WINDHAM–After holding several well-attended public hearings and receiving numerous letters and e-mails from affected residents of a proposed South Windham zoning change, the Windham Town Council Tuesday night by killed a proposal that would have allowed denser housing in the Chute and River roads area of South Windham.

The council’s action surprised those residents who lamented the zone change proposal, saying it would ruin the reason they moved to rural South Windham. Those same residents applauded Councilor Scott Hayman’ motion to “postpone indefinitely” the zoning change.

Councilors didn’t express during the meeting what went into their decision of why to abandon the rezoning plan. After the meeting, Councilor Matt Noel said the heavy feedback influenced him and fellow councilors.

“It was based on the information, comments, questions, concerns, so it was like, look, the timing was not right. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be right at some future date, it just simply means it’s not ready for now, it’s not adopted, it’s not going to be considered and it’s tabled. I think it’s a good way to say, we’re done with it,” Noel said.

While the council showed indications prior to public comment that it was leaning toward rejecting the rezoning that would have reduced minimum lot sizes from 2 acres to a half-acre, residents still took their opportunity to comment once again on the divisive issue.

Matthew LaBranche of Betty Lane went after the town staff and council in his comments, saying they had ulterior motives in bringing forth the proposal.

“I really feel that the way this was … bordering on being dishonest. I really mean that. I’m not pointing any fingers, but I think we all know what’s going on here. This is about one piece of property in this zone. This is about a developer who invested money in it, and he wants his money back. And that’s all this is about,” LaBranch said. “You don’t know how much stress and sleepless nights you caused the people of this community over this.”

LaBranch was referring to a 50-acre parcel on Chute Road targeted for a housing subdivision by a team of developers. The developers have delayed construction due to the economic downturn. Increasing density would have allowed the developers to create more units per acre.

Councilor Peter Busque, a housing developer and quarry operator in several Lakes Region towns, including Windham, denied LaBranch’s allegations that he and others on the board were in favor of the zone change merely to help themselves or developers in town. Busque said the land use ordinance committee was merely acting on the town’s approved 2003 Comprehensive Master Plan, which calls for denser housing in South Windham, including the areas near Chute Road that were under consideration.

“Actually I was asked if my land would want to be included in (the zone) and I said no, I don’t want to because it’s not going to look right,” Busque said. “None of us are guilty of anything. The only thing we did is go by the comprehensive plan. We’ve had our public meetings, we’ve made our comments, and we’re (about to) make our decision. And that’s it. I don’t know where you guys are getting this … nothing’s crooked about it. Please believe us.”

Windham farmer Allen Pollock rose to suggest that the appearance of the council wanting to help developers is probably the result of the makeup of the land use ordinance committee, which he said should instead be made up of a wider cross-section of the community, rather than just people who have housing development ties.

After the meeting, Noel spoke to Pollock’s concerns regarding the committee members’ professional affiliations. The committee was formed by the council after the November 2009 election and was designed to help align current ordinances with the town’s comprehensive plan.

“It’s an interesting perspective. When we formed the land use ordinance committee, it took a long time to get the applications to be appointed, to be interviewed and to be reviewed, so again no one was really interested at that time,” Noel said. “So it’s hard to say, oh, we should have done it earlier, because we went through it, it was an open application process, everybody was invited. To say it could have been done before, we didn’t have a crystal ball that said we were going to look at this particular subject (zoning in South Windham). So I think we’re going through the process. Sometimes it doesn’t end up in the right way, but I think this one ended up with a result that everyone’s content with.”

Busque also addressed Pollock’s assertion that the land use committee, of which Busque is a member, isn’t representative of the community as a whole. Busque said there were few applicants for the land use ordinance committee and that preference was given to those with land use experience.

“It’s similar to working on your car, do you want a medical doctor to work on your car or do want someone that’s in the business to work on land use ordinances,” Busque said.

Pollock said a cross-section where different interest groups are represented would have prevented the impression that the committee was stacked in favor of developers.

“If you have a dominance of one type of value sets from the beginning of considerations, you already have created a domino effect that it’s going to go that way instead of that way,” he said.