The Cape Elizabeth Town Council will hold a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, on a proposal to ban the creation of short-cut streets.

The proposal comes after a group of residents collected more than 800 signatures to stop the connection of dead-end neighborhoods, in response to the proposed 42-unit subdivision between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue, called Spurwink Woods.

The public hearing will take place during the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting. During the meeting, the council plans to schedule a hearing for another proposed zone change triggered by the same development.

The planning board proposed the zone change. The Spurwink Woods development proposal does not adhere to current zoning, which says that a lot can not be divided by a road unless a certain amount of the lot is left on one side or the other. Cape Town Planner Maureen O’Meara has said the ordinance was initially intended to prevent home owners from splitting their single home lot into two house lots.

The Spurwink Woods plan proposes building a road through the nine two-family condominium lot. The proposed rule, if passed, would only apply to single-family home lots, excluding the condominium lot on the Spurwink Woods plan.

While the “bisected lots” zone change, proposed by the planning board, would bring Spurwink Woods closer to realization, the neighborhood petition could cut it off at the knees.

The Neighbors for Sensible Development presented their “no short-cuts” petition to the town Jan. 20. The petition was triggered by the proposed 42-unit subdivision called Spurwink Woods, located between Mitchell Road and Spurwink Avenue. The development would link two dead-end streets, Killdeer Road and Dermot Drive.

The group opposes the development because they say it would increase traffic, jeopardizing their quiet lifestyle.

The town council will either vote to adopt the zone change or send it to a town-wide referendum.

The zone change proposed in the petition would prohibit the creation of streets connecting existing dead-end neighborhoods. “We are not trying to…ban development…managed sensibly. The healthy growth of neighborhoods can enhance the qualities that make Cape Elizabeth attractive,” said Richard Bryant, a Cape resident and lawyer who drafted the petition.

The public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall. Town Manager Michael McGovern has recommended the Town Council wait until March to either adopt the ordinance or send it to referendum.