BRUNSWICK

A year-long effort to rewrite Brunswick’s long, complex and contradictory zoning ordinance was met with confusion and frustration by some members of the public on Wednesday.

“I’ve spent 45 hours on this,” Town Councilor Jane Millett told members of the Zoning Ordinance Rewrite Committee, or ZORC. “I do mean it when I say I have only scratched the surface.”

Millett wanted to know who oversees whether the integrity of the town’s comprehensive plan is maintained. She took past zoning decisions to task, including the closure in recent years of elementary schools, the acceptance of an industrial shed for Downeaster trains, and the demolition of the former rec center and municipal offices.

“All those violations passed,” Millett said, “with no voice to defend our comprehensive plan.”

The Village Review Board’s authority needs to be expanded, Millett said, but instead it is diminished under the draft rewrite.

She further criticized the rewrite’s “ambiguity,” as well as “contradictory” language and “potential conflicts” in some sections of the draft.

“This is complicated, it’s difficult to read and to comprehend,” said resident Robert Morrison. “It’s an overwhelming amount of information, and we’ve got to take time to get it right.”

Morrison said he was worried that the draft does not “preserve my neighborhood” in terms of increasing population density.

Both Morrison and Millett said they were concerned that some powers formally assumed by the planning board would be handed to staff under the draft.

Some members of the public said they were concerned that the rewrite was being conducted as a prelude for future development.

The rewrite “neither promotes nor discourages development,” said Town Planner Jeremy Doxsee, “but it directs development in accordance with the 2008 comprehensive plan.”

Under state law, the town’s zoning must conform to the state-mandated comprehensive plan.

“The comp plan is a guide. It’s not the Bible you have to squat and salute,” countered Morrision, who called the rewrite a “trojan horse for real estate development.”

“What’s the rush?” asked an irate Richard Fisco, who has railed against the rewrite in previous meetings and on Wednesday accused ZORC members of holding an “unpublicized” meeting with developers and of scheming to get state grant money for senior housing.

Town council candidates Dan Harris and Kathy Wilson came to the defense of ZORC.

“I think you are all acting in the best faith for the citizens of Brunswick,” Harris said. “I’m satisfied that what you’re doing is the best you can.”

“It’s a nasty job to sit there and be criticized,” said Wilson. “There aren’t developers sitting in their (ZORC’s) pockets. Growth is going to happen. We need to guide it.”

About 95 percent of the current zoning is intact in the rewrite, noted ZORC member Margaret Wilson.

About two dozen people attended Wednesday’s meeting at Southern Maine Community College’s Midcoast Campus, which was the last in a series of public input sessions on the rewrite.

The rewrite committee will spend as much time as the they need in order to review comments gathered so far before producing another draft.

Speaking before Wednesday’s meeting, ZORC Chairman Charlie Frizzle said the public input sessions have had their “ups and downs.”

“Some meetings were well attended, and there were others that weren’t,” Frizzle said. “We’ve gotten some very valuable comments.”

There didn’t seem to be an overarching theme to the concerns that have been raised throughout the process, said Frizzle.

“The concerns seem to be localized, which is normal,” said Frizzle.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com