SOUTH PORTLAND – At a workshop last week the South Portland City Council decided not to pursue a proposal from the Planning & Development Office to change the zoning in Thornton Heights.

The goal of the new commercial zone was to guide redevelopment in that area of the city, specifically to include auto-friendly uses, according to Tex Haeuser, the planning director.

The purpose of the new Thornton Heights Commercial zone was to “provide a higher-density residential and commercial services zone that allows a broad range of retail, commercial, service, entertainment and hospitality uses in an auto-oriented environment.”

The majority of the proposed zone was located on the east side of Main Street, between Main and the rail yard. If implemented, some parts of the new zone would also have applied to properties with frontage on Main and Westbrook streets, as well as the Maine Turnpike spur.

However, after months of discussion regarding the proposed zone, the City Council decided Dec. 8 that instead of changing the zoning there were other ways to address some of the problems on that end of the city, including what former Mayor Gerard Jalbert described as significant urban decay.

At the Planning Board meeting on Dec. 9, Haeuser said, “The council ended the effort for the second zone on Main Street-Thornton Heights. The majority of councilors didn’t accept the concept that offering a zoning incentive would be sufficient to bring (in new) development and thought there may be simpler, more direct ways to help what’s going on (there).”

The proposed zone change became controversial last spring and summer when it appeared it would include the city-owned lot at the corner of Westbrook and Main streets, possibly paving the way for a new 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts store.

In a hard-fought battle, Congregation Bet Ha’am, among others, was able to convince the council that the possibility of putting a commercial development next door to the award-winning structure was not a good idea.

Following several meetings and many hours of public comment this past spring and summer, the City Council failed to pass the original Thornton Heights Commercial zone in mid-May, but in mid-June it sent the new zoning proposal back to the Planning Board under the compromise that it would not include the city-owned lot.

However, last week, the newly elected council made it clear it had no intention of passing the new Thornton Heights zone, which went through four drafts before being left on the table.

– Kate Irish Collins