SCARBOROUGH — A vote to change the zoning for a property on Mussey Road prompted a Town Council discussion about future zoning ordinance changes on Nov. 18.
The Town Council approved an amendment to the Zoning Ordinance that rezones the property on 103 Mussey Road from the General Business District, or B3, to Industrial.
An email sent on Oct. 2 to Jay Chace, town planner, from Margaret Smith, representing the property owner, Transport Leasing Corp., said that the property had been included in the Industrial Zone until 2009.
The property borders both the Industrial Zone and the General Business District Zone.
Voting in opposition of the change was Councilor Ken Johnson.
“For the record, I value our zoning in the Town of Scarborough,” he said. “I feel that we amend it too loosely and too often, and in my personal opinion, without a compelling reason to change a zoning.”
To a certain degree, Councilors Don Hamill and recently elected Councilor Johnathan Anderson agreed with Johnson, but both voted in favor of the change.
Although the property on Mussey Road has “mitigating factors,” Hamill said he feels a growing sense of discomfort.
“It should be a little tougher to get changes like this when we’re going between industrial zone and area that’s bordering other business centers and also residential,” Hamill said.
Anderson said that there would be good opportunity to discuss these zoning changes if more proposals present themselves in the future.
“Just trying to make sure we figure out a good way if they continue to come in to make sure we understand what the risk might be across the zoning right now,” he said.
Councilor Paul Johnson said that he supports the change.
“I believe the property owner’s just trying to use it in a part way that’s not currently allowed and is trying to revert back, so I support it for that reason,” he said.
When the proposal came before the Long Range Planning Committee for initial approval, Councilor and committee member Jean-Marie Caterina had initial concerns, she said.
“When this came before Long Range Planning, my concern was the so-called creep of the industrial line,” she said. “There was a robust conversation regarding that. They convinced me this would make sense. I drive by it just about every day. Right now it’s a bunch of trailers just parked there, which they can do. I’d just as soon see an improvement to this.”
Councilor John Cloutier also made a statement in support.
“The way I look at it is they’re bordering the Industrial Zone on one side and B3 on the other,” he said. “They’re just choosing — ‘I want to be a part of this zone because there’s something my immediate neighbors can do that I can’t do and I have an opportunity to leverage my investment in the property.’ So I do support this and in general I don’t think we should be making nonsensical changes to zoning, but this one makes sense.”
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