Performance Standards
1. Introduction | 2. Net Residential Density | 3. Reduced Lot Size | 4. Road Standards | 5. Invasive Species
Reduced Lot Size Outside of Subdivision Review
Introduction
Strict adherence to a set minimum lot size requirement may not offer a community much in the way of flexibility in responding to sensitive resources during lot-by-lot development that occurs outside of the subdivision process. There is no perfect answer when it comes to determining a minimum lot size or residential density that would be most protective of habitat values at the landscape level. Many towns set a rural minimum lot density of 2 to 4 acres. Some towns have adopted a large lot approach by requiring minimum lot sizes ranging from 5 to 10 acres. No matter what the approach, residential development inherently fragments habitat.
Flexibility should be the goal of any community interested in revising ordinances to better provide long-term habitat protections at the landscape scale. For the most part, tools that offer design alternatives are only available if an applicant submits a project for subdivision review. What about single lot development, or projects that do not trigger subdivision review? Typically no options are available for this type of development. One tool that is currently being used by the Town of Brunswick allows the creation of lots down to the state minimum size (State Law requires a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet if an individual septic system is to be included on the parcel). Lots as small as 20,000 square feet are allowed in any zone as long as the soils can support the septic design and the balance of the zone's minimum lot size is protected against future development through an indenture (see attached) either adjacent to the reduced lot or elsewhere in the zone.
This tool has been used by farmers and woodlot owners to realize income from a lot sale while not relinquishing the current use of the entire minimum lot size acreage. It can be thought of as a very localized approach to Transfer of Development Rights. If, for example, the minimum lot size in the zone is 5-acres, a landowner can sell a 1-acre house lot and put the 4-acre balance under protection through an indenture anywhere on their property and retain all rights other than the right to develop on the property. This can have the effect of an incremental open space development.
Example Tool
In the Town of Brunswick, single lot splits may result in a lot size reduction to a minimum of 20,000 square feet, as long as the balance of the density requirement of the underlying zone is placed in permanent protection by filing an Indenture for Division of Land form with the Codes Enforcement Office and recording the Indenture in the Cumberland County Registry of Deeds. Applicants for new lots that do not trigger subdivision review under the provisions of this Section are encouraged to attend a meeting with the town's Department of Planning and Development Staff prior to the creation of the new lots.
