WESTBROOK – The Westbrook City Council voted unanimously on Dec. 3 to adopt a series of protocols from the Greater Portland Economic Development Corp. to deal with businesses looking to relocate to Westbrook from neighboring communities.

According to Westbrook City Administrator Jerre Bryant, the new protocols, which will be adopted by the Greater Portland Economic Development Corp. member communities of Westbrook, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Portland, Scarborough and South Portland, says that those communities will “not actively prospect for businesses in neighboring communities and, provided such a business has not asked for discussions to remain confidential, provides for acknowledging to the other community that one of their businesses is looking at a potential relocation.”

Incorporated in 2011, the Greater Portland Economic Development Corp. coordinates planning for business development, retention and expansion in its member communities. Bill Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations, told the City Council that the reasoning behind the new guidelines was to prevent member communities from enticing businesses from other member communities.

“It’s put in place purely to prevent us from business poaching,” he said.

“I think there’s a lot of precedent for setting up that protocol,” Westbrook Mayor Colleen Hilton said, explaining that during the recent battle between Pike Industries and Idexx, there were many reports of neighboring communities trying to get Idexx to abandon its expansion plans in Westbrook and relocate to their community.

The new protocols do not stop communities from talking to businesses about relocation if the business comes to the community on its own, Baker said.

In other news, the council voted 6-0 (Councilor Mike Foley abstaining) to approve the sale of two city-owned .19-acre house lots on Rochester and Haskell streets.

Foley recused himself from the vote because he was the high bidder for the Haskell Street lot. His bid of $45,001 was the higher of the two bids for the lot. According to Baker, the second bid was from Christy Arnett of Gorham, a sales agent for the South Portland-based Maine Real Estate Network. Baker said Arnett’s bid was for $37,500.

Before recusing himself from the vote, Foley, who said he plans on building his residence on the lot, said he did not believe he had any advantage in the bidding due to his position on the council.

“It was a sealed bid process,” he said. “I submitted (my bid) like any other citizen could.”

Arnett was the only bidder for the Rochester Street lot, submitting a bid of $37,500. In bid documents supplied by the city, Arnett said she planned to build a single-family house on the lot and put that house up for sale as soon as it was finished.

Before putting them up for sale, the city had owned the lots for 11 years, acquiring the strip of land when the area was being developed for the nearby Public Safety Building.

Baker said the land was part of the old railroad right of way, and when that was abandoned by the railroad, the city acquired the land and subdivided it into two house lots.

The council also unanimously set the sewer rates for 2013, and residents will see a slight increase in their bills as a result of the vote. The base monthly fee of $5 will remain unchanged, but the council approved a 29-cent increase in the usage fee, from $5.84 per 100 cubic feet used to $6.13 per 100 cubic feet.