FREEPORT — After a public information campaign regarding a proposed soccer arena project off Hunter Road, the Freeport Town Council will hold a special public hearing about the project tonight.
The project has been a source of controversy and sparked the formation of a neighborhood coalition that is circulating a petition opposing a zoning change that would be required to accommodate the 60,000-square-foot indoor soccer arena.
In advance of tonight’s meeting, on Feb. 14 the town issued a one-page document outlining the details of a purchase and- sale agreement that Freeport officials signed with the Topsham-based nonprofit Seacoast Soccer United to transfer 12.4 acres between Hunter and Pownal roads from town ownership to Seacoast United.
In an email announcing the release of that document, Town Councilor Jim Cassida wrote that the intent of the one- page “ fact sheet” is to clarify the details of the 12- page purchase-and-sale agreement between the town and Seacoast.
“ The fact sheet has been created to document the factual components of the agreement as background material for the public hearing,” Cassida wrote.
During a Feb. 7 meeting, at which the council voted unanimously to schedule the public hearing on the project, Cassida said that it is the first time he recalls setting a formal public hearing regarding a request for a zoning change.
Through a series of public meetings, opponents to the project have declared that a zoning change to accommodate the project would violate the town’s comprehensive plan, which prohibits the creation of a growth zone in the area.
In a legal opinion sought by Cassida, attorneys Robert J. Crawford and Philip R. Saucier of the law firm Bernstein Shur determined that “there is nothing in the (town) charter that would limit the council’s advancing consideration of the revised zoning proposal.”
A copy of the legal opinion can be accessed online at http://ow.ly/9knOT.
That revised proposal, requested by Seacoast earlier this month, would involve the creation of a new “recreation zone” within the rural residential district.
For opponents of the project, the zoning change poses the primary problem, according to Lucy Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the Save Our Neighborhood Coalition that is circulating the petition against the zoning change.
“We’ve reached almost 400 signatures and overwhelmingly people are saying ‘no don’t do it,’ and ‘put it in the right zone,’” Lloyd said Monday.
Lloyd also said that there remains confusion about the details of the 12- page purchase and- sale agreement, despite the town’s one-page fact sheet summarizing that document.
A copy of that fact sheet can be accessed online at http://ow.ly/9kmy0.
“People don’t know what the real facts are,” Lloyd said. “It’s hard to find out what the deal actually is.”
The fact sheet provided by the town offers basic details about the project, including the hours and times of year that the Seacoast facilities will be available for municipal use.
A copy of the full purchaseand sale agreement can be accessed online at http://ow.ly/9knci.
Lloyd said that the neighborhood group’s focus at tonight’s meeting will be “to come together to say, ‘No, that we don’t want it where it is,’” Lloyd said.
Cassida, Town Manager Dale Olmstead and Town Planner Donna Larson also responded to questions from a neighborhood group in a question- and- answer document that can be viewed at http://ow.ly/9knGC.
In November, the Planning Board cast a 4-3 vote to recommend against making changes to the rural residential zone that would allow the indoor commercial development, but the Town Council will make the final ruling on zoning for the project.
Only a public hearing is scheduled for tonight’s special council meeting, though the agenda indicates the council could decide to take action following that public hearing.
Earlier this month, Mike Healy, a spokesman for Seacoast, said that the organization looked at other parcels in Freeport but was unable to find another suitable location.
Healy said that the arena, which would require a zoning change, is central to the project and that the organization would look to move the project to another town without that approval.
The public hearing is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. today at the Freeport Community Center, 53 Depot St.
dfishell@timesrecord.com
Read the documents related to the project and tonight’s hearing below:
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