A developer is asking Gorham for a contract zone to develop a business park on land adjacent to a medical facility off County Road.
Hans Hansen, 69, said Tuesday the business park could include food outlets, filling station, day care center, banks or other professional buildings.
“It’s going to set an example for future development in Gorham,” Hansen said Tuesday.
The 25-acre parcel, which includes the Mercy Gorham Crossing site, at the intersection of routes 22 and 114, sits in two zones – rural and suburban residential. The parcel contains eight future business lots, Hansen said.
The Gorham Town Council sent Hansen’s request for a contract zone to the Planning Board, which briefly discussed it Monday. Next, planners will review the request in a workshop tentatively scheduled for Monday, Aug. 22.
The Planning Board will schedule a public hearing on Hansen’s proposal and develop Planning Board recommendations for the Town Council.
Gorham Town Planner Thomas Poirier said in a July 26 letter to the Planning Board that contract zoning is a “land use regulation where the local government allows a private party to rezone a parcel of land,” but with limitations or restrictions set by the town.
Tom Ellsworth, director of Gorham Economic Development Corp., said the contract zone would expand allowable uses.
“I think once he gets approval there’ll be offers on the table,” Ellsworth said.
The contract zoning proposal comes during a troubled economy, but that hasn’t cooled Hansen’s hopes.
“The economy will improve,” Hansen said. “I think things will turn around. All this is a little bump in the road.”
According to Charles Colgan, a former state economist who is a professor in the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine, Hansen has the right attitude.
“Anybody with financing and a good business plan should consider moving ahead,” Colgan said, “as borrowing costs and construction costs are very low.
Gorham is an area that is seeing growth and the movement of these types of jobs into communities like Gorham is a trend that has been under way for some time, so it’s probably a reasonable bet, though it may take a while to fully realize its potential.”
Developer Susan Duchaine, president of Design Dwellings in Gorham, remains optimistic she’ll have customers for lots now available in her Vista Park, a commercial/office project. It was approved two years ago for five units at the intersection of Main Street and Mosher Road.
Although she has some interested parties, none of the lots have been sold. “The economy isn’t exactly booming,” Duchaine said Tuesday.
For-sale signs dot Hansen’s parcels and he said he and his real estate broker have been talking to a lot of people.
“A possible bank is interested in coming in,” Hansen said.
Besides selling lots, Hansen said he’d also be willing to construct a building for a tenant.
The site is where Hansen opened an agricultural building, Hansen’s Farm Market, a decade ago. Then, he was granted approval in 2006 from the town for a development plan that included three greenhouses and a barn on the farm market lot. He also was approved for six residential homes and a 6,000-square-foot day care center for 50 children.
As part of its approval, the town required Hansen to pay for widening the intersection in front of the business and upgrade the traffic signal. Hansen said he paid more than $500,000 for intersection and road improvements.
Even though he was granted approval for the development, none of the projects were built.
But two years ago, he negotiated a deal that brought a new Mercy Hospital facility to Gorham. It’s located in the renovated farm market building. Now, Hansen has elected to dedicate the entire site for business use. The day care remains a possibility, but Hansen has dropped plans for the six houses.
“The two don’t mix,” he said.
Hansen didn’t speak at Monday’s Planning Board meeting. Consulting engineer Thomas Greer, of Pinkham and Greer, introduced the contract zone proposal to the Planning Board. Greer said contract zoning would make a difference in marketing.
Under contract zoning, the town would impose conditions. The town wants Hansen to contribute $10,000 for each lot sold toward a future sewer extension. The sewer line ends now about two miles away on South Street.
“We’re contributing to public infrastructure, they need a sewer for the future,” Hansen said.
The town also would likely charge a $500 contract zone application fee for each lot when it is sold.
The town would restrict building and lot designs to a traditional New England village character type. Town conditions would also require 75 feet of landscaping between lots and routes 22 and 114.
“I want the neighbors to be proud of what we’re doing,” Hansen said,
Hansen said there would be no parking in front of buildings and parking lots would be interconnected. No new entrances or exits from the highway would be allowed.
In Monday’s meeting, Poirier said contract zoning projects need to be compatible with uses in the district. Other Gorham businesses in Hansen’s vicinity include a farm market, a nursery and an auto parts store in addition to a church. A mile away in North Scarborough, businesses on County Road (Route 22) include a filling station, restaurant, convenience store and a doughnut shop.
The town said permitted uses in Hansen’s proposal could include convenience stores, funeral homes and sit-down restaurants. A drive-through business would require Town Council approval, as would light industry such as bakeries or labs.
Some town officials envision South Gorham as an area attracting more business. But the area is plagued with rush-hour traffic congestion and the town, one of four municipalities participating in the Gorham East-West Corridor Study, is seeking relief.
“A lot of us are waiting to hear what happens with the turnpike,” Brenda Caldwell, vice chairwoman of the Gorham Town Council, said Tuesday.
The first phase of the study recommended one scenario of a toll road connecting the Maine Turnpike to the area of the southern end of the Bernard P. Rines Bypass, a short distance from Hansen’s property. If a turnpike spur materializes, Caldwell said, land in that area would be prime.
Hansen said the town needs additional business and believes his proposed business park would be a template for development in Gorham.
“We’ll work with the town and see what happens,” Hansen said.
Developer Hans Hansen seeks Gorham permission to build a
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