A Rockland couple has asked city councilors to exclude their waterfront Samoset Road neighborhood from proposed new zoning rules or scale back the rules, arguing that the changes would increase the likelihood of another landslide like the one that destroyed two homes there in 1996.
The zoning amendments Rockland is making are partially in response to state legislation passed in 2022, L.D. 2003, which requires municipalities to conform to standards meant to encourage more housing development. Some of these standards include allowing more than one unit to be built on a lot already zoned for single-family dwelling and permitting denser housing developments.
Rockland City Council started making the changes in its Dec. 11 meeting, when council gave initial approval to zoning ordinance changes that could promote denser housing by halving minimum lot sizes and reducing the minimum street frontage in some residential zones.
The changes also would allow accessory dwelling units in some residential zones, as is required by L.D. 2003.
At the Monday night meeting, the council postponed voting on the zoning changes to allow the planning board to hold a public hearing, as is required by law, according to the Courier-Gazette. That hearing is scheduled for Jan. 16.
One person who spoke at the council meeting, state Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, supported the proposed zoning changes, the Courier-Gazette reported. Geiger said the impact would not be huge, but that allowing accessory dwelling units can help older people continue to live in their homes while their families live on the same property.
But an attorney for the couple at 41 Samoset Road, Jim and Lucy Ebbert, submitted a letter to councilors on Saturday challenging some aspects of the proposal.
The attorney, Kristin Collins of Augusta, said that the current zoning amendment goes beyond what state law requires, allowing even denser development in the Samoset Road area. Collins also alleged the zoning amendment is illegal because Rockland’s 2022 Comprehensive Plan states that the area where the Ebberts live is susceptible to erosion.
The Ebberts were in the process of buying their home when the area suffered the 1996 landslide that destroyed two houses. Collins said in the letter that the risk for future landslides from climate change-related erosion affects the Ebberts’ safety and property value, and that denser development would exacerbate that risk.
Through their attorney, the Ebberts are requesting that Rockland either limit its new housing rules to those required by L.D. 2003, or exempt the areas around Samoset Road and nearby Waldo Road from the zoning amendments. In the letter, Collins said the Ebberts are willing to take “all necessary legal actions to block these zoning changes” if the council does not conform to their requests.
This is not the first time James Ebbert has challenged the Rockland City Council over zoning rules. In 2019, he sued the city over sweeping residential zoning changes that were later repealed.