A change in local zoning ordinances approved by the Planning Board last week would allow the board to waive site plan review in cases where a new use differs from the former use, but has similar or lesser affects on a neighborhood.
The applicant could then work toward permitting through the Code Enforcement Department.
Before the Planning Board’s 5-0 vote Sept. 16 approving the amendment and sending it to the Town Council for final approval, Town Planner Jeff Brubaker read a portion of an email from a Sewall Road resident expressing concerns about the revision’s potential impact on a nearby property.
In the email, resident Maggie Raymond asked the Planning Board for assurance it would not waive site plan review for future business applications at 119 Main St., which is in the Business Residential zone and for several decades was the site of retail insulation sales. She specifically asked that they not approve a similar retail business there.
When the insulation business was operating, vehicles routinely obstructed the road and sidewalks at the intersection of Main Street and Sewall Road, and hazardous materials were stored outside on the property, Raymond said.
Brubaker told the board it can’t project how it would review a specific site in the future because there are too many unknowns, but even if the board waives a review for a project, it still can decide to call for a public hearing for residents.
“This (amendment) is not saying that just any commercial use can be swapped out for another one,” Brubaker explained. “All it is saying is that you can waive the site plan review, and you would only waive it if it meets all the other criteria in the ordinance.”
Board members Tony Palazzetti and Clay Curtis both noted the insulation business was a nonconforming use and is no longer operating. They agreed something similar wouldn’t be allowed under the ordinance, which states a nonconforming use cannot be grandfathered after the activity has ceased for more than two years.
“If we heard a concern from someone saying there has been a lot of truck traffic in a residential neighborhood, we are going to say let’s have a site plan review so we can make sure whatever the next use is, it is going to adhere to the zoning ordinance,” said board Chair Hershey Hirshkop.
(Editor’s note: Maggie Raymond is on the staff of the South Berwick Reporter.)
