A developer wants to add nine new apartment buildings to a Westbrook subdivision that has already prompted calls for a moratorium on residential construction and substantial changes to the city’s zoning.
That new construction would add 108 market-rate units to Blue Spruce Farm, where nearly 200 single-family homes and apartments are already being built. Risbara Bros. had previously hoped to build an even larger extension to the existing neighborhood, but scaled back the plans because of a legal dispute with the landowner. The Westbrook Planning Board reviewed the most recent sketch plan for the newer extension on Tuesday night.
“We know we’re meeting a need,” company president Rocco Risbara said. “We know we’ve got some neighborhood opposition, but we’re going to continue through the process. We’re going to listen. We’re going to try to meet all of the requests that we can.”
The board members also heard testimony from consultants about the development’s potential impact on schools and roads, though a handful of residents questioned the accuracy of those figures. Risbara said he cannot build condos or single-family homes in this phase, after both members of the public and the planning board disapproved of the number of apartments in the plans.
“There’s no condos,” said Dennis Isherwood, who represents the ward that includes Blue Spruce Farm. “There’s no single-family housing at all. I really expect to see a blend of the two.”
Kate Bergeron, who lives nearby on McKinley Street, said she would like to see a development that is more compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
“We can require better for ourselves,” she said.
The conversation alluded to the ongoing push for a moratorium on residential building permits. A group of residents has called for a 180-day stay in order to revamp the city’s land use ordinance, increase the minimum lot size for new homes and make other changes to Westbrook’s zoning code.
“Unfortunately, our ordinance gives us no teeth to dictate what we would like to dictate as far as the layout,” Planning Board member Rebecca Dillon said. “Our ordinance is our ordinance. What people need to realize is they need to be involved when the comprehensive plan is written. We just can’t decide that we’re going to apply the ordinance to one project and not to another.”
The next public hearing has not yet been scheduled, but the planning board will go on a site walk on Nov. 5 at 9 a.m.
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