By Zack Anchors

Staff Writer



The City of South Portland is seeking feedback from residents,
organizations and businesses regarding a project to update and improve
the city’s land use regulations. The newly established “Zoning
Improvements Committee” held their first meeting and a public forum was
held last week at the library.



“Our first step is to reach out to people who have involvement with the
city’s ordinance,” said city planning consultant Mark Eyerman of
Planning Decisions, who has been contracted to work with the committee
on the project. “What do they see as the problems? What do they think
can be improved? And how can we improve it?”



South Portland’s land use regulations—most of which are found in
Chapter 27, the zoning section of the code of ordinance—are widely
considered to be out-of-date, overly complex, and occasionally,
contradictory. The project, which is expected to take at least 18
months, is intended to create land use regulations more aligned with
the current needs of South Portland residents and the city’s
comprehensive plan.



City councilors have repeatedly stressed the significance of the
project and emphasized the opportunity they say it provides for the
city.



“This is exactly how local government affects you the most,” said
Councilor Claude Morgan, who said the city had the chance to rework the
land use ordinance starting with a clean slate. “This should be a
massively creative project,” he said.



On Aug. 18, Tex Haeuser, director of the planning board, sent out a
letter to dozens of businesses and organizations requesting they share
their concerns about land use regulations and ideas about how it could
be improved. Haeuser said he asked that responses to his letter be
submitted to the town by Sept. 29, though he added that public input
would continue to be accepted throughout the project.



The public forum, which was held at the main library, began with
several members of the Zoning Improvements Committee introducing
themselves to the small crowd of less than ten present. The committee
was designed to include members representing a broad range of interest
throughout the city, with representatives from the conservation
commission, neighborhood associations, business community and planning
board. Mayor Maxine Beecher is the committee chair.



Several residents attending the forum made comments about the project,
including Highland Avenue resident Stanley Cox, who agreed the
ordinance needed revision, but asked the city to do so with caution.
Cox said he hoped the city would take into account the needs and
desires of current residents, and not focus entirely on the future of
the city. He also addressed the possibility of requiring increased
setbacks for development, which he said would not accomplish much in
areas that were already highly developed.



“It’s a little late for that,” he said. “That should be way down on the list of priorities.”



Rommy Brown, president of the Knightville-Mill Creek Neighborhood
Association, said her group was working on putting together a response
to Haeuser’s letter. Among the issues they discussed, she said, were
the need to simplify the ordinance’s language and the use of zoning as
a tool to revitalize neighborhoods



“Knightville has been tweaking zoning in our neighborhood for some time now,” she said.



Brown also said her group wants South Portland to implement policies that are environmentally sound.



“We hope that South Portland can be made a model of green design,” she
said, listing streetscaping, walkability, and the avoidance of invasive
species as items to consider.



Brown also encouraged the committee to consider adopting form-based
codes in place of the city’s current zoning ordinance, a change she
said would lead to clearer regulations and stronger community centers.



“It’s a relatively new way of accomplishing zoning that’s associated
with smart growth,” she said in an interview. “It’s a way to have
zoning that says what the community wants instead of what the community
doesn’t want—it’s prescriptive rather than proscriptive.”



City Councilor Rosemarie DeAngelis also spoke at the forum in favor of
form-based codes, which bases land use regulations more on the desired
outcome of development, rather than on restricting land-use types.
Form-based codes involve creating a regulatory plan that outlines the
appropriate scale and form of development in a given area.



“I also support the idea of form-based codes instead of performance
standards,” said DeAngelis, adding that they would allow the city to
“codify design standards.”



“The closest we’ve come to [form-based codes] here is implementing
design standards in the Knightville neighborhood,” DeAngelis said in an
interview. “Implementing form-based codes would make standards
regulatory, not advisory.”



Haeuser said form-based code “will be something the committee will want to research and consider.”



DeAngelis also asked the committee to consider establishing
environmental regulations that go beyond Department of Environmental
Protection standards and encouraged the committee to reach their
decisions through consensus rather than voting.



City Councilor Linda Boudreau said land use regulations should take
into account the effect of development on adjacent properties. She said
that buffering these properties from “visual blight, noise and light”
should be required.



“Different types of buffering should be considered, with lots of flexibility,” she said.



Preserving open spaces and wetlands were priorities that Michele
Benington of the Meeting House Hill Neighborhood Association thought
the committee should focus upon. She said the committee should consider
creative approaches to environmental regulations and asked if it would
be possible to implement a moratorium on new development until the
committee’s work is complete.



At the first meeting of the committee, on Sept. 8, Haeuser presented
the steps that will be taken in the process of changing the ordinance.
Recommendations from the committee, after undergoing review by city
staff, incorporating public input, and passing through reviews by the
planning board and zoning board of appeals, will be considered by the
city council at a council workshop. Ultimately, the council will hold a
first and second hearing before the council votes on the recommended
changes.

The zoning improvements project was first proposed in 1999 as part of
Project PLAN, an effort headed by Boudreau (who was then Mayor) to
explore the competing demands for different land uses in the city. This
year the city was awarded a $12,000 grant from the Maine State Planning
Office for the project.