones inside the bypass, potentially driving more development into the zone surrounding the hospital.
According to city’s Future Land Use Plan the goal of the new Residential 3 district is just that: “to provide an area in which health care facilities/offices and professional offices are recognized as a primary use, and to establish this area near Waldo County General Hospital.”
The plan goes on to say that, though new housing would be permitted, there is very little room for expansion in that direction. The more likely outcome, it says, would be the conversion of existing homes into health care offices:
“The City believes it is appropriate to allow new housing in the area ... but it wants current and future residents in this area to recognize that a health care office or facility likely could become their neighbor.”
Some Seaview Terrace residents who spoke on Tuesday rejected the idea of being grouped with nearby Wight Street, which is already home to a mix of health care offices and single family homes.
“Wight Street is a fast moving through street; we’re a slow-moving residential street,” said resident Dawn Marriner. “We’re a neighborhood where kids go out and play because there’s not a lot of traffic.”
Mark Kelley, who recently moved to Seaview Terrace after what he described as a two year search for a home in Belfast, said he felt like he was being blamed for the 1985 ordinance that originally allowed health care offices on the street. Kelley said the realtor who sold him the home didn’t present the property in a way that suggested the scope of non-residential uses available under current zoning regulations.
“It should never have been in R2. It should have been in R1,” he said. The Residential 1 designation was mentioned by other residents because it permits fewer non-residential uses than Residential zones 2 and 3.
Kelley questioned whether the upcoming public hearings were merely a formality. He cited a letter, no longer in his possession, that he said had a coercive tone, implying that residents should respect the work and findings of city officials and adopt the new ordinances as presented.
Slocum rejected the notion that anything was predetermined. “This is a wide open process,” he said. Other Councilors expressed a similar faith in the public hearing process.
City Councilor Mike Hurley cautioned that zoning ordinances could cut both ways. Until fairly recently, he said, Belfast, leaned toward allowing just about anything.
“You want a dog kennel, with a gravel pit, with a mining operation? You got it,” he said.
On the flip side, he said, more restrictive zoning, like what Seaview Terrace residents appeared to be asking for, is sometimes seen as being anti-business. Hurley said he wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case in 1985 when Seaview Terrace was made part of the Residential 2 zone.
Public hearings on proposed zoning changes for all districts inside the bypass will be held at the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. on the following days:
• Proposed Residential 1 zoning district - June 25
• Proposed Residential 2 and Residential 3 zoning districts - July 2
• Proposed Downtown Commercial and Waterfront Mixed Use zoning districts - July 8
View maps and supporting documents:
Planning Board Hearings 2014-Existing ZoningPlanning Board Hearings 2014-AmendmentsPlanning Board Hearings 2014-Future Plans
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/proposed-zoning-changes-draw-concerned-comments-from-seaview-terrace-residents/1202625?cid=2095507#.U6xQtEFYlJE.blogger
The City Planner has destroyed many. His plans are sneaky and locked up in his office. The watershed residents have taken the biggest slam. Corruption in run off and zoning conditions, development is the fast track. Destroying private property illegally with that run off is the plan to rid the watershed area of single family homes. Marshall flat out wrote that in his visions with the Comprehensive Plan where Seaview Terrace was slated for R3 Healthcare & Housing " more of the current single family houses likely will be converted into professional offices"
The plan to take out Seaview Terrace was calculated with increasing force since the plan was adopted. Why illegally force volumes of runoff to the watershed resident's? The Captain Albert Stevens School, insanely built on a swamp, on top of the watershed. Floors now cracking.,All that money, corrupt planning/approvals, start to finish, DEP, Army Corp, Belfast City Planner and players. All damning documents locked in the City Planners office. Follow the water- illegal slaughter to the residents. Proved and confirmed by Belfast City Manager, Joe Slocum in 12/2013, clearly waiting for the 7 year statutes to run out with the support of City Council by taking the 5th per City Attorney, Bill Kelly, 1/4/2012.
Almost four years of rhetoric and bullying to avoid responding to my original request for the conditions of compliance. The 2 mandatory conditions that would have stopped all the illegal runoff from that site to the watershed residents.One was the runoff impact study to the water shed residents, the other, an inspection by an engineer of the completed storm water system for compliance. Both critical and never done The storm water system was not built to compliance and the inspection and study would have caught that.
Calculated improvements were done in the millions for future use of development (now coming to light). The runoff from that massive site, sent illegally to the watershed residents to speed along the extermination plan. Full throttle by allowing this massive site and all sites (over 12) to break zoning conditions. Plowed snow is to be removed off site. Allowing these sites to stock pile all winter, all to melt in sync to the watershed residents. Flood City USA. City Hall laughs the other way and blames Mother Nature.
They beat on any resident that challenges them. Confident weaving of corruption/intimidation tactics. Cedar Street , like most in the area- flooding to basements that were previously dry. Easily over 10 thousand spent by the resident in sump pump systems. And without storm sewers in many areas- where do they drain to? Another neighbor or into City sewage lines. Both illegal, neighbors suing each other and those into City lines, forced into silence. So, so nasty and unethical. Hunger Games turned into Flooding Games, same greed except this is reality and death to your property and soul.
Seaview Terrace is not even in that path- but the receiver of all- from CASS/Muck across Rte 1 National Guard- forcing, ditching, culverts, under roads, through land into all 3 sides of Seaview Terrace. In 2011, after 8 months of bullying by the City Hall white collars, I went public. Marshall says in this 11/1/11 meeting, that this force flooding would be difficult to fix. Marshall knowing we should not be getting one drop of outside runoff into Seaview Terrace, Marshall citing ordinance vaguely to drain to a public waterway.
(http://vimeo.com/31506248 11/1/11 City Hall Meeting- fast forward 20minutes, 44 seconds, I give almost 15 minutes of choking testimony. After my wrenching public plea to stop flooding us 52 minutes into meeting City Manager Joe Slocum tries to deflect from missing map and discredit me, that was only the beginning of the missing documents that Wayne must have hid when you hear him give the history of the development 56 minutes into meeting. When questioned by Council, Mike Hurley as to what is Belfast's Storm Water Ordinance, Wayne Marshall, City Planner and torturer of my life, states it directs to send storm water to nearest PUBLIC waterway- streams. I have requested this ordinance since and he fails to produce it... he must be lying and Seaview Terrace is NOT a public waterway, the City has no right aways or easements...THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!Then Mike Hurley says this storm water flooding is Council's problem but then they vote to take no action in the 1/3/12 Meeting where they brought in the City Attorney who had more public documents with held from me specific to my property. When I tried to question him he ran away and Council closed the discussion.)
