Picture village centers scattered around Scarborough, with common areas and clustered housing. That’s what the Planning Board is picturing as it pursues zoning changes to several areas of town.

Scarborough officials propose to rezone the Sawyer Road, Gorham Road and Eight Corners areas to create a greater neighborhood feel with higher density residential areas.

The Scarborough Planning Board will hear public comments on Feb. 2 at its meeting before deciding whether to allow comprehensive zoning changes to those areas. The public hearing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Currently the areas are B-2, allowing for retail business and service establishments of virtually any size. The new proposal, recommended by the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee, would change the areas to TVC3, which only allows for retail sales and services up to 1,000 square feet and does not allow businesses to have drive-throughs.

Just outside these areas on Payne Road is the Scarborough Gallery, which is home to large retailers such as Lowe’s and Wal-mart.

The changes would allow Scarborough to monitor the growth of commercial business and create reasonable transitions of development between large commercial areas and residential areas, said Harvey Rosenfeld, executive director of the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation.

“The committee was trying to accommodate everyone in that area,” Rosenfeld said. “This will keep development well controlled without imposing on these areas, such as Eight Corners, but still allow for significant commercial development.”

Not everyone agrees with SEDCO’s view. The zoning changes would hinder significant growth for Scarborough, said Dave Darling, who owns land at 38 and 40 Mussey Road, and Darling’s Bunk Beds on 220 Gorham Road. His three parcels are within the Sawyer Road and Gorham Road areas.

“I bought my property with the understanding that I could build any size business that I want,” Darling said. “They are virtually eliminating any and all retail market interests because no business that’s a regional or national retailer is going to be under 1,000 square feet.”

The changes wouldn’t affect every business in the area, said Bob Skozuvbnski, business manager for Tyco Mechanical, located in the Gorham Road area.

The zoning changes grandfather in existing businesses, but those businesses would need to conform to the new regulations if they wanted to expand, which Skozuvbnski said is a moot point for Tyco.

“We’re at about 5,000 square feet and we can’t really get much bigger,” he said. “It doesn’t really impact us that much.”

The Comprehensive Plan Committee has been working on zoning changes throughout Scarborough for the past two years, Town Planner Dan Bacon said. The town has charged the committee with aligning the town’s zoning to fit in with the comprehensive plan.

The proposed changes, which drew only one speaker – Darling’s father on behalf of Darling at the Jan. 21 Town Council meeting – will encourage wider ranges of housing choices, Bacon said.

Scarborough wants to create more neighborhoods in residential areas with common areas such as parks. That would create more of a village feel in a town that does not have a downtown, Bacon said.

The new zoning changes would allow four “dwelling units” per acre.

“We want to create a village center around these areas,” Bacon said. “Right now the zoning doesn’t match the comprehensive plan and we want to create higher-density residential areas.”

Scarborough had two lightly attended neighborhood meetings late last year discussing the proposed zoning changes. According to town officials, Darling has been the only person to publicly oppose the changes.

The rezoning recommendations also help in developing commercial areas mixed with residential areas without a lot of traffic impact, Scarborough Town Manager Tom Hall said.

“The town continues to be very diligent to implement its comprehensive plan and reaching out to neighborhoods to make communities stronger,” Hall said. “Really increasing density is what it does from the village concept. Rather than have old, tired suburban model of one acre, one lot, we have common open spaces and several units per acre of land.”

That’s all good for residents, Darling said, but he noted that attracting more business to Scarborough would help it increase revenue.

“If you build more houses and more subdivisions then you increase your population, meaning the town needs to spend more in services such as having kids go to school,” Darling said. “New businesses generate revenues through real estate taxes, personal property taxes and impact fees.”