Gray officials hope a public hearing next week will assure residents that “nothing is definite” for a proposal to rezone a residential neighborhood off of Route 26 for commercial and retail development.

The neighborhood, which includes the side street Fairview Avenue, is slightly north of Gray-New Gloucester middle and high schools and the Hannaford Supermarket on Route 26. It is zoned for rural residential and agricultural uses, with the exception of the school grounds (zoned municipal) and the Hannaford (zoned retail).

Since the proposal was discussed at a Town Council meeting Aug. 15, a handful of residents who oppose the rezoning plan have set out to educate the public on the proposal, in response to what they see as a lack of transparency on the proceedings.

Gray Town Manager Deborah Cabana said Tuesday that the purpose of the public hearing, set for Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m., at the Henry Pennell Municipal Complex, is also to provide more details on the rezoning proposal, including the purpose, the history of the project and options for agriculture preservation.

 “We hope to speak to some of the perceptions, and maybe misperceptions (people) have heard,” Cabana said.

The council aims to assure the public that the Route 26 design is “just a concept, and nothing is definite,” Cabana said.

In particular, some residents have objected to concept of “ring roads” that is part of the proposed design and cut through neighborhood homes or back yards. Cabana also said the town “is not going to take property by eminent domain, and not going to force people to sell their homes,” addressing two other concerns that have set some residents on edge.

Sandy Carder, a resident of Fairview Avenue who opposes the rezoning, said she and roughly 10 other residents are handing out informational packets at the transfer station, hanging posters in local businesses and posting on social media.

They are also collecting signatures for a letter to the council, which they plan to present on Oct. 11.

Carder said the town has not provided adequate notice to all residents regarding the proposed changes. The notifications via email and the town website come too close to the meetings, she said, and when they do they don’t provide enough information. As a result, many residents are not aware of the plans.

A notification regarding the Route 26 development was posted to the town website on Monday, Oct. 3, and Cabana said direct mailings were recently sent to residents in the Fairview neighborhoods.

But Carder said all residents should be receiving direct mail about the rezone, because the potential ramifications of the proposal for traffic and local businesses affect all residents.

The proposal would be a “fairly substantial change for the town of Gray,” said Carder, who pointed out that the town promotes itself as a quiet, rural community through its brochures and website.

The downtown business district along Route 100 in Gray is one of the areas Carder and other organizers have brought their posters and informational packets.

Nicky Pinkham, owner of B & R Dairy Bar on Route 100, said she felt “neutral” about the proposed rezoning.

“I think development will happen in both areas, and it wouldn’t be concentrated to one area,” she said.

Several of the businesses in the Gray Plaza are well established, she said, and are fit to survive more competition.

Kathy Harriman, owner of Beaches Tanning, the Gray Laundromat and the plaza in which her businesses are located, said she is opposed to the rezoning.

“Businesses should stay in the center of Gray,” she said, and should be kept separate from the schools and residential area.

“The last thing I want is to see (the rezone) take away from the town,” she said.

Residents hung posters, like the one above, in businesses in the downtown area of Gray. The posters show a map of the proposed rezoning of portions of the Route 26 corridor for commercial and retail development, and inform residents about a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 11. 

The Route 26 corridor in Gray is the site of a proposal to increase commercial and retail development.