I would find out later that month in 11/2011, on a surprise raid to City Hall, the original with held plans of Seaview Terrace proving the our private property drainage ditches were turned into a forced stream by the City. Not natural AT ALL and 100% corrupt destruction. DEP just as guilty. Commissioner Aho closing the corrupt investigation when I caught her with her head in the swamp. Claiming my private property ditch as DEP wetlands too!! Giving them regulation rights.
Weave of the corrupt to the innocent and ethical. Even in this meeting 11/1/11 meeting, Councilor Hurley says it's their job to fix. Guess the fix was to pave over Seaview Terrace with the rezoning to R3 through inverse condemnation. Worse than eminent domain- the government avoids market value compensation by destroying through forced flooding and rock bottom compensation to property owners, if any at all.
Now that Seaview Terrace residents acted quickly, the Planning Board approved rezoning Seaview Terrace into proposed R 1. I sent an email with concerns as instructed to public@cityofblefast.org, all Council, City Manager, Mayor and City Planner. I attended the public hearing last night 6/25 and Wayne Marshall was playing semantics again, stating he did not receive any written concerns from the proposed R 1 public. Wayne refused to respond to questioning by Planning Chairman Paul Hamiltion. I read the email "Per Maine Municipal Association, property taxes are to go to resident infrastructure/storm water sewers. Per City Planner, Wayne Marshall "Examine how storm water is managed in through the area. City OFTEN LACKS ADEQUATE FACILITIES. This is a signfiicant neighbor to neighbor issue and could hinder the developments of professional offices in the area. Relying mostly on-site storm water management is both expensive and land consumptive for many uses."
The City has forced most storm water to Seaview Terrace illegally. We are not a natural outlet. More development will mean even more water slaughter to our private property. Wight St. sidewalks, huge developments on the Sanderson's parcels. From the Muck/CASS to National Guard down, illegally forcing into tiny Seaview Terrace. Probably even more.
Sending it to neighbors is not infrastructure. It's forced drowning. What is the plan to get all of this forced water out of Seaview Terrace and roadside sewer drainage for Seaview Terrace?"
City Planner, Wayne Marshall's response was cold. Many need basic infrastructure of sewers, but apparently not in his plans. City Manager Joe Slocum committed to repaving Seaview Terrace in conjunction with the water district who has advised water line work to Seaview Terrace in 2 weeks. The water district said the paving is in flux, Joe Slocum told them maybe in the fall?? And sewers for residents are too expensive- 220K. Even though the City had USED us a free sewer for 35+ years, destruction with no compensation. And City Hall just keeps kicking us! Belfast Planning Board Wayne Corey is right, Soviet Union.
Please spare me the public back lash.With holding information and basic rights forced me into speculation and traps to make me look stupid and paranoid. Follow the water, that is the proof.
http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/belfast-revisit-contentious-seaview-terrace-storm-water-question/39503
Laurie Allen of Seaview Terrace, a street that intersects Northport Avenue near Waldo County General Hospital, can be seen on some weekends carrying placards through the downtown that read “Belfast Bullies.” She maintains a blog on the issue and is a frequent speaker at City Council meetings, claiming the council is conspiring against her as she fights to keep her home dry and her backyard intact.
City officials maintain that the water flow, seen especially during rainy spells such as the area has experienced in the last few weeks, is part of the natural and managed drainage. Much of the city is built on a hill that pitches east to Penobscot Bay.
For Allen, the saga began last year. In June 2010, she purchased the house after a divorce, moving to Belfast from New Jersey. Last spring the stream behind her split-level ranch house filled.
“That was when it came gushing over the banks,” she said last week.
Except as far as Allen is concerned, it’s not a stream. The trench through which the water flows along her backyard was created when the flow was diverted, Allen said, when the Seaview Terrace subdivision was built in 1965. The natural drainage probably followed a course to the south of its current course, she said.
This is a point on which city officials and Allen agree. City Planner Wayne Marshall said aerial photos of the city from 1939 and 1957 show the stream, though it is likely that it was to the south of its current course.
But the city maintains that it has no responsibility to fix the problem. The subdivision, built as it was under the laws of the day, was legal and approved.
On Thursday, May 10, after a couple of days of heavy rain, Allen showed where the stream flowed, noting especially how the bank closest to her house had begun eroding. Her property line lies on the opposite bank of the stream, she said, pointing to a survey stake.
“I probably lost 4 to 5 feet of property,” she said.
Allen asserts that water has plagued the neighborhood for years, in both backyards and on the street side. Marshall confirms that in 1987, at the request of residents, the city engineer completed a report that examined the problem. It concluded the city was not on the hook for any fix.
Allen also notes that in subsequent years, major new building developments have added to runoff. They include the Captain Albert Stevens School, a townhouse development on Cedar Street, the Volunteers of America senior housing complex on Congress Street, a new hospital complex on the west side of Northport Avenue, and expansions of the Tall Pines nursing home and Mid-Coast Mental Health facility, both adjacent to Seaview Terrace.
At the top of Seaview Terrace is a culvert, about 40 inches in diameter, which feeds the trench that flows past Allen’s house. A gravel bank prevents water from flowing farther south and instead diverts it east toward the bay. Allen wants that gravel bank removed.
“I’ve asked for the full history of Seaview Terrace and the flooding,” Allen said. She said she has been stonewalled by city officials, a charge Marshall denies.
Allen said she worked behind the scenes to help city officials find a practical solution to the problem before going public with her complaints, beginning at a council meeting in November.
Some of Allen’s neighbors have grown tired of her activism, though. Bud Hand spoke at a recent council meeting asking the city to dissuade Allen from posting signs on her property complaining about her water problem.
The city’s position, said Marshall, is: “That is an active stream behind her property and it is part of a major drainage basin” for the area. When each new development in the area was built, he said, measures were taken to meet state and local regulations to hold back water from major storms.
And finally, Marshall said, the city can’t fix problems on private property.
Allen believes a fix to the water woes would cost her at least $45,000.
“If you’re not getting services from your city, where do you turn?” she asked.
9/5/2015- In the 9/1/15 Belfast City Council Meeting that suddenly has server issues and is not airing on public TV- clearly to censor my public speaking whistle blowing on the Chief of Police secretly the brother in law to the Belfast TWC tech in everyone's home and computer with TWC "issues"- Tom had been to my house many times for "internet issues" before I made the connection, intimidation tactics by the Chief, Officer Ward, City Hall officials, City Council, the list and corruption is enormous. One topic was this zoning. City Council voting is unknown zoning back in 10/2014. The City refuses to make the official zoning of R1, R2 and R3 public on the City Website. I've been relentless to get it posted. They defer and reporters do not report. Abby is well aware- I email her all the time.
http://bangordailynews.com/2014/06/21/news/midcoast/zoning-changes-on-tap-for-belfast/
Zoning changes on tap for Belfast
Posted June 21, 2014, at 6:21 a.m.
