The Westbrook City Council is going to discuss Monday a zone change that would allow Sandy River Health Systems to build a retirement community off Stroudwater Street.
Sandy River is asking the city to rezone more than 50 acres of land to allow it to build a 200-unit community that would include condominiums for independent seniors with an assisted living apartment complex and the existing nursing home.
While the merits of the project are still up for debate, one thing is clear: It has taken far too long for the process to reach this point. The owners of Sandy River Health Systems have been waiting since August for a vote on this, and they deserve an answer, even if it’s “no.”
The phrase the “gears of government grind slowly” is well worn for a reason. However, Westbrook seems to have given new meaning to this clichA?©.
At this point, the city is in danger of gaining a reputation as a place that is hard to do business. Once that happens, it will be impossible for Westbrook to sustain any viable economic growth.
On Aug. 1, the council held a lengthy public hearing on the zone change, but then elected to table the question and send it to the Economic and Community Development Committee for further discussion to determine how the project would affect traffic on Spring and Stroudwater streets.
It seemed on Dec. 5 the committee was ready to finally send the zone change to the council for a vote. But councilors, concerned about the absence of Councilor Drew Gattine, chose to set the question aside yet again. (Gattine has expressed concern about the project.) As a result, the vote was delayed almost six weeks, until this Monday night.
The council needs to hold two votes on the question, as required by Westbrook’s city ordinance. Councilors could have voted in December, and there still would have been time for Gattine to weigh in before the second vote. Additionally, the delay was extended because the council was unwilling to hold a second meeting in December, something the administration suggested as a possible solution that night.
A Sandy River owner said, while he could appreciate the council’s position, he expressed frustration at being put off yet again. “I wish we could precipitate a vote tonight,” Michael Prior, one of Sandy River’s owners, told the council. “I don’t want to see this wait. It costs us money, and it jeopardizes the project.”
Prior’s words should be taken seriously. While we can certainly applaud the council for wanting to make sure a project is right for the city, that caution can be costly for the people proposing the project.
On Dec. 5, Sandy River had three people at the meeting to answer questions, only to be told there would be no action taken. It gets expensive and frustrating for companies to send employees to meetings, both in time and money. And the legal fees racked up by lawyers waiting in the audience while the council debates can certainly put a crimp in the bottom line.
Also, as projects get delayed, developers run the very real risk of interest rates suddenly going up, making it more expensive to finance their project.
With a freshly sworn-in City Council in place, there is an opportunity to make a fresh start in 2006. We urge the council, and the entire city government to make an effort to cut the red tape that seems to bind some projects here. The city shouldn’t open the floodgates for every idea that comes down the pike, but sometimes a quick and decisive “no” is better than a long, drawn-out “maybe.”
After all, the idea is to promote Westbrook’s growth, and a city that has a reputation for dragging its feet on projects will eventually stop having any proposals to consider. In other words, you can’t grow by standing still.
The owners of Sandy River have been patient thus far, and they have done everything the city has asked of them only to continually be put off. They deserve a definitive answer from the council Monday night.
Mike Higgins, assistant editor
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