ARTICLE II Planning Board [Adopted as Ch

ARTICLE II Planning Board [Adopted as Ch. II, Art. 12, Secs. 5, 6 and 8; amended 9-14-1998 by Ord. No. 98-339]

§ 23-4. Establishment; membership. [Amended 5-22-2000 by Ord. No. 00-203]

There is hereby established a Planning Board for the City of Bangor which shall consist of five members and three associate members who shall be appointed by the City Council. The Planning Board shall, after the effective date of this article, act as a Planning Board under the provisions of the revised statutes of Maine, as amended.

§ 23-5. Residency requirements; salaries and compensation.

All members of the Planning Board shall be residents of the City of Bangor, shall not be salaried officials of the City and shall serve without compensation.

§ 23-6. Terms of office.

The term of each elected member shall be for three years or until his or her successor has been appointed and has qualified. Any vacancy shall be filled in the same manner for the unexpired term. No member shall serve more than two complete consecutive terms.

§ 23-7. Officers.

The Planning Board shall annually elect one of its members as Chair.

§ 23-8. Powers and duties; expenditures.

The Planning Board shall have full power and authority to make such investigations, maps and reports, and recommendations in connection therewith, relating to the planning and development of the municipality as seem desirable to it; provided, however, that the total expenditures for such purposes shall not exceed the appropriation therefor, together with such gifts as may be placed at the disposal of the Council thereof.

§ 23-9. Meetings; annual report.

A.	All members shall attend an annual orientation meeting to be scheduled during the month of January of each calendar year.
B.	The Board shall meet at least quarterly and, prior to December 31 of each calendar year, shall prepare and submit to the City Council an annual report outlining its doings during the preceding twelve-month period.

§ 23-10. Cooperation from other officers and departments.

Each officer and department of the City is hereby directed to give all reasonable aid, cooperation and information to the Planning Board or to the authorized assistants of the Planning Board, when so requested.

§ 23-11. Comprehensive Plan.

It shall be the duty of the Planning Board to make and adopt a Comprehensive Plan of the City and to perfect it from time to time. Such Comprehensive Plan shall show existing and desirable streets, highways, street grades, bridges and tunnels, viaducts, public places, parks, parkways, playgrounds, roadways in streets and parks, sites for public buildings and structures, use and building zones, Harbor Commissioners' lines, waterways, routes of railroads and buses, locations of sewers, water conduits and other public utilities and other planning features. Such Comprehensive Plan shall be established, added to and changed from time to time by a majority vote of the entire membership of the Planning Board. It shall be a public record, but its purpose and effect shall be solely to aid the Planning Board in the performance of its duties.

Changes in Comprehensive Plan. Whenever the Planning Board shall have adopted a Comprehensive Plan or any part thereof, then and thenceforth no street, park or other public way, ground, place or space and no public building or structure shall be constructed or authorized in the City and no change shall be made in the Zoning Map of the City of Bangor until and unless the location and extent thereof and the suggested change of the Zoning Map shall have been submitted to the Planning Board and until the Planning Board shall have made its report on any such matter submitted to it.

Failure of Board to act. The failure of the Planning Board to act within 30 days from and after the date of submission to it of such proposition as aforesaid shall be deemed to be its approval of any such matter, unless a longer period is granted by the municipal officers.

§ 23-12. Plat approval.

After the adopting of the Official Map, the municipal officers shall, before approving any plat showing streets or highways, refer such plat to the Planning Board for its report and recommendation thereon, and the municipal officers shall not take an action either approving or disapproving the plat until they have received the report of the Planning Board, together with its recommendations thereon.

Public hearing. Before making such report or recommendations, as specified in this section, the Planning Board shall hold a public hearing, which hearing shall be advertised in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the City of Bangor at least 10 days before the date of such hearing, the cost of said advertising to be paid by the owner or developer. The Planning Board in its report may thereupon approve, modify or disapprove such plan.

Disapproval of plats. If the Planning Board refuses to approve any such plat submitted to it for its recommendation and report, the reasons for said refusal shall be stated upon the records of the Planning Board. After receiving the report of the Planning Board, the municipal officers shall take action as they deem proper.

Failure of Board to act. If the Planning Board does not make its report, with its recommendations thereon, within 45 days from the date when said plat was referred to it, the Planning Board shall be deemed to have approved said plat, and the municipal officers shall take such action thereon as they deem proper.

Conditions precedent to approval. As a condition precedent to its recommendation of approval of any plat, the Planning Board may prescribe requirements of the extent to which and the manner in which streets shall be graded and improved and water, sewer and other utility mains, pipes, connections or other facilities shall be installed.

Plat approval requirements. In recommending the approval of such plat, the Planning Board shall require that the streets and highways shall have proper grades; shall be of sufficient width and suitably located to accommodate the prospective traffic and to afford adequate light, air and access, including access to fire-fighting equipment and to buildings; and shall be coordinated so as to compose a convenient system and so that the land shown on such plat shall be of such character that it can be used for building purposes without danger to health, and, also, in proper cases, that space for park or playground or other recreation purposes of reasonable size is provided, and in determinations concerning the streets, highways and parks, the Planning Board shall take into consideration the prospective character of the development, whether of residence, business or industry.

Plat requirements containing proposed streets. No plat which includes a proposed street or way shall be approved by the municipal officers except under the following conditions:

(1)	The developer or owner has completed the work of grading and improving the proposed street or way in the manner and to the same extent as that required of the developer or owner by Chapter 271, Streets, Article III, Establishment and Assessments, of the Code of the City of Bangor;
(2)	The owner has signed an agreement to do the work prescribed in Subsection F(1) above and has further agreed that if the work is not completed by the owner within a specified time, then the City of Bangor will have the right and obligation to complete the work. Such an agreement shall be accompanied by bond to be furnished by the owner, in the amount of the work, as determined by the City Engineer and approved by the City Manager; or
(3)	The municipal officers have agreed to waive part or all of the requirements of Subsection F(1) and (2) above whenever the general public interest so requires.

Addition of plat to Official Map. Whenever such plat shall be approved by the municipal officers, it shall be added to the Official Map as an amendment thereto.