BELFAST, Maine — City Planner Wayne Marshall would like
Belfast residents to know with absolute certainty that the city is not
planning to seize anyone’s property by eminent domain.
Then, he would like to invite all residents — including the ones who have told him they are worried about this potentiality — to bring ideas and concerns to the upcoming public hearings on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinances.
“It is best to focus on what reality is,” he told city councilors Tuesday night at a regular meeting, in which some residents did express their fears about the proposed changes.
He said this week that the Belfast Planning Board has been working for about 18 months on the code of ordinances that will help guide growth in the city. The changes were sparked by the city council’s 2009 adoption of a future land use plan, which included policy changes but did not codify the policy into law.
“Our intent was to get to it,” Marshall said. “We’re trying to methodically move forward.”
The board will begin the public hearings by addressing zoning changes proposed for the area inside the U.S. Route 1 Bypass, which he described as the city’s most complicated zoning area.
One major change would make the ordinances more user-friendly and consistent, by reformatting them into a table for each zone that would identify the allowed or prohibited uses.
Instead of reading through a long list of ordinances to see if, for example, a home business is allowed in a particular neighborhood, a person could scan down through the uses permitted in their zone, he said.
“It should make it easier to interpret,” Marshall said.
Another proposed change for within the bypass area would reduce the mandatory minimum lot size for new buildings to 1/4 acre, down from 1/3 acre. The board members also made a provision to allow for building on a lot with no road frontage.
“One goal is to encourage density inside the bypass, where we have existing services, like sewer, sidewalks and lighting,” he said. “They’re neighborhoods, as opposed to being development along a road. We’re also creating opportunities for future development to reflect what existing development is.”
He said that over the last 100 years, development in Belfast has been “pretty moderate,” as the population has hovered between 5,500 and 7,500 people.
“We’re not talking about burgeoning growth here,” he said.
But a handful of the roughly 7,000 people who live in Belfast today came to the Tuesday city council meeting to talk about their fears that the zoning changes will negatively affect their neighborhood — Seaview Terrace, a quiet dead-end road located across Northport Avenue from Waldo County General Hospital.
That road, in the Residential 2 zoning district since 1985, was proposed to be placed in the Residential 3 district by the board.
Some residents told the councilors they feared this move would encourage the construction of medical offices there, or even lead to the seizure of property by eminent domain.
“We all enjoy having a quiet street with very little traffic,” resident Mark Kelley said, asking the councilors to consider changing the zoning designation.
Mayor Walter Ash responded, saying that it is a positive thing that residents are becoming more aware of their zoning designations, and what uses are allowed where they live.
“What’s happening is they’re making you aware of what’s already happening,” he said.
Councilor Roger Lee agreed.
“Quite honestly, the process is working the way it’s supposed to work. You get upset, you come in and talk about it,” he said.
One day later, the planning board voted at its regular meeting to recommend that Seaview Terrace be included in the Residential 1 zoning district after all.
“The purpose of having public hearings is to put the proposals forward and have public comment,” Marshall said of the process.
The public hearings for the zoning changes all will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria.
Residential 1 zoning district is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25; Residential 2 and 3 zoning districts are scheduled for Wednesday, July 2; and the downtown and waterfront mixed-use districts will be held Tuesday, July 8.
Then, he would like to invite all residents — including the ones who have told him they are worried about this potentiality — to bring ideas and concerns to the upcoming public hearings on proposed amendments to the zoning ordinances.
“It is best to focus on what reality is,” he told city councilors Tuesday night at a regular meeting, in which some residents did express their fears about the proposed changes.
He said this week that the Belfast Planning Board has been working for about 18 months on the code of ordinances that will help guide growth in the city. The changes were sparked by the city council’s 2009 adoption of a future land use plan, which included policy changes but did not codify the policy into law.
“Our intent was to get to it,” Marshall said. “We’re trying to methodically move forward.”
The board will begin the public hearings by addressing zoning changes proposed for the area inside the U.S. Route 1 Bypass, which he described as the city’s most complicated zoning area.
One major change would make the ordinances more user-friendly and consistent, by reformatting them into a table for each zone that would identify the allowed or prohibited uses.
Instead of reading through a long list of ordinances to see if, for example, a home business is allowed in a particular neighborhood, a person could scan down through the uses permitted in their zone, he said.
“It should make it easier to interpret,” Marshall said.
Another proposed change for within the bypass area would reduce the mandatory minimum lot size for new buildings to 1/4 acre, down from 1/3 acre. The board members also made a provision to allow for building on a lot with no road frontage.
“One goal is to encourage density inside the bypass, where we have existing services, like sewer, sidewalks and lighting,” he said. “They’re neighborhoods, as opposed to being development along a road. We’re also creating opportunities for future development to reflect what existing development is.”
He said that over the last 100 years, development in Belfast has been “pretty moderate,” as the population has hovered between 5,500 and 7,500 people.
“We’re not talking about burgeoning growth here,” he said.
But a handful of the roughly 7,000 people who live in Belfast today came to the Tuesday city council meeting to talk about their fears that the zoning changes will negatively affect their neighborhood — Seaview Terrace, a quiet dead-end road located across Northport Avenue from Waldo County General Hospital.
That road, in the Residential 2 zoning district since 1985, was proposed to be placed in the Residential 3 district by the board.
Some residents told the councilors they feared this move would encourage the construction of medical offices there, or even lead to the seizure of property by eminent domain.
“We all enjoy having a quiet street with very little traffic,” resident Mark Kelley said, asking the councilors to consider changing the zoning designation.
Mayor Walter Ash responded, saying that it is a positive thing that residents are becoming more aware of their zoning designations, and what uses are allowed where they live.
“What’s happening is they’re making you aware of what’s already happening,” he said.
Councilor Roger Lee agreed.
“Quite honestly, the process is working the way it’s supposed to work. You get upset, you come in and talk about it,” he said.
One day later, the planning board voted at its regular meeting to recommend that Seaview Terrace be included in the Residential 1 zoning district after all.
“The purpose of having public hearings is to put the proposals forward and have public comment,” Marshall said of the process.
The public hearings for the zoning changes all will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria.
Residential 1 zoning district is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25; Residential 2 and 3 zoning districts are scheduled for Wednesday, July 2; and the downtown and waterfront mixed-use districts will be held Tuesday, July 8.
http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/residents-belfast-s-seaview-terrace-want-out-proposed-health-care-district/35559
(9/5/15- Note- Ethan is wrong- my home on Seaview Terrace was built in 1967- late 60's, not early.)
