BIDDEFORD — A proposal to rezone a parcel on the Guinea Road has some Biddeford residents up in arms. The Biddeford City Council, which considered the matter on June 18, tabled it for a second time and sent the proposal back to the Planning Board with a mandate to review and recommend whether or not the rezoning should be approved.

Applicant Van Hertel Jr. is requesting to rezone a portion of an 18-acre parcel at 226 Guinea Road from Rural Farm to Suburban Residential. According to the Biddeford Online Assessment Database, Hertel, of Scarborough, purchased the vacant lot in 2014 for $138,500; the property is assessed at $104,200.

A portion of Hertel’s parcel is located in the SR-1 zone, but the largest portion of the lot is zoned RF.

Previously, the Planning Board had recommended that the rezoning request be denied, but changes have been made to the plans. While some on the council said the changes represent a good compromise, members voted to have the board to reconsider its recommendation in lieu of the changes.

Neighbors and others concerned about environmental issues of the wooded lot are hoping the Planning Board will again recommend against the zone change and that the City Council will follow suit.

According to the Biddeford Land Development Regulations, part of the city’s Code of Ordinances, a SR zone is generally constituted of single-family homes on large parcels with public sewer and water or just one or the other (the proposal calls for adding public water only to the site) while RF zones allow for agricultural and residential uses. Because only water will be added to the site, both zones require 20,000 square foot lots per residence, and could potential allow the same number of dwelling units, which have been suggested to be between six and 10 homes. However, the RF zones requires a subdivision to have cluster development, which the applicant does not want to do as it would require the creation of an internal road onto the site.

Initially Hertel requested that the entire parcel be zoned SR-1, but after listening to concerns raised by the Planning Board and members of the public, the revised request would rezone only a 300-feet deep section of the land running parallel to the Guinea Road, according to a May 13 letter to Mayor Alan Casavant and the Biddeford City Council from the applicant’s agent William Thompson, a project manager with the engineering firm BH2M based in Gorham. The remaining land would remain in the RF zone.

On June 18, Planning Director Greg Tansley told the council that the applicant would put the undeveloped land in a conservation easement with the city the likely holder of the easement and it would have the authority over its disposition.

The applicant is asking that the area be rezoned, Thompson said, because subdivision development in the RF zone must be cluster development, with a portion of the parcel designated as open space to be left in its natural state.

“A cluster development does not allow us to the Guinea Road frontage for new lots and requires and internal road and to provide legal frontage for each lot,” Thompson said. “Our position on the RF zone development is, that with the new paved internal road, you create impervious to manage stormwater and impact the conservation goals.”

“Our proposal is to extend public water along the north side of the Guinea Road. With this utility the development density would be very similar in either the SR-1 or RF zone,” he said.

The goal of cluster development is provide open space, but the new plan would do the same thing, Tansley said on June 18.

“I do believe this is actually the best result for the city and the proponent of this zone change,” he said.

“I actually think the compromise is a reasonable good outcome,” Councilor Stephen St. Cyr said. However, he said he wanted the Planning Board to revisit the issue.

But not everyone felt the revised request was persuasive. Members of the public who spoke on June 18, said they were against rezoning the property.

Neighbors of the parcel said they don’t want the property to be rezoned because they are afraid a new subdivision will lead to more water runoff on their property.

Guinea Road resident Carol Brown said “I live across the road from the property … my biggest concern is water runoff.” She said she already gets runoff and is afraid more homes and more impervious surface will make the matter worse.

Dennis Letellier who also lives on Guinea Road near the property that may be rezoned voiced similar concerns. He said the area where the homes would be developed “is total ledge. … and ledge does not absorb water it disperses it.” He said the subdivision will produce a lot of water “and it’s going to go down to my property.”

In addition to concerns from neighbors, others who have followed the project are those concerned about the environment.

Biologist Mark Ward, who did consulting work for the Biddeford Conservation Commission, said the area lies within the largest undeveloped block of habitat east of the interstate with a high concentration of wetlands. It lies within the Biddeford-Kennebunkport Vernal Pool complex which has been designated a natural area of statewide ecological significance, he said.

In a March 4 memo to the Planning Board, Ward said he has conducted field work on the Cranberry March North property which abuts the Guinea Road property on the west side and found several potential vernal pools including a significant vernal pool which “affords it protections for the associated wildlife value.” While this area is within a conservation easement, he said it could be “compromised by impacts to adjacent lands.”

On June 18, Ward said the RF zoning of the parcel “is intended to protect some of those biological values that are associated with the vernal pool complex.”

Conservation Commission member Richard Rhames also spoke against the rezoning.

“There are reasons for trying to keep rural Biddeford rural,” Rhames said. “Biddeford has a built core where it’s cheaper to provide services, it’s more efficient.”

After the Planning Board reconsiders the rezoning request, it will be up to the City Council to decide whether or not to grant it.

— Managing Editor Dina Mendros can be contacted at 780-9014 or dmendros@journaltribune.com

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