WESTBROOK – Westbrook residents will get a chance to weigh in on the future rules for yard sales at a public hearing on Sept. 3, before they are adopted by the city.

Members of Westbrook’s Planning Board, meeting Tuesday, held their first discussion on the yard sale rules, as well changes to the comprehensive plan. The board also heard an update on the downtown improvement plan and the new natural gas fuel station on County Road. All four measures were approved by the board for next steps.

The board looked at adding a condition to the land use ordinance to make yard sales an accessory use, which will allow the code enforcement officer to regulate those yard sales that are held frequently enough to be considered a business.

The new definition, from Molly Just, city planner, allows yard sales to be held twice in a calendar year for no more than two days in a row from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Those holding the sale would not need a license or permit to operate, so the policing would be up to the neighbors and not necessarily the city.

“It’d be up to the neighbors to look out what’s best for the neighborhood,” Just said.

If a neighbor did notice someone holding yard sales frequently and causing traffic congestion and other problems, it would eventually fall to Rick Gouzie, code enforcement office, to deal with the matter.

According to Lynda Adams, city clerk, both Scarborough and South Portland have each adopted yard sale ordinances in which each property can have two permits for yard sales, which cost $5 each, every six months and each sale can last no more than three days.

The board also approved holding a public hearing on Sept. 17 for review of the comprehensive plan, which was marked as “incomplete” under state standards when it was reviewed by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the Department of Environmental Protection, among others.

“Much of the development in Westbrook had been here before zoning and long-range planning came in from the state of Maine, and sometimes it’s hard to rectify that with some of what the state would like to see,” Just said during the meeting.

Just said her office has already addressed many of the issues the state had with the plan by simply adding more information on programs that are now under way or that weren’t implemented at the beginning of the year, including the addition of a Capital Improvement Program, the new ramps and floats and clarification of other responsibilities in the plan.

“The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, formerly the State Planning Office, found that we did not adequately assign responsibility and a timeline for implementation of the state-required strategies and recommendations and that we did not provide a thorough enough Capital Improvement Program,” said Just in a memo to staff members.

The memo also said the changes would not be characterized as substantive.

Also Tuesday, the Planning Board awarded two waivers on the plan sketches for the downtown improvement plan, which changed the size requirements for driving areas and parking spots at the new parking lot being developed as part of the plan.

Just said six new parking spots will be reserved for compact vehicles and therefore could be slightly smaller than a regular-sized parking spot.

The parking lot will be part of the rebuilding of the Edward Block public parking lot in an effort to make downtown areas look more uniform, according to Just.

Pedestrian improvements to the downtown area are piggybacking on a project by the Maine Department of Transportation that will rebuild the Bridge Street bridge on the current Bridge Street spur and build a separate multi-use bridge on the foundation of the old bridge.

The city, using a Community Development Block Grant and other funding, is financing improvements to replace pedestrian infrastructure lost during the construction and improve the open-space amenities for the 5,000 residents who live within 10 minutes of the downtown area.

Some other aspects of the project include widening the sidewalks on Main Street, rebuilding a driveway to the existing public parking lot behind the Bank of America and constructing an overlook deck on Saccarappa Park.

Just said the project will go to bid this fall and is expected to start in the spring of next year and completed by the spring of 2016. The full cost of the city’s share of the project is still unknown.

A new filling station with cheaper, more environmentally friendly fuel is headed for the Casella /Pine Tree Waste transfer station on County Road.

American Natural Gas, owners of natural gas stations across the country, will build an unmanned compressed natural gas fuel station at the transfer station to fuel the waste managements fleet and, eventually, other vehicles.

The gas is pumped into the vehicle much like how a traditional gas pump operates. But the gas can only be used for vehicles that are made to handle the fuel source.

The building will be metal sided with two pumping stations. Construction is expected to start this fall.