WESTBROOK – With Westbrook residents asked to decide a zoning question Tuesday for land between Stroudwater Street and Westbrook Arterial, city officials have taken up another proposal that could impact the area.

On Monday, the Westbrook City Council discussed a proposal to amend the city’s Gateway Commercial Zoning district to include auto dealerships as a permitted use in the zone.

The city’s gateway already features three prominent auto dealerships – Rowe Ford, Lee Auto Mall and Bill Dodge – and some councilors are wary that amending the zone could open the door for additional dealerships.

However, city administration feels that the dealerships should no longer be considered as “nonconforming” in the zone.

Zoning on 60 acres of land between the nearby Westbrook Arterial and Stroudwater Street will be decided by referendum Tuesday. Developer J.B. Brown & Sons of Portland purchased the land in February following the city’s rezone of the property to 45 acres of Gateway Commercial and 15 acres of Residential Growth Area zoning.

Former landowner Jason Snyder, whose goal is to revert the property back to an ambitious contract zone known as Stroudwater Place, collected the necessary petition signatures to add the question to the June 10 ballot.

Snyder has said that he is concerned that if the zone is amended, and the rezoning referendum is unsuccessful, an additional auto dealership could spring up on the J.B. Brown property, a sentiment that City Councilors John O’Hara and Paul Emery echoed Monday.

O’Hara said that his decision not to support the proposal is directly related to J.B. Brown’s property by the arterial, which is zoned as Gateway Commercial.

“If we allow this in the Gateway Commerical zone, I have no doubt in my mind that someone will come along and want to locate a car dealership on that new piece of Gateway Commercial zone adjacent to the arterial, and I would find that to be very troubling,” he said. “Do we really need another car dealership as we enter this community?”

According to City Administrator Jerre Bryant’s council memo this week, Westbrook’s thriving auto dealership market was unforeseen when the current zoning was developed in 2004.

“It was anticipated that these auto dealerships were in decline and would soon be replaced by other businesses,” the memo states. “The exact opposite has been the case, with each of the dealerships expanding, adding new nameplates and investing millions of dollars into their facilities.”

Rowe Ford, which has been in Westbrook since the 1970s, recently invested some $5 million to upgrade the business, also adding Lincoln automobiles to the dealership, according to city officials.

Bryant said that Westbrook officials have recognized “the market and economic forces at work” in the city, and the challenges for dealerships to “grow and invest in ‘nonconforming’ business uses.”

City Planner Molly Just said Monday that she has conflicting feelings on the proposed amendment.

“Dealers are now investing in their properties and that is good for Westbrook,” she said. “Are car dealerships ideal on our gateway? Not at all.”

Just also said that the city has been approached by a new dealership, which is exploring options to move on the Bill Dodge property on Saunders Way, not in the “visible gateway” and not on J.B. Brown’s property.

Councilor Michael Foley took exception with O’Hara’s and Just’s statements, saying that “allowing the dealerships to expand and grow on their existing footprint is important. If the referendum should go in (J.B. Brown’s) favor, I don’t believe that at any time they will make any sort of investment with a facility such as a car dealership.”

“These car dealerships are among our biggest taxpayers, and among our biggest employers,” said Bill Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations. “There could be a lot of things that end up there, but to suggest that by passing this that automatically that means J.B. Brown is going to construct another car dealership is inaccurate and unreasonable.”

Vin Veroneau, president and CEO of J.B Brown & Sons, said Wednesday that his company has no intention of developing an auto dealership on their Westbrook property.

“(The amendment) has no bearing on us because that’s really not the highest or best use for that property, nor do we have any interest in having a dealership on the property,” he said.

The City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the change during a first reading, but Council President Brendan Rielly requested finding a middle-ground, and considered addressing the needs of each dealership through specific contract zones instead of an amendment that could have “unintended or unforeseen consequences.”

City Attorney Natalie Burns suggested that the council make a recommendation to the Planning Board to explore implementing what’s known as an “overlay zone,” which would allow dealerships that are currently developed to expand on their property, while maintaining auto dealerships as a non-permitted use elsewhere in the zone.

The City Council is expected to take up a second reading on the zoning amendment June 16, which will also send a referral to the Planning Board to consider the additional “overlay” zone.

If successful Tuesday, the Stroudwater zoning referendum would see J.B. Brown’s property revert to Snyder’s Stroudwater Place contract zone, which calls for a 1.6-million-square-foot development with retail stores and public amenities.

However, many, including Veroneau, believe the contract zone to be economically and environmentally unfeasible, while Snyder has said that the zone simply calls for a “higher standard of development.”

If the zone change is successful, Veroneau plans to bring the issue to court, arguing that the question posed is illegal, and forces a contract zone on an unwilling private property owner.

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A CLOSER LOOK

Ballot questions: On June 10, the city of Westbrook will present voters with two ballots that contain three questions:

• A referendum on an $8.9 million bond for building/renovating the public services facility;

• The school budget validation referendum on next year’s $34.8 million budget;

• A citizens’ initiative on contract zoning for Stroudwater Place.

• On the state ballot, Democrats Suzanne Salisbury is facing Dillon Bates for the District 35 House seat. In Senate District 25, Democrats Catherine Breen and Stephen Woods will face each other, as will Republicans William Gardiner and David Savage.

Only voters in Wards 1, 4 and 5 will vote on the Senate District 25 and District 35 House seat primaries.

Facility tour: Westbrook residents still have an opportunity to visit the public services and school transportation facility prior to the vote. Westbrook Public Services will hold an open house this Saturday, June 7, from 9 a.m.-noon.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Locations include:

• Wards 1 and 4: Fred C. Wescott Community Building, 426 Bridge St.

• Wards 2 and 3: Westbrook Armory, 120 Stroudwater St. (across from the high school).

• Ward 5: Pride’s Corner Congregational Church, 235 Pride St.

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