WESTBROOK – The Westbrook City Council will begin its discussions about the city’s proposed new comprehensive plan at its first meeting of the new year.

The council is scheduled to discuss and take an initial vote on the new plan at its meeting Monday, Jan. 7, at 7 p.m. in room 114 of Westbrook High School.

The final council vote on the plan will come about a month later, following a scheduled a public hearing on Monday, Feb. 4, at 7 p.m., also in room 114 of Westbrook High School.

“This is the last step in the local adoption process,” said City Planner Molly Just. “The next step will be a review of the plan by the state of Maine for conformance with the state of Maine Growth Management Act.”

The Maine State Planning Office requires that communities update their comprehensive plan about every 10 years. The new plan approved by the Planning Board in November does not call for any major changes from the one adopted in 2000.

It does make some adjustments, however. Among them are zoning changes that would allow more commercial and housing development along the Route 302 corridor.

“Westbrook will pursue changes to the zoning provisions in the Bridgton Road corridor that would enable more compact development with reduced curb cuts and a mix of uses, to include multi-family residential,” reads the plan. “Such development would be consistent with a smaller-scale traditional ‘Main Street’ corridor.”

In the proposed plan, the city’s Comprehensive Plan Committee said that the development in the Route 302 area, which is a major route for commuters to both Portland and the Lakes Region, is generally “1960s style” commercial strips on small lots with each lot having at least one access point (also known as a curb cut), with single-family homes interspersed along with the commercial development.

The committee said that the multiple curb cuts on the two-lane road has led to “less than desirable traffic conditions” that could slow down potential economic development along the road. The committee believes the new plan would help ease traffic and encourage more development in that area, bringing more tax revenue to the city.