Residents of Belfast’s Seaview Terrace want out of proposed health care district
Posted:
Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - 1:00pm
BELFAST - In a city filled with ornate old homes, many of which have been restored in recent years, Seaview Terrace has become an unlikely battleground for preserving the historic character of a street.
Built in the early 1960s for a subdivision, the road originally ran from Northport Avenue to Congress Street but was almost immediately split by the Route 1 bypass, creating the accidental cul-de-sac on the east side known today as Seaview Terrace. The initial development was unremarkable and by some estimates hastily planned. Many of the modest ranch houses built in the ‘60s remain essentially unchanged today.Yet residents of the street who addressed the City Council on Tuesday spoke passionately about their street, describing it as quiet haven amidst an otherwise busy part of the city.
As one resident, Kathleen Kearns, put it, “We like it that way.”
A slate of proposed zoning changes scheduled for public hearings starting later this month will take in all properties inside the bypass. Among more sweeping changes proposed for minimum lot sizes and setbacks, the new zoning would earmark Seaview Terrace and several others streets in the vicinity of Waldo County General Hospital for new health care offices.
The so-called Residential 2 district that includes Seaview Terrace today allows such offices. In fact most of the city’s zoning districts currently allow some version of health care offices.
But as Kearns noted, while medical offices have popped up on surrounding streets, Seaview Terrace has remained completely residential.
“Despite the opportunity, there are no doctors’ offices on this street,” she said. “There has been no natural selection in this direction.”
Exacerbating the issue for some residents is the proposal to eliminate health care offices from a list of permitted uses in the two other residential zones inside the bypass, potentially driving more development into the zone surrounding the hospital.
According to city’s Future Land Use Plan the goal of the new Residential 3 district is just that: “to provide an area in which health care facilities/offices and professional offices are recognized as a primary use, and to establish this area near Waldo County General Hospital.”
The plan goes on to say that, though new housing would be permitted, there is very little room for expansion in that direction. The more likely outcome, it says, would be the conversion of existing homes into health care offices:
“The City believes it is appropriate to allow new housing in the area ... but it wants current and future residents in this area to recognize that a health care office or facility likely could become their neighbor.”
Some Seaview Terrace residents who spoke on Tuesday rejected the idea of being grouped with nearby Wight Street, which is already home to a mix of health care offices and single family homes.
“Wight Street is a fast moving through street; we’re a slow-moving residential street,” said resident Dawn Marriner. “We’re a neighborhood where kids go out and play because there’s not a lot of traffic.”
Mark Kelley, who recently moved to Seaview Terrace after what he described as a two year search for a home in Belfast, said he felt like he was being blamed for the 1985 ordinance that originally allowed health care offices on the street. Kelley said the realtor who sold him the home didn’t present the property in a way that suggested the scope of non-residential uses available under current zoning regulations.
“It should never have been in R2. It should have been in R1,” he said. The Residential 1 designation was mentioned by other residents because it permits fewer non-residential uses than Residential zones 2 and 3.
Kelley questioned whether the upcoming public hearings were merely a formality. He cited a letter, no longer in his possession, that he said had a coercive tone, implying that residents should respect the work and findings of city officials and adopt the new ordinances as presented.
Slocum rejected the notion that anything was predetermined. “This is a wide open process,” he said. Other Councilors expressed a similar faith in the public hearing process.
City Councilor Mike Hurley cautioned that zoning ordinances could cut both ways. Until fairly recently, he said, Belfast, leaned toward allowing just about anything.
“You want a dog kennel, with a gravel pit, with a mining operation? You got it,” he said.
On the flip side, he said, more restrictive zoning, like what Seaview Terrace residents appeared to be asking for, is sometimes seen as being anti-business. Hurley said he wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case in 1985 when Seaview Terrace was made part of the Residential 2 zone.
Public hearings on proposed zoning changes for all districts inside the bypass will be held at the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria at 6:30 p.m. on the following days:
• Proposed Residential 1 zoning district - June 25
• Proposed Residential 2 and Residential 3 zoning districts - July 2
• Proposed Downtown Commercial and Waterfront Mixed Use zoning districts - July 8
View maps and supporting documents:
Planning Board Hearings 2014-Existing ZoningPlanning Board Hearings 2014-AmendmentsPlanning Board Hearings 2014-Future Plans
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/p/proposed-zoning-changes-draw-concerned-comments-from-seaview-terrace-residents/1202625?cid=2095507#.U6xQtEFYlJE.blogger
Proposed zoning changes draw concerned comments from Seaview Terrace residents By Ben Holbrook | Jun 24, 2014
(9/5/15 note- This may have been my last online comment before I was banned from commenting-see end of article)
Belfast — Proposed
amendments to the city's zoning ordinances prompted residents of
Seaview Terrace to ask councilors to reconsider the changes out of
concern the character of their street will be negatively impacted.
The city is preparing for a series of three public hearings on proposed amendments to zoning ordinances for areas inside of the Route 1 bypass. As proposed, the changes would reduce the minimum lot size for new buildings to a ¼ acre as opposed to the current 1/3 acre. Other changes would allow construction on lots with no road frontage, as well as reformat the ordinances to make it easier for residents to determine the allowed or prohibited uses in a given area.
During a public comment portion of the council meeting, several residents of Seaview Terrace beseeched councilors to reconsider a proposal to move the road into the Residential 3 zoning district.
The Residential 3 zoning district would allow medical offices as a permitted use, but the Residential 1 and 2 zones would not allow such offices.
Seaview Terrace, which is a dead-end road located off of Northport Avenue, has been located in the Residential 2 zoning district since at least 1985, City Planner Wayne Marshall said. The existing zoning ordinances state medical offices are a permitted use within the district.
However, residents voiced their opposition to the proposal to place Seaview Terrace within the Residential 3 zoning district. Dawn Marriner, who said she wrote a letter to the councilors about the zoning, said the road is not designed to handle large amounts of traffic or accommodate a parking area for medical offices.
She continued by saying having medical offices located in a residential neighborhood would negatively affect the neighborhood.
Councilors listened to the comments and urged residents to attend the public hearings that will be conducted by the the planning board.
The following night, June 18, Marshall discussed the comments made by residents of Seaview Terrace with members of the planning board. Marshall suggested the board approve a change that would allow Seaview Terrace to be moved into the Residential 1 zoning district as opposed to the Residential 3 zoning district.
Marshall explained that Seaview Terrace was approved a residential subdivision and all of the existing properties are single-family residences.
The planning board approved moving Seaview Terrace into the Residential 1 zoning district.
A public hearing for Residential 1 zoning will be held Wednesday, June 25; Residential 2 and 3 will be held Wednesday, July 2; and the Downtown Waterfront Mixed-Use district will be held Tuesday, July 8.
