Fairview Avenue residents believe a new proposal would lead to commercial development in their residential section of Gray.

Fairview Avenue in Gray is a quiet road off Route 26, with modest Cape- and ranch-style homes. Although it lies off one of the most heavily trafficked roads in Gray, the side-street sees only the occasional car or pedestrian.

The neighborhood is slightly north of Gray-New Gloucester middle and high schools and the Hannaford Supermarket on Route 26. It is zoned for rural residential and agricultural uses, with the exception of the school grounds (zoned municipal) and the Hannaford (zoned retail).

But residents of this road and abutting streets are concerned about proposed zoning changes that would mean sections of the neighborhood could see commercial and retail development.

In response to the proposals, four residents, including Sandy Carder and Sarah (Sally) Johnston, are going door to door collecting signatures on a letter to the council expressing their dissatisfaction with the zoning changes.

The Town Council is committed to having some kind of commercial development along the Route 26 corridor, Town Council Chairman Matt Sturgis said in an interview Tuesday, but it wants to reach a compromise with residents of the area so any development would not disrupt to the residential feel of the neighborhood.

The town of Gray and the Maine Department of Transportation jointly funded a $40,000 corridor study meant to explore future land use and transportation options for a 1.3-mile section of Route 26 from Hannaford to the intersection with North Raymond Road, in the Dry Mills section of Gray. The study process began in November 2014.

The council had previously presented residents with plans for rezoning the Fairview neighborhood off Route 26. The plans were met with criticism and resistance, and the council later announced it would scale back the project.

At a special workshop meeting Aug. 15, Doug Webster, department administrator with the town’s economic development and planning department, reviewed the latest plan, which includes new zoning and plans for the construction of access roads connecting Route 26 with North Raymond Road. The property owners directly affected by the change were sent a map and a letter as a notice of the hearing.

The latest plan mostly closely reflects “scenario 3,” one of the three plans first presented to residents. The biggest difference from the previous plan to the newest “scenario 3A” is less commercial zoning around the major access roads. The new plan has no zoning in place for the proposed access roads.

The access roads extend Fairview Avenue to connect again with Route 26 slightly to the north. Another access road mirrors the same pattern on the other side of Route 26, creating a large circle.

At the August meeting, Webster said the purpose of creating more opportunities for commercial and retail development in town is to diversify the tax base, helping to lower taxes for residents.

Johnston said because more than two years had lapsed since the early discussions on the project, the presentation of the new plan “felt like a smack upside the head.”

If the proposed zoning is approved and the neighborhood commercially developed, the residential feel of Fairview Avenue would be “devastated,” she said.

Carder has many concerns regarding the zoning, including the potential loss of the residential neighborhood and impact of commercial development on Route 26 traffic.

Her house falls in an area that could be zoned commercial. She believes one of the proposed access roads would be laid across her swimming pool.

Carder said the council should bring the zoning changes to a referendum vote, as they did to approve the construction of Hannaford on Route 26.

The development “would significantly change the community,” Carder said. “Maybe that’s the way residents want to go, but it should be their decision.”

Carder said the town also should conduct a more in-depth analysis on the development’s potential impacts, including the costs for building and maintaining the access roads, and an environmental impact study.

While residents are concerned,  Sturgis said the council is not looking to significantly alter the neighborhood’s residential feel. Rather, they are looking to create a neighborhood that blends residential and commercial development.

Sturgis said the council does not intend to “open the floodgates, expecting large, box-style retail. That’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for commercial uses in step with the community, services that meet our residents’ needs and are respectful of the residential land-use that is there.”

If the conceptual designs for the re-zoning are implemented, the changes in development would take place over time and would be “a lot more impactful of large, vacant parcels beyond the neighborhoods,” Sturgis said, having less affect on existing homes and neighborhoods.

The plans would allow people to convert their properties to commercial uses, but it would not be mandatory and does not rule out continued residential structures in those areas.

As for the completion of the project, Sturgis said, the council “does not have a specific, hard deadline, but we want to get it completed, and want to make a decision as what way we will go.”

The community input provided at the August public hearing and through a town-wide survey about the proposed development will be considered by the council in later drafts of the zoning, according to Sturgis. Follow-up discussion regarding the project is not set for a specific date, but will likely happen at an October council meeting, he said.

The council has not discussed bringing the project to a referendum vote, but may consider it, he said.

The Route 26 corridor study also looks to explore traffic-easing measures on the road. One such measure is creating a left-turn lane on the segment of Route 26 from Libby Hill to North Raymond Road, making Route 26 a three-lane road. A sidewalk and bike-lane or breakdown lane have also been discussed for the road. As well, there are plans with the Maine Department of Transportation to straighten the intersection of North Raymond Road with Route 26 and create a left-hand turning lane onto Route 26.

Jim Shepardson waters his lawn on Fairview Avenue this week as his grandsons play in the yard. Shepardson said he is concerned that plans to rezone the Gray neighborhood for commercial, retail and high-density development will “destroy the nice residentail area we have here.”

Gray residents, from left, Sandy Carter, Sarah Johnston and Brian and Donna Kinney, outside the Kinneys’ home on Fairview Avenue, are circulating a letter to the council outlining their concerns about a rezoning plan for the neighborhood.

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