WESTBROOK – The new comprehensive plan being proposed for the city of Westbrook tweaks the one adopted in 2000, but will avoid making any sweeping changes.

At a City Council workshop Monday, members of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force outlined a draft proposal of the plan, which has been in the works for about two years.

Craig Freshley, the facilitator of the Westbrook Comprehensive Plan Task Force, said the draft plan does not call for significant changes to the city’s zoning ordinances, but it does suggest making some changes that would allow for more commercial and housing development along the Route 302 corridor.

“Westbrook will pursue changes to the zoning provisions in the Bridgton Road corridor that would enable more compact development with reduced curb cuts and a mix of uses, to include multi-family residential,” reads the plan. “Such development would be consistent with a smaller-scale traditional ‘Main Street’ corridor.”

In the plan, the committee said that the development in that area, which is a major route for commuters to both Portland and the Lakes Region, is generally “1960s style” commercial strips on small lots with each lot having at least one access point (also known as a curb cut), with single family homes interspersed along with the commercial development. In the report, the committee said that the multiple curb cuts on the two-lane road has led to “less than desirable traffic conditions” that could slow down potential economic development along the road. The committee believes the new plan would help ease traffic and encourage more development in that area, bringing more tax revenue to the city.

City Administrator Jerre Bryant said that he doesn’t anticipate that the city will have to do any significant changes to its zoning ordinances when the new plan is finally approved, saying that there were “relatively little” changes compared to the city’s existing comprehensive plan from 2000.

State Rep. Ann Peoples, a member of the task force who also helped develop the city’s comprehensive plan in 2000, said that unlike 10 years ago, when the new comprehensive plan led to major changes, there would be few changes as the result of the new plan. “This is nothing like the first time,” she said.

Peoples explained to the council that in 2000, the city had not updated its comprehensive plan in about 30 years, so the committee at that time was forced to make some major changes simply to bring the plan up to date. Because of those changes to the last plan, Peoples said, Westbrook is in much better shape this time around.

“I wouldn’t be worried at all that anyone is going to see big shocking changes,” Peoples said.

The Comprehensive Plan Task Force will be holding a public meeting on Thursday, April 26, at 7 p.m., in room 114 of Westbrook High School to gather more public input on the draft plan. Following that meeting, the committee will make any necessary changes to the document and then will present the final draft to the City Council for approval. Dave Haskell, the chairman of the task force, said that he thought the final draft would be before the council in about two months.

When the plan is completed, Haskell said, the hope is that Westbrook will have a road map for the next 10 years, though he acknowledged that no plan could completely anticipate everything.

“The future is going to change,” he said, adding that future city administrations and councils could be faced with problems that cannot be anticipated now. He said that the council, as the body with the ultimate decision-making power in the city, would be able to use the new plan to help it make decisions that impact the entire city.

Still, even with the knowledge that no plan is perfect and there might be some bumps in the road, Haskell said he sees a bright future for the city and the new comprehensive plan will play a role in helping to shape that future.

“I really think Westbrook is on the way for the next 10 years to be extremely viable,” he said.