All of the public hearings will be held in the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria beginning at 6:30 p.m. While the meetings will not be televised live, they will be recorded for later viewing.
The city is preparing for a series of three public hearings on proposed amendments to zoning ordinances for areas inside of the Route 1 bypass. As proposed, the changes would reduce the minimum lot size for new buildings to a ¼ acre as opposed to the current 1/3 acre. Other changes would allow construction on lots with no road frontage, as well as reformat the ordinances to make it easier for residents to determine the allowed or prohibited uses in a given area.
During a public comment portion of the council meeting, several residents of Seaview Terrace beseeched councilors to reconsider a proposal to move the road into the Residential 3 zoning district.
The Residential 3 zoning district would allow medical offices as a permitted use, but the Residential 1 and 2 zones would not allow such offices.
Seaview Terrace, which is a dead-end road located off of Northport Avenue, has been located in the Residential 2 zoning district since at least 1985, City Planner Wayne Marshall said. The existing zoning ordinances state medical offices are a permitted use within the district.
However, residents voiced their opposition to the proposal to place Seaview Terrace within the Residential 3 zoning district. Dawn Marriner, who said she wrote a letter to the councilors about the zoning, said the road is not designed to handle large amounts of traffic or accommodate a parking area for medical offices.
She continued by saying having medical offices located in a residential neighborhood would negatively affect the neighborhood.
Councilors listened to the comments and urged residents to attend the public hearings that will be conducted by the the planning board.
The following night, June 18, Marshall discussed the comments made by residents of Seaview Terrace with members of the planning board. Marshall suggested the board approve a change that would allow Seaview Terrace to be moved into the Residential 1 zoning district as opposed to the Residential 3 zoning district.
Marshall explained that Seaview Terrace was approved a residential subdivision and all of the existing properties are single-family residences.
The planning board approved moving Seaview Terrace into the Residential 1 zoning district.
A public hearing for Residential 1 zoning will be held Wednesday, June 25; Residential 2 and 3 will be held Wednesday, July 2; and the Downtown Waterfront Mixed-Use district will be held Tuesday, July 8.
All of the public hearings will be held in the Troy Howard Middle School cafeteria beginning at 6:30 p.m. While the meetings will not be televised live, they will be recorded for later viewing.
Posted by: Laurie Lee Allen | Jun 26, 2014 12:00
City Planner, Wayne Marshall seems incapable of concern for the basic rights and safety of residents in the path of his visions. Denying basic municipal services of sewers, drainage and roads- infrastructure 101. Maine Municipal Association is the rule book reference for local government expectations. Property taxes go to basic municipal services first. Instead, City owned properties, equipment and the worthy are the preferred club and get funding for wants. While the needs of residents are denied.The City Planner has destroyed many. His plans are sneaky and locked up in his office. The watershed residents have taken the biggest slam. Corruption in run off and zoning conditions, development is the fast track. Destroying private property illegally with that run off is the plan to rid the watershed area of single family homes. Marshall flat out wrote that in his visions with the Comprehensive Plan where Seaview Terrace was slated for R3 Healthcare & Housing " more of the current single family houses likely will be converted into professional offices"
The plan to take out Seaview Terrace was calculated with increasing force since the plan was adopted. Why illegally force volumes of runoff to the watershed resident's? The Captain Albert Stevens School, insanely built on a swamp, on top of the watershed. Floors now cracking.,All that money, corrupt planning/approvals, start to finish, DEP, Army Corp, Belfast City Planner and players. All damning documents locked in the City Planners office. Follow the water- illegal slaughter to the residents. Proved and confirmed by Belfast City Manager, Joe Slocum in 12/2013, clearly waiting for the 7 year statutes to run out with the support of City Council by taking the 5th per City Attorney, Bill Kelly, 1/4/2012.
Almost four years of rhetoric and bullying to avoid responding to my original request for the conditions of compliance. The 2 mandatory conditions that would have stopped all the illegal runoff from that site to the watershed residents.One was the runoff impact study to the water shed residents, the other, an inspection by an engineer of the completed storm water system for compliance. Both critical and never done The storm water system was not built to compliance and the inspection and study would have caught that.
Calculated improvements were done in the millions for future use of development (now coming to light). The runoff from that massive site, sent illegally to the watershed residents to speed along the extermination plan. Full throttle by allowing this massive site and all sites (over 12) to break zoning conditions. Plowed snow is to be removed off site. Allowing these sites to stock pile all winter, all to melt in sync to the watershed residents. Flood City USA. City Hall laughs the other way and blames Mother Nature.
They beat on any resident that challenges them. Confident weaving of corruption/intimidation tactics. Cedar Street , like most in the area- flooding to basements that were previously dry. Easily over 10 thousand spent by the resident in sump pump systems. And without storm sewers in many areas- where do they drain to? Another neighbor or into City sewage lines. Both illegal, neighbors suing each other and those into City lines, forced into silence. So, so nasty and unethical. Hunger Games turned into Flooding Games, same greed except this is reality and death to your property and soul.
Seaview Terrace is not even in that path- but the receiver of all- from CASS/Muck across Rte 1 National Guard- forcing, ditching, culverts, under roads, through land into all 3 sides of Seaview Terrace. In 2011, after 8 months of bullying by the City Hall white collars, I went public. Marshall says in this 11/1/11 meeting, that this force flooding would be difficult to fix. Marshall knowing we should not be getting one drop of outside runoff into Seaview Terrace, Marshall citing ordinance vaguely to drain to a public waterway.
(http://vimeo.com/31506248 11/1/11 City Hall Meeting- fast forward 20minutes, 44 seconds, I give almost 15 minutes of choking testimony. After my wrenching public plea to stop flooding us 52 minutes into meeting City Manager Joe Slocum tries to deflect from missing map and discredit me, that was only the beginning of the missing documents that Wayne must have hid when you hear him give the history of the development 56 minutes into meeting. When questioned by Council, Mike Hurley as to what is Belfast's Storm Water Ordinance, Wayne Marshall, City Planner and torturer of my life, states it directs to send storm water to nearest PUBLIC waterway- streams. I have requested this ordinance since and he fails to produce it... he must be lying and Seaview Terrace is NOT a public waterway, the City has no right aways or easements...THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!Then Mike Hurley says this storm water flooding is Council's problem but then they vote to take no action in the 1/3/12 Meeting where they brought in the City Attorney who had more public documents with held from me specific to my property. When I tried to question him he ran away and Council closed the discussion.)
I would find out later that month in 11/2011, on a surprise raid to City Hall, the original with held plans of Seaview Terrace proving the our private property drainage ditches were turned into a forced stream by the City. Not natural AT ALL and 100% corrupt destruction. DEP just as guilty. Commissioner Aho closing the corrupt investigation when I caught her with her head in the swamp. Claiming my private property ditch as DEP wetlands too!! Giving them regulation rights.
