The Scarborough Town Council voted 5-1 last week to enact a 90-day moratorium on certain light industrial uses by new businesses in a neighborhood on the west side of town.

Located just west of I-95, Exit 44, some properties in the Light Industrial District abut residences along Holmes Road and Two Rod Road. Some residents feel that, as the area has developed, there have been more and more disruptions to their neighborhood.

Zoning ordinances were amended to create the district in 2013, which permits manufacturing, distribution and vehicle repair businesses, warehouses and more.

Denise Hamilton, a resident of Two Rod Road, claims the town did not properly notify nearby landowners of the changes in advance as required by the state.

“Please put yourself in our shoes who have been residents of Two Rod Road for five, 10, 20, 40, 50-plus years,” Hamilton said at last week’s council meeting. “We’ve all been here long before the developers owned their land and have worked hard for what we have and there are more of us being negatively affected by the ordinance in place.”

Large trucks late at night, noise, bright lights and traffic are some of their concerns.

Dan Dickinson owns land in the district that he is planning to develop but would not be able to under the moratorium.

“The moratorium is going to impact about 78 acres of my light industrial investments in this district,” Dickinson said at the meeting. “This process for the Light Industrial District started with the 2006 Comprehensive Plan and it took eight years to get to 2013 when it was finally adopted.”

The district currently permits 28 uses for light industrial properties and the council gave preliminary approval to a moratorium on new developments that would involve any of those uses.

Councilor Jon Anderson worked with both residents of the neighborhood, including Hamilton, and landowners, including Dickinson, to try and find a compromise. Anderson prepared an amendment prior to the meeting that would prohibit only a handful of uses including distribution, truck terminals and cannabis manufacturing facilities.

“Through the conversations that we had, I felt like the trucking terminals (and) the distribution tended to be the biggest concerns of residents,” Anderson said.

After some debate, Anderson’s amendment was passed by the council 5-1 with Councilor Scott Doherty opposed and Councilor Corey Fellows not present at the meeting.

“I sympathize with both sides but he made an investment. The Town Council made a whole study and everything on this area; what to do with it,” Doherty said.

Doherty also said he believes residents mainly take issue with the fact that trucks are coming and going 24/7 and they shouldn’t impose restrictions on these uses during the workday.

Councilor Karen Shupe said she would have preferred the stricter version of the moratorium.

“It doesn’t solve the problem that (many) other uses could go in there and that, potentially 24/7, can have the noise, that could have their lights on, that are generating more traffic,” Shupe said.

Councilor Donald Cushing said he would rather not implement a moratorium at all, noting that the town’s Long Range Planning Committee is currently exploring changes to the zone. However, he voted in support of the moratorium following Anderson’s amendment.

“I think this is clearly a compromise which would get my vote even though I don’t like moratoriums,” Cushing said. “I think what we accomplished in this case is we brought people together – everybody’s a little unhappy, which is a good thing and everybody is a little happy and that’s a good thing.”