BIDDEFORD — The Biddeford Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee met Thursday night to discuss the city’s future Comprehensive Plan, with zoning and vegetation removal at Biddeford Municipal Airport being the main talking points.
Committee member Jeff Miller said he would like to see Biddeford’s zoning ordinance simplified. Miller said the ordinance as it is currently is “mind-bogglingly complex.”
“There needs to be some thoughtful editing, even if it’s over time, to make it more user-friendly and transparent,” he said.
City Planner Greg Tansley, who led the discussion, agreed with Miller, saying he would support a Comprehensive Plan “that says we need to clean up the ordinance.”
Miller also said given the city’s current makeup, he feels a village zoning approach, in which zoning would rely more on an area’s characterstics, might be worth pursuing.
Certain areas within Biddeford “have a clear village characteristic,” he said, and “in order to really preserve the character of Biddeford … it makes sense to look at those as areas that should be zoned more as a village.”
Committee member Donna Tippett echoed Miller’s opinion, saying that she believes villages, or “character districts,” could increase the protection of areas that may be ecologically vulnerable. Earlier in the meeting, resident and former city councilor Richard Rhames spoke about his concerns over damaging Biddeford’s vernal pool complex through development.
“By defining the character, I think (an area) becomes better identified,” said Tippett. “I think there’s a lot of value in it and we should pursue it.”
Rhames also spoke to committee members about the nearly $1 million project to address safety concerns at Biddeford Municipal Airport. The project, which is now in its early stages, was approved by the City Council in February and will be funded largely by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Trees close to the airport’s runway have grown taller than the height the FAA considers safe, and the project will primarily serve to clear those trees from the area.
Rhames, who has fought against the project from its inception, called it an effort to “essentially nuke that area,” which, from an ecological standpoint, happens to be healthily vegetated. He said he was concerned in particular with how the project could affect Richardson Brook, which flows through the area.
Two committee members asked if a study had ever been done to assess the economic benefit, if any, of maintaining an airport in Biddeford.
The committee also pondered the volume of traffic that passes through the airport. Even if the airport were able to increase its traffic, Tippett said she believes that could have a negative effect on the city as a whole by lowering home values near the airport.
“If the goal is to increase traffic, you may lose some really good neighborhoods in the process,” she said.
Tansley clarified that the project will not expand the airport, but simply make it safer for pilots to depart from and land there. He said next Wednesday the Planning Board will hold a public hearing regarding the airport project.
— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or averzoni@journaltribune.com.