For the second consecutive year, Damariscotta citizens will decide whether to approve a zoning amendment that would allow commercial development in the area known as Piper Commons.
Last year, Damariscotta voters overwhelmingly rejected a land use ordinance amendment known as the Damariscotta SmartCode.
The proposal before voters this year, to shift six properties entirely or partially in the rural zone to the existing commercial C-2 zone, is very different, yet, like the SmartCode, has met with criticism from some in the community