Weave of the corrupt to the innocent and ethical. Even in this meeting 11/1/11 meeting, Councilor Hurley says it's their job to fix. Guess the fix was to pave over Seaview Terrace with the rezoning to R3 through inverse condemnation. Worse than eminent domain- the government avoids market value compensation by destroying through forced flooding and rock bottom compensation to property owners, if any at all.
Now that Seaview Terrace residents acted quickly, the Planning Board approved rezoning Seaview Terrace into proposed R 1. I sent an email with concerns as instructed to public@cityofblefast.org, all Council, City Manager, Mayor and City Planner. I attended the public hearing last night 6/25 and Wayne Marshall was playing semantics again, stating he did not receive any written concerns from the proposed R 1 public. Wayne refused to respond to questioning by Planning Chairman Paul Hamiltion. I read the email "Per Maine Municipal Association, property taxes are to go to resident infrastructure/storm water sewers. Per City Planner, Wayne Marshall "Examine how storm water is managed in through the area. City OFTEN LACKS ADEQUATE FACILITIES. This is a signfiicant neighbor to neighbor issue and could hinder the developments of professional offices in the area. Relying mostly on-site storm water management is both expensive and land consumptive for many uses."
The City has forced most storm water to Seaview Terrace illegally. We are not a natural outlet. More development will mean even more water slaughter to our private property. Wight St. sidewalks, huge developments on the Sanderson's parcels. From the Muck/CASS to National Guard down, illegally forcing into tiny Seaview Terrace. Probably even more.
Sending it to neighbors is not infrastructure. It's forced drowning. What is the plan to get all of this forced water out of Seaview Terrace and roadside sewer drainage for Seaview Terrace?"
City Planner, Wayne Marshall's response was cold. Many need basic infrastructure of sewers, but apparently not in his plans. City Manager Joe Slocum committed to repaving Seaview Terrace in conjunction with the water district who has advised water line work to Seaview Terrace in 2 weeks. The water district said the paving is in flux, Joe Slocum told them maybe in the fall?? And sewers for residents are too expensive- 220K. Even though the City had USED us a free sewer for 35+ years, destruction with no compensation. And City Hall just keeps kicking us! Belfast Planning Board Wayne Corey is right, Soviet Union.
Please spare me the public back lash.With holding information and basic rights forced me into speculation and traps to make me look stupid and paranoid. Follow the water, that is the proof.
http://www.penbaypilot.com/article/belfast-revisit-contentious-seaview-terrace-storm-water-question/39503
(9/5/15 note If it weren't for this article below, I would not have known that they were having a work shop for the paving and drainage I have worked on for 5 years. See comments made by unethical, unbelievable Belfast City Council Heil Dick Tater Hurley)
Belfast to revisit contentious Seaview Terrace storm water question
Posted:
Tuesday, August 26, 2014 - 1:30am
Responsibility for a waterway passing behind homes on Seaview Terrace
and under Northport Avenue to the bay has been a point of contention
between abutting resident Laurie Allen and the city for over two years.
Last week, the City Council considered revisiting the question, possibly
as part of a larger inventory of the city’s natural and directed storm
water drainage. (Photo by Ethan Andrews)
(9/5/15- Note- AGAIN Ethan is wrong. I am not ABUTTING! It runs through my property!!)
BELFAST - On Tuesday, the City Council is scheduled to hold a work session on “various drainage issues in Belfast.” Behind the innocuous name, the meeting is bit of vindication Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen has had in a long time. For over two years, Allen has been battling with the city over responsibility for a heavily-used storm water outlet behind her home. For most of that time city officials have ignored her, having reached a decision earlier that whatever problems exist on her property are hers alone.
Allen has continued to speak her mind at nearly every City Council meeting, mixing deeply researched arguments with emotional pleas and sweeping accusations of corruption at City Hall. Her interactions with the Council and city staff have often been tense, enough so that the city has a police officer attend Council meetings. Still Allen returned week after week, throwing herself into a cause that appeared to have long ago reached a stalemate.
Last week, however, Councilor Roger Lee offered an opening, suggesting that the city take another look.
“It seems to me that there’s a reasonable case to consider if storm water could be diverted and reach the bay the the least damaging way,” he said.
Allen’s back yard is crossed by a stream that passes between Seaview Terrace and the hospital annex building. Her concerns center on the erosion of her back yard and the potential for flooding from from the waterway. Her case rests on two major questions:
• Whether the waterway is a naturally occurring stream or a man-made drainage ditch. City code regards streams, along with or rivers or the bay, as suitable outlets for storm water drainage regardless of the effect on private property. Dug ditches, however, much like culverts or sewer pipes, must be maintained by the city.
• If newer developments uphill from Seaview Terrace, including the Captain Albert Stevens School have abided by snow removal requirements and whether other unauthorized drainage has significantly increased the amount of water passing behind Seaview Terrace en route to the bay.
Lee called Allen’s allegations of corruption “bogus” — Allen says she has been repeatedly denied access to key public documents — but said the city would benefit from knowing the facts.
“If the flow of water from the development of the school was intended to go one way and it went another way,” Lee said, “we should know that.”
Councilor Eric Sanders suggested a citywide “inventory” of storm water drainage.
He and City Manager Joe Slocum appeared to have reservations about opening the door to claims from every homeowner with a wet basement. The Council, however, took no action and resolved to hold a work session on the topic, Tuesday, August 26.
Speaking after the meeting, Allen was cautiously optimistic. She was glad there was some movement, but said she also worried that making the inquiry into a citywide project would draw resources away from her area. She also questioned the wisdom on hiring an expert to track the flow of water.
She pointed to a hand drawn map marked with different colored arrows and circles. The chart stood chest-high, and was mounted on a piece of cardboard for display. The edges were worn from many trips to and from City Hall. The symbols showed the flow of water from upland of her home, through specific channels, to the stream in question.
“I went to see a lawyer in Portland,” she said. “‘He said, follow the water, Laurie.’ I said, I don’t want to.”
It turned out to be easier than she thought, and only took two hours, she said.
A work session on the city’s storm water drainage will be held Tuesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
(9/5/15- Note- AGAIN Ethan is wrong. I am not ABUTTING! It runs through my property!!)
BELFAST - On Tuesday, the City Council is scheduled to hold a work session on “various drainage issues in Belfast.” Behind the innocuous name, the meeting is bit of vindication Seaview Terrace resident Laurie Allen has had in a long time. For over two years, Allen has been battling with the city over responsibility for a heavily-used storm water outlet behind her home. For most of that time city officials have ignored her, having reached a decision earlier that whatever problems exist on her property are hers alone.
