WINDHAM – The Windham Town Council is set to hold a public hearing and possible vote next week on Shane Brey’s request to re-zone a 1.7-acre lakeside portion of his 27-acre property along the western shore of Little Sebago Lake.

Brey is requesting the council to move the 1.7-acre portion of the 151 Brown Cove Road property from resource protection zoning to limited residential zoning. According to Brey’s environmental consultant, Rick Jones, Brey hopes to build a single-family residential structure on the re-zoned area.

While resource protection zones allow single- and two-family residential uses, limited residential zones allow single-family residential, multi-family residential, campgrounds, marinas, commercial, and governmental uses. According to Jones, the current resource protection zone does not meet the land-use ordinance’s criteria. It also conflicts with Brey’s development goals, he said. Brey could not be reached for comment.

“The resource protection district is very restrictive, and it doesn’t allow for a number of things that Mr. Brey wanted to include in this proposal,” Jones said. “There’s a restriction on square footage and things like that.”

“(Town of Windham) staff had said that it would be a better fit since that portion of the property that he was talking about building a home on did not meet the standards for resource protection,” Jones added.

On April 8, the council sent the request to the Planning Board for its review and recommendation. Following a May 12 Planning Board public hearing, the board voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the request, with John Eddy opposed. Five members of the public, including several nearby property owners, spoke against the proposed re-zoning.

According to Windham planner Amanda Lessard, the board recommended approval of the request “with the condition that the council add a restriction to be deeded as appropriate and possible for the rezoned land to be only used as a single-family dwelling.”

“Based on discussion at the meeting, the board was concerned about other commercial uses that are allowed in limited residential and the potential impact on the lake,” Lessard wrote in a May 15 memo to the council. “(John Eddy’s) vote in opposition to the motion was likely as a result of public comment that development would adversely affect water quality, productive habitat, biological ecosystems, or scenic and natural values.”

According to Chapter 199 of Windham’s land-use ordinance, “The resource protection district includes areas in which development could adversely affect water quality, productive habitat, biological ecosystems, or scenic and natural values.”

At the May 12 hearing, according to the meeting’s recorded minutes, Jeff Kane, an abutter who owns property on 136 Brown Cove Road, “expressed his concern that a (limited residential) zone at the back part of the property would allow more lots back there and impact the area more than predicated for a single-family home situation.” According to the minutes, Ray Walsh, who owns property on 74 Brown Cove Road, asked the Planning Board to restrict the use of the property in the future, noting that properties always change hands eventually.

Neither man could be reached for comment, and a group of residents who have taken out local newspaper advertising also would not comment for this story. Jones, however, said that Brey had no intention of using the property for commercial purposes.

“He’s prepared to put a deed restriction on the property, if the town desires, saying that it would be restricted to one single-family home,” Jones said.

According to Windham’s general assessment database, Brey’s property, including improvements, was valued at $315,800 in 2013. Brey acquired the property from Beneficial Maine Inc. for $329,511 on April 6, 2011.

According to an October 2013 wetlands report prepared by Jones’ company, Jones Associates, Brey’s property has been recently harvested for timber, and features numerous skid trails and fresh stumps.

“For the most part, the topography is rolling between low wetlands and two distinct ridges that parallel Brown Cove Road,” the report reads. “Wetland areas are found along the shore of the lake and at the bottom of the ridges in the middle of the property. The wetlands are mostly forested except for immediately adjacent to the lake. The ridges are uplands, somewhat bouldery and are dominated by eastern white pine, northern red oak, American beech, eastern hemlock, and paper birch.”