Westbrook city councilors supported rezoning the area around Five Star Industrial Park from industrial to light manufacturing Monday – a move that would prevent Pike Industries from expanding operations on Spring Street and prevent redevelopment of its Main Street property.
The unanimous vote was the councilors’ first action since Mayor Bruce Chuluda proposed rezoning the land in March. At the time, they tabled the issue to give neighboring businesses that opposed Pike’s expansion the chance to work with the excavation company and come up with a compromise, which would prevent the councilors from having to take sides.
However, those negotiations fell through, and the process of rezoning the land is now in motion with the Committee of the Whole’s 6-0 vote to refer the issue to the City Council.
The mayor’s proposal to rezone the land came after Pike indicated it had plans to shut down its Main Street site and move its asphalt plant to Spring Street. Idexx Laboratories and a number of other businesses in the area took issue with allowing additional heavy industry in their neighborhood, which, they said, the city had told them would be a mecca for high-tech businesses.
Idexx also argued that Pike never had the proper permitting to excavate on Spring Street to begin with, based on its attorney’s interpretation of decision by the city’s Zoning Board 40 years ago. Code Enforcement Rick Gouzie has been asked to determine whether that’s the case.
Residents packed Room 114 at Westbrook High School for the Committee of the Whole meeting Monday, where both Pike and Westbrook Works, a group of businesses that organized to oppose Pike’s expansion, were given the opportunity to present their cases.
Kirby Pilcher, president of Artel Inc., a member of Westbrook Works, encouraged the councilors to rezone the land to light manufacturing in order to attract the high-tech businesses that, he said, will carry Westbrook into the future.
Pike’s lawyer, David Toolan, maintained that Pike has the right to exist and expand on Spring Street. For the first time, he presented an additional incentive for the city – a plan to redevelop the company’s Main Street site.
On a site encompassing 27 acres owned by Blue Rock Industries 57 acres owned by Pike, Toolan proposed filling the quarry with water and creating a pond surrounded by a walking trail and a mixed-use development that could include offices, retail, restaurants, housing, a college campus and a recreation center.
He said the $115 million project would bring 1,600 new jobs to the Westbrook and $177,000 per year in taxes.
“It could become an enormous benefit for the city,” Toolan said.
If Pike cannot relocate its asphalt plant to the site on Spring Street, however, it will have to continue operating on Main Street, and would not be able to develop the property.
Though some residents who spoke noted that the Main Street development was appealing, they all urged the councilors to support the rezoning.
Neighbors said, in the past, they never noticed blasting at the quarry, but this year they felt their houses shake and feared damage to their homes – especially if the frequency and intensity of that blasting increases.
“I thought it was either an earthquake or they bombed the airport,” Cynthia Smith of Finch Street said about one blast she felt at her home that broke champagne glasses.
She said she didn’t bother complaining about the broken glasses, but “when it’s my foundation or my walls, then I’ll be complaining.”
City Councilor Mike Foley said that at first, he wasn’t comfortable supporting the rezoning until he knew all the facts – ////namely Gouzie’s opinion on Pike’s quarrying rights ////- but ended up changing his vote to keep the process going.
“There are many concerned citizens in this room that need to know the people in this community can speak and speak loudly when they want to, and we will listen,” Councilor John O’Hara said.
Council President Brendan Rielly said he still believes that the best solution is a compromise between Pike and the surrounding businesses. Councilor Suzanne Joyce agreed, saying she was disappointed an agreement hadn’t been reached already.
“I’ve never been so torn in my six years on the Council,” she said.
Still, both voted in favor of the rezoning.
“I think we need to begin this process,” Rielly said.
After the meeting, Toolan said he wasn’t surprised about the outcome.
“We were sort of expecting it,” he said. “We’ll just have to address it at the next level.”
Chuluda, however, said, based on previous conversations with the City Council, he didn’t expect his proposal to garner so much support.
“I’m extremely pleased,” he said. “Regardless of what Pike has or doesn’t have, (the rezoning) is in keeping with the vision that the city set forth.”
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