BIDDEFORD — PeoplesChoice Credit Union may make changes at its 369 Elm. St. branch following the City Council’s unanimous approval of a zone change Tuesday.

The changes would include adding parking and a fourth drive-through lane, as well as improving the credit union’s egress, which is where vehicles exit the property. The egress currently sits just 400 feet away from the intersection of Elm and Alfred streets, where vehicles often get backed up due to the traffic light there, and the project would shift it north slightly more than 100 feet to allow an easier exit.

“They wanted to add another drive-through lane to their facility as well as move the egress to the north as much as possible to get it away from the intersection ”¦ primarily for safety reasons,” City Planner Greg Tansley said at Tuesday’s meeting. “It’s a pretty tough location where it is now.”

The zone change affects 365 Elm St., which is a portion of land directly northeast of PCCU, where Classic Realty is located. The credit union is in the process of purchasing that land so it can demolish the real-estate office and use the property for the proposed changes.

A zone change had to be requested, explained Tansley, because the property at 356 Elm St. is part of the city’s Office Residential (OR) zone, which doesn’t allow for financial institutions. With the council’s recent green light on PCCU’s request, however, it will now be classified as part of the city’s Business 2 (B2) zone, which the property at 369 Elm St. is already a part of.

“It’s a good thing,” said Tansley. “It kind of squares that area off.”

Although the Planning Board unanimously voted to recommend the City Council move forward with the zone change, he said there were a couple of concerns voiced by the public over the project. The owner of property immediately north of Classic Realty was concerned that the project would cause “light intrusion” on her lot, said Tansley, so PCCU agreed to put up a privacy fence in that area.

A second complaint, voiced by the owner of an eight-unit condominium complex that sits behind PCCU, centers around ongoing issues concerning people walking through the condo’s property to get to PCCU and other stores in the area. That issue is ongoing, said Tansley, and will likely be resolved as the project moves forward.

Before the vote, Councilor Clement Fleurent called the project “a great idea,” while Councilor Marc Lessard said the decision was “a no brainer.”

“This was something that we desperately needed to have and I appreciate – and so does the rest of the community – you folks staying there and developing this property,” Councilor Bob Mills told representatives of PCCU.

The next step in the project will be the credit union’s submission of a Site Plan Review application to the city.

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].