The Biddeford Zoning Board of Appeals has rejected an appeal by the University of New England to allow the school to cut down dozens of trees as part of its proposed Saco River pier project.

UNE wanted to remove the 49 trees from its property to clear the path of the access road to the planned pier, university staff said. The university applied for a permit to clear the trees in March, which was initially denied by the city in April.

Zoning board members said Monday that because of a moratorium adopted in January that pauses UNE developments for 180 days, the tree-cutting project could not move forward. 

“Being that the moratorium was in place when UNE applied for this permit, it is my belief that this appeal is not allowed underneath the moratorium’s statute,” board member Syed Zafar said. 

Brandon Mazer, an attorney representing UNE, said the moratorium sets a “dangerous and scary” precedent for future projects in Biddeford. 

“If you can go to a planning board and get full approval, and then six months later have a moratorium that isn’t retroactive, that’s not the point of state statute,” Mazer said. 

But Biddeford city attorney Harry Center said the moratorium was adopted legitimately, and while it’s in place, no building permits can be issued for the institutional zone that encompasses UNE. 

Center said the moratorium was put in place because the Biddeford Planning Board “never considered” the university’s master plan, and that the approval of the pier project didn’t reference a 250-foot buffer zone that was adopted by the Saco River Corridor Commission in 2001. 

“Did the city do that because they don’t like the university or they don’t want to have the pier? No,” Center said. 

Roby Fecteau, the city’s director of code enforcement, said his “hands were tied” when it came to denying the university’s appeal. 

“The front and center piece for me was determining if the moratorium applied,” he said. “I had to deny the application.” 

With the moratorium in effect until July, appeals board member Joshua Lessard said the university should wait until then — “at least” — to appeal the decision again. 

In a statement Monday night, UNE spokesperson Sarah Delage said the university disagrees with the board’s decision and is evaluating its options.

“The University’s ties to Biddeford span nearly 80 years, and that relationship is too important to leave unresolved,” Delage wrote. “We remain hopeful that a path to constructive dialogue still exists.”

The permit for the pier project, which Biddeford is challenging before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, would allow the university to build a 150-foot pier on the Saco River that would benefit its marine science program.

But the project has also drawn pushback, including from commercial fishermen who hold moorings in the part of the river where UNE wants to build the pier.