Following a developer’s plans to build a large retail store in Lincolnville, the town will vote on a six-month moratorium for all large, non-residential developments. The moratorium is meant to give local officials time to approve additional regulations to protect local waterways and water sources.
About five people spoke in favor of the moratorium during a public hearing Wednesday night, expressing concern about the size of the proposed store and its impact on the local watershed. Residents will now have a chance to vote on the moratorium at a town meeting at 6 p.m. on Dec. 11.
“Seize the opportunity to take the time period and make the thing happen and come out here 180 days later with a set of ordinances that everybody can be proud of,” Dan Leary, one of the supporters, said on Wednesday night.
About 30 people attended the hearing, which was held by the local planning board. Some raised questions about the moratorium, and no one spoke against it.
The moratorium is a response to the recent proposal by a developer to build an unspecified retail store at the intersection of Thurlow Road and Beach Road, in an area called Drake Corner.
Its language indicates that the town is “suddenly under threat” from a large non-residential development. It mentions the potential for such developments to affect local water supplies and cause phosphorus pollution in Megunticook Lake and Norton Pond, which are both on the state’s list for waterways threatened by nonpoint source pollution.
The moratorium would block developments that are considered “major non-residential development projects,” meaning they have over 4,000 square feet of floor area or a parking lot of 20 or more vehicles, among other characteristics.
The “Town’s current ordinances and other applicable laws, if any, are not adequate to prevent serious public harm possibly to be caused by the location of” such projects in town, the proposal states.
South Portland engineering consulting firm Gorill Palmer submitted the pre-application for its project in October, according to the PenBay Pilot. It’s pursuing the project for Primax Properties, a North Carolina company that develops chain businesses such as Tractor Supply Company, Starbucks and Dollar General.
The developers have not publicly identified what store they’re aiming to build in Lincolnville.
The project is the only one currently proposed in the town that would be subject to the moratorium, according to Code Enforcement Officer Frank Therio.