Allen has continued to speak her mind at nearly every City Council meeting, mixing deeply researched arguments with emotional pleas and sweeping accusations of corruption at City Hall. Her interactions with the Council and city staff have often been tense, enough so that the city has a police officer attend Council meetings. Still Allen returned week after week, throwing herself into a cause that appeared to have long ago reached a stalemate.
Last week, however, Councilor Roger Lee offered an opening, suggesting that the city take another look.
“It seems to me that there’s a reasonable case to consider if storm water could be diverted and reach the bay the the least damaging way,” he said.
Allen’s back yard is crossed by a stream that passes between Seaview Terrace and the hospital annex building. Her concerns center on the erosion of her back yard and the potential for flooding from from the waterway. Her case rests on two major questions:
• Whether the waterway is a naturally occurring stream or a man-made drainage ditch. City code regards streams, along with or rivers or the bay, as suitable outlets for storm water drainage regardless of the effect on private property. Dug ditches, however, much like culverts or sewer pipes, must be maintained by the city.
• If newer developments uphill from Seaview Terrace, including the Captain Albert Stevens School have abided by snow removal requirements and whether other unauthorized drainage has significantly increased the amount of water passing behind Seaview Terrace en route to the bay.
Lee called Allen’s allegations of corruption “bogus” — Allen says she has been repeatedly denied access to key public documents — but said the city would benefit from knowing the facts.
“If the flow of water from the development of the school was intended to go one way and it went another way,” Lee said, “we should know that.”
Councilor Eric Sanders suggested a citywide “inventory” of storm water drainage.
He and City Manager Joe Slocum appeared to have reservations about opening the door to claims from every homeowner with a wet basement. The Council, however, took no action and resolved to hold a work session on the topic, Tuesday, August 26.
Speaking after the meeting, Allen was cautiously optimistic. She was glad there was some movement, but said she also worried that making the inquiry into a citywide project would draw resources away from her area. She also questioned the wisdom on hiring an expert to track the flow of water.
She pointed to a hand drawn map marked with different colored arrows and circles. The chart stood chest-high, and was mounted on a piece of cardboard for display. The edges were worn from many trips to and from City Hall. The symbols showed the flow of water from upland of her home, through specific channels, to the stream in question.
“I went to see a lawyer in Portland,” she said. “‘He said, follow the water, Laurie.’ I said, I don’t want to.”
It turned out to be easier than she thought, and only took two hours, she said.
A work session on the city’s storm water drainage will be held Tuesday, August 26 at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Just because
Laurie Allen’s map has interested me I have been looking at the water on the
lay of the land. On Laurie’s maps she has all the water coming down from
Volunteers of America, the Armory, the mobile homes, all going towards Seaview
Terrace. I looked at the map she has drawn and it is true that the water from
uphill (Capt. Albert school etc.) comes toward Congress. There is a hump at
about 180 Congress street where the water splits and either goes toward the
highway department (and Seaview Terrace) and the other water goes in the
opposite direction toward the bypass. The water towards the highway bypass goes
to a stream that heads toward Seaview. But all the water for a considerable
distance heads towards the bypass, the water passes underneath to Larabees and
crossed underneath outer Congress Street towards the mobile home sales. This is
where it gets interesting and you can see it from foot or a car. My life is quite tranquil, nothing much to do,
so on an early Spring Sunday afternoon I mounted my Muck boots, grabbed a
walking stick and took a walk in the swamp. I followed the water flowing
between Route 1 and the mobile home yard and as it veered into the woods so did
I. I entered a large swamp, grass, rocks, pools, and flowing water moving away
from Route One. It was a nice walk, very mucky, bad footing, lots of rocks,
rotted trees, deep pools (there’s no vegetation in deep water) and forest that
quickly became marsh with a very large area of cattails, grasses, and no trees.
A giant earth sponge. I saw a couple of bad weather early spring cranky
bumblebees and a few birds. Found the stream deep in the center far from Route
One and followed it downhill towards the Route One south direction but it
was heading steadily away inland from route one. Followed it, crashing along,
from a very big marshland eventually into the forest again and it’s really a
cute/ quaint little bubbly water course with sand and rocks. Nearly an hour
later I turned back toward Route One and rejoined the highway about 200 yard
north of the jug handle. This was very well past where any water could have
turned back towards the Seaview Terrace. The water I was following may turn
back and cross under Route One by the jug handle but it has nothing to do with Morrison
Brook or Seaview Terrace. As I was walking back on Route One north I came
across the nice little rivulet that Laurie is terrified of. It was gentle and
cheerful and almost anyone would be happy to have it as a neighbor. There is
one culvert that drains a little bit of roadside water from the western side
towards Seaview but it is truly inconsequential. There is also a culvert closer
to Congress that drains under route one away from Seaview. Conclusion…..A huge
swath of the land mass drainage that Laurie has badly mapped to improve
her argument regarding Seaview Terrace
drains nowhere in Seaview Terrace’s vicinity and the water does not enter
Morrison Brook. Follow the water truthfully. Cheers/ Mike
Laurie Allen’s map has interested me I have been looking at the water on the
lay of the land. On Laurie’s maps she has all the water coming down from
Volunteers of America, the Armory, the mobile homes, all going towards Seaview
Terrace. I looked at the map she has drawn and it is true that the water from
uphill (Capt. Albert school etc.) comes toward Congress. There is a hump at
about 180 Congress street where the water splits and either goes toward the
highway department (and Seaview Terrace) and the other water goes in the
opposite direction toward the bypass. The water towards the highway bypass goes
to a stream that heads toward Seaview. But all the water for a considerable
distance heads towards the bypass, the water passes underneath to Larabees and
crossed underneath outer Congress Street towards the mobile home sales. This is
where it gets interesting and you can see it from foot or a car. My life is quite tranquil, nothing much to do,
so on an early Spring Sunday afternoon I mounted my Muck boots, grabbed a
walking stick and took a walk in the swamp. I followed the water flowing
between Route 1 and the mobile home yard and as it veered into the woods so did
I. I entered a large swamp, grass, rocks, pools, and flowing water moving away
from Route One. It was a nice walk, very mucky, bad footing, lots of rocks,
rotted trees, deep pools (there’s no vegetation in deep water) and forest that
quickly became marsh with a very large area of cattails, grasses, and no trees.
