BRUNSWICK
A long awaited draft rewrite of Brunswick’s zoning ordinance will be revealed tonight. Highlights of the draft will be reviewed at 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers.
Additional public meetings with town boards, committees, commissions, community organizations, Bowdoin College and the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority will take place throughout August and September.
According to a statement on the town’s website by the Brunswick’s Zoning Ordinance Rewrite Committee, or ZORC, Brunswick’s zoning ordinance is “long, confusing and outdated” and in desperate need of revamping.
“Overall, the zoning ordinance in the town of Brunswick is reasonable,” said Jim Howard, a developer with Priority Real Estate in Topsham, who has undertaken several major developments in Brunswick.
Howard has participated in several ZORC meetings over the months.
“Is it outdated?” he said. “Yes, from the standpoint that it’s been so long since the ordinance was updated that priorities within the town changed and development opportunities have shifted.”
Brunswick planners and planning board members began discussing rewriting the town’s ordinances in 2013.
The town has contracted with Clarion Associates to update the ordinance, and ZORC has been working on the rewrite regularly since October 2013.
Town Planner Jeremy Doxsee said tonight’s meeting will be an opportunity to explain to stakeholders some of the highlights of the rewrite.
The town will start looking for additional feedback once people have had a chance to “read and absorb” the draft rewrite, Doxsee said.
Two public forums will take place in mid-to-late September to gather public input.
District 6 Town Councilor Jane Millett said public input will be “critically important” to the rewrite.
“That will be an important process for people to pay attention to,” she said. “There will be some significant changes in zoning, and if people don’t pay attention now they will be caught off guard later on.”
Zoning impacts everyone in Brunswick, according to Millett, citing uproar over a planned maintenance facility for Amtrak trains in the West Brunswick neighborhood, and the close quarters of those living and working downtown.
Howard appeared to agree.
“Changing zoning ordinance requires a lot of input from a lot of people, especially in a community like Brunswick, which is very active,” Howard said.
jswinconeck@timesrecord.com
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