Maureen Wallingford counted the days until Martino’s Pizza shop and convenience store opened across Highland Avenue from her South Portland home.

Wallingford can see Martino’s Pizza from her living room window, but says advantages of having a store nearby outweigh any reservations she may have had about the project.

“For the longest time, there was no store in this neighborhood,” said Wallingford, who has lived in the same house for 20 years. “But now I feel like I can’t live without it.”

Ever since the Field House Variety closed at the site in 2006, many homeowners in this Highland Avenue neighborhood say they dreaded having to make frequent drives into town for a quart of milk, takeout pizza or other essentials of daily life.

“I live on Highland Avenue, right across from the store,” said homeowner Quen T. Ho. “I like the convenience, and my neighbors like it, too.”

Bill VanVoorhis also lives off Highland Avenue, in a development of large two-story homes built in the 1990s.

“The store is handy, no question about it,” said VanVoorhis, a tugboat captain who works out of Portland Harbor. “We lived OK before. But the kids love going back and forth. It’s an asset to the neighborhood.”

Steve Puleo, the city’s community planner, said the new shop meets the city’s goals for smart growth development. The store introduces mix-use services in a residential area, thus discouraging sprawl.

“It takes traffic off the road and lets people meet their needs where they live,” Puleo said.

Instead of hopping in their vehicles to drive several miles to stores in Mill Creek and on Broadway, residents can stay in their neighborhood to pick up many small items they need.

Martino’s Pizza opened Dec. 10 to long lines for its freshly prepared Italian specialties, from pizzas to pastas. The shop is on GLM Parkway, off Highland Avenue, one of two major roads that cross the city. The other is Broadway.

Marty Martello, who owned a pizzeria in Windham, operates the new business. His specialty is homemade foods, such as garlic dough for his pizzas and breadsticks and the sauces for his “family-style” pasta.

He still is remembered for his pizzeria, off Route 302, which closed a decade ago. Martello had quit to work as a lobsterman.

He said he decided to open the convenience store and takeout pizza place off Highland Avenue, after it became difficult to make a living fishing.

Martino’s is open daily, from 6:30 a.m.-9 p.m., near the entrance to Wainwright Field. He also sells breakfast sandwiches in the morning.

The property owner, Vincent Maietta, has applied for a zoning ordinance change that will allow for a larger sign to be erected off Highland Avenue.

The new sign would be placed where the existing sign was erected. Changes to the ordinance would allow the sign to double in size.

It also would allow for a lighted message board – either a standard marquee sign or an electronic message board.

The planning board voted last week to recommend the ordinance change, which needs final approval from the City Council. A date has not been scheduled.

Two residents spoke in favor of the ordinance change, and no one spoke against it.

Martello said he prefers the standard illuminated sign, where he can easily post the specials each week.

Neighbor Peter Mullen said a larger sign will not bother him. Mullen said he is mainly relieved that another store replaced the one that closed.

“We have three extremely young kids, and I definitely like the idea of a store there, especially if you have to get a little milk or pick up dinner,” Mullen said.

Wallingford said she understands the need for a larger sign. She likes how the store building blends in with the neighborhood and does not face the street. But people can miss the store unless they are looking for it, she said.

“My mother-in-law says she almost drives by the turnoff, because the building is so easy to miss,” Wallingford said.

Wallingford said that after Field House Variety closed a year ago, it made her uncomfortable to see the empty store. She said she had wished at the time the city could do more to help the store stay open.

“They were not even allowed to post an ‘open’ banner,” she said.

Wallingford also worried about her property value. When she and her husband had to have their house appraised several months ago, she said the assessor questioned her about the vacant storefront across the road. “It affected our home’s value,” she said.

Wallingford said she has watched the neighborhood grow since her parents bought the house in 1987. Wallingford and her husband later bought the house from her parents.

“It used to be farmland and junk car land out here,” Wallingford said. “Now we see more and more new homes. Ten years ago, Grandview Estates was built and that’s when the growth really started.”

Wallingford said she especially likes the number of young families that have moved to her neighborhood. She and her husband have a 4-year-old daughter.

“Whether it’s for milk or coffee, I’ve been over at the store practically every day since it opened,” she said.

Martino

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