A giant earth sponge. I saw a couple of bad weather early spring cranky
bumblebees and a few birds. Found the stream deep in the center far from Route
One and followed it downhill towards the Route One south direction but it
was heading steadily away inland from route one. Followed it, crashing along,
from a very big marshland eventually into the forest again and it’s really a
cute/ quaint little bubbly water course with sand and rocks. Nearly an hour
later I turned back toward Route One and rejoined the highway about 200 yard
north of the jug handle. This was very well past where any water could have
turned back towards the Seaview Terrace. The water I was following may turn
back and cross under Route One by the jug handle but it has nothing to do with Morrison
Brook or Seaview Terrace. As I was walking back on Route One north I came
across the nice little rivulet that Laurie is terrified of. It was gentle and
cheerful and almost anyone would be happy to have it as a neighbor. There is
one culvert that drains a little bit of roadside water from the western side
towards Seaview but it is truly inconsequential. There is also a culvert closer
to Congress that drains under route one away from Seaview. Conclusion…..A huge
swath of the land mass drainage that Laurie has badly mapped to improve
her argument regarding Seaview Terrace
drains nowhere in Seaview Terrace’s vicinity and the water does not enter
Morrison Brook. Follow the water truthfully. Cheers/ Mike
Because a city engineer has “a feeling” that the stream is a
drainage ditch built by the developer does not change the facts (not feelings) that
(1) the stream is a part of the watershed that drains into the bay. It is depicted on United States Geological Survey
maps that precede the development. Allen
will tell you it is not evident on the Belfast quadrangle map, but that is
because the entire Belfast Bay is not limited to the Belfast quad, but extends
to the quad map to the east, where the stream is evident. (2) The developer moved the stream which originally
crossed Allen’s property so that he could build on the land, but it is still a
part of the natural watershed/outlet. By
Allen’s logic, the Mississippi River is not a natural outlet. Allen frequently refers to her many blogs. Read
through any one of them to get a feeling for the sources of Allen’s lack of
tranquility. By her own words they include
her family, her Bayside neighbors, her Belfast neighbors, officials at her
children’s Belfast schools, the entire City and State government, and any
business and individual that won’t support her. She doesn’t have one problem the rest of us
have not encountered at one time or another.
But she deals in misrepresentation and vitriol; that’s her choice. Some
prefer honey over vinegar. And a “cheerful”
rivulet is not anthropomorphism. “Cheerful”
does not only mean that the noun is cheerful, it can also mean that it causes cheerfulness. Get a dictionary.
drainage ditch built by the developer does not change the facts (not feelings) that
(1) the stream is a part of the watershed that drains into the bay. It is depicted on United States Geological Survey
maps that precede the development. Allen
will tell you it is not evident on the Belfast quadrangle map, but that is
because the entire Belfast Bay is not limited to the Belfast quad, but extends
to the quad map to the east, where the stream is evident. (2) The developer moved the stream which originally
crossed Allen’s property so that he could build on the land, but it is still a
part of the natural watershed/outlet. By
Allen’s logic, the Mississippi River is not a natural outlet. Allen frequently refers to her many blogs. Read
through any one of them to get a feeling for the sources of Allen’s lack of
tranquility. By her own words they include
her family, her Bayside neighbors, her Belfast neighbors, officials at her
children’s Belfast schools, the entire City and State government, and any
business and individual that won’t support her. She doesn’t have one problem the rest of us
have not encountered at one time or another.
But she deals in misrepresentation and vitriol; that’s her choice. Some
prefer honey over vinegar. And a “cheerful”
rivulet is not anthropomorphism. “Cheerful”
does not only mean that the noun is cheerful, it can also mean that it causes cheerfulness. Get a dictionary.
I'll trust my knowledge of language, thank you. You are incorrect.
I have read Allen's blogs. I have spoken to her. It is easy to attack one person. It is not easy for one person to challenge a system.
Given the strain of all of this, I think Allen should refrain from any blogging or commenting. I think someone should step up to represent her.
I have read Allen's blogs. I have spoken to her. It is easy to attack one person. It is not easy for one person to challenge a system.
Given the strain of all of this, I think Allen should refrain from any blogging or commenting. I think someone should step up to represent her.
Thank you Signify. It is coming to a head. With an engineer on the
job and Title 17 and 38 threatening any improper engineering, all my
documentation, pictures and video, copying EPA, Attorney General,
Governor, City Council, Mayor and City Manager- I think I get to rest my
case and take that long awaited rest.
Next weekend is the Peace March- I'm in- hope to meet you there. I found out along time ago, you can truly only count on yourself. If they don't fix this, the water will and then a class action law suit will bankrupt Belfast, The City Manager Joe Slocum just announced that for the first time in 35 years, a note will be needed to continue basic City operations. Regardless of splitting the tax bill this year- not planning, not prepared, not competent. Infrastructure is 101.
Real estate agents deceive, streams not disclosed, property inspectors are their buddies. Realtor Commissions dismisses for not doing an exhaustive search on a private property drainage ditch. Maine is 4th in corruption. Top to bottom. I exposed them, I do what I can.
They sucked the surplus dry and property taxes with their wants, grants, and mistakes. Greed is their evil seed. I won't address Maryanne or Hurley. Birds of a feather, I'd rather be alone forever (with my kids and dogs).
Peace,
Laurie
Next weekend is the Peace March- I'm in- hope to meet you there. I found out along time ago, you can truly only count on yourself. If they don't fix this, the water will and then a class action law suit will bankrupt Belfast, The City Manager Joe Slocum just announced that for the first time in 35 years, a note will be needed to continue basic City operations. Regardless of splitting the tax bill this year- not planning, not prepared, not competent. Infrastructure is 101.
Real estate agents deceive, streams not disclosed, property inspectors are their buddies. Realtor Commissions dismisses for not doing an exhaustive search on a private property drainage ditch. Maine is 4th in corruption. Top to bottom. I exposed them, I do what I can.
They sucked the surplus dry and property taxes with their wants, grants, and mistakes. Greed is their evil seed. I won't address Maryanne or Hurley. Birds of a feather, I'd rather be alone forever (with my kids and dogs).
Peace,
Laurie
Other than water flowing naturally down a stream I have yet to see a
problem. Laurie Allen keeps warning us of a terrible calamity to come
but there has yet to be one actual problem at Morrison Brook.
1. Laurie bought a property with a stream, Morrison Brook, in her back yard but did not notice it.
2. she apparently removed all the vegetation on the bank.
3. after the vegetation was gone the stream eroded the bank
4. she has never made any effort to stabilize the bank or raise her property edge along Morrison Brook
5. Where's the problem? What is the problem? I do not see one.
1. Laurie bought a property with a stream, Morrison Brook, in her back yard but did not notice it.
2. she apparently removed all the vegetation on the bank.
3. after the vegetation was gone the stream eroded the bank
4. she has never made any effort to stabilize the bank or raise her property edge along Morrison Brook
5. Where's the problem? What is the problem? I do not see one.
Great Article Ethan. I did not know a work session was being held. Thank You.
Laurie Allen
Laurie Allen
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