The Gorham Planning Board is being accused of depriving a property owner of her right to be heard Monday after the panel ignored her request to postpone talks on a proposed project because she’d be observing the Jewish New Year.
The issue involves a request from a business to build a garage on Narragansett Street, where abutter Eileen Kalikow opposes the plan.
Kalikow, in an email on Sept. 9, asked the town to postpone the item for a month. “Sept. 14th is one of the most religious holidays of the Jewish religion,” she wrote. “One might equate it to Easter or Christmas.”
Kalikow said Wednesday that no one acknowledged her request to the town for the item to be postponed.
“It was inconsiderate at best and troubling at worst,” Kalikow said.
On Monday, Jews observed Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of a New Year and one of the High Holy Days that includes Yom Kippur, which begins at sundown on Tuesday, Sept. 22.
Portland lawyer David Lourie, representing Kalikow, said Tuesday there’s no doubt she wanted to be heard.
“She was deprived of her right to speak at that meeting,” he said.
The Gorham Planning Board usually is scheduled to meet the first and third Monday of each month, but in September the first Monday fell on Labor Day. So, on Sept. 14, the board met and heard a request from Susan Duchaine of Design Dwellings, who is seeking permission to build a garage at her corporate office at 166 Narragansett St. in the Narragansett Development District.
Kalikow owns abutting property at 162 Narragansett St. Her address, according to Gorham tax records, is Portland.
Duchaine’s quest for a garage has taken several months and this week marked the third time it went to the Planning Board for review. The board last heard the request in July.
“The heart of why we’re here tonight,” Edward Zelmanow, chairman of the Planning Board, said about the item.
But, during the time for public comment, Lourie asked the panel for a vote to table the item. Lourie said his client wasn’t there because of the High Holy Day.
“She wants to be heard,” Lourie said.
Prior to the meeting, Lourie wrote to the town seeking a continuance and indicated denial would “likely be a denial of Ms. Kalikow’s right to accommodation of her rights under the First Amendment.”
Gorham Town Planner Thomas Poirier wrote to Lourie on Sept. 9 that the Sept. 14 meeting was the regularly scheduled meeting for the month and had been scheduled since the beginning of the year.
“The item will be heard on Sept. 14 by the Planning Board. Ms. Kalikow’s comments on the applicant’s proposal can either be submitted in writing prior to the meeting for distribution to the Planning Board and/or counsel can represent her at the meeting,” Poirier wrote.
In Monday’s meeting, the town’s lawyer, Mark Bower, said options for the Planning Board included postponing the matter in entirety or continuing and keeping the public hearing open.
George Fox, a Planning Board member, said the applicant also has rights.
“I’m not in favor of postponing,” Fox said.
No member of the Planning Board made a motion to postpone.
The board continued to hear Duchaine’s request presented by Andrew Morrell, an engineer with BH2M in Gorham. But, after lengthy discussion, the Planning Board decided it wanted Duchaine to provide more information about the building plans and recommended she hire a landscaping consultant.
“This is getting to the point of not passing the straight-face test,” Duchaine said.
The board unanimously voted 6-0 to continue the matter to the board’s Oct. 5 meeting.
“The public hearing is still open,” Zelmanow said.
When asked if there are protocols municipalities should follow in such situations, Eric Conrad, director of communication and educational services at Maine Municipal Association, said, “There is no law saying boards cannot meet on holidays of various faiths but, if asked, our legal staff would advise members to be considerate when requests like that are made,” Conrad said, “By continuing the public hearing to a future date, so as to accommodate the request, that’s what Gorham’s Planning Board did.”
Abraham Peck, a University of Southern Maine professor in Portland who teaches history and the Holocaust, said Tuesday issues such as the one in Gorham are rare. He cited a need for more education in communities, but didn’t believe the Gorham matter was anti-Semitic.
“It was bad form,” Peck said.
Lourie said Tuesday the town “could have and should have” postponed this week’s agenda item as a matter of courtesy.
In Monday’s meeting, Lourie raised concerns about the conditions of approval for the garage that include limiting equipment repairs and excluding storage outside the garage.
Anne Dunbar of 148 Narragansett St., a resident for 33 years, agreed with Lourie. On Wednesday, Dunbar said that the neighborhood is now “more the character of the village” after it was separated from the rest of the Narragansett Development District by the bypass and the roundabout on Narragansett Street.
“I do have concerns about the nature of what’s being built in a residential area,” said Kalikow, who added she’s the only abutter.
In a letter on Tuesday, Sept. 15, to Gorham Code Enforcement Officer Freeman Abbott that Lourie provided to the American Journal, Lourie demanded that Abbott issue a determination about whether the uses and the building “are proper under the zoning ordinance.”
Lourie also indicated in the letter that a Planning Board decision could be appealed to court. Lourie said Tuesday the “whole process” has been disappointing.
Kalikow said Wednesday she is now satisfied that she’d be able to speak at the Oct. 5 meeting.
David Lourie, a lawyer representing Eileen Kalikow, who opposes a project, asks the Gorham Planning Board on Monday to table an item because his client could not attend because of religious beliefs. The item was discussed but continued to Oct. 5.Staff photo by Robert LowellSend questions/comments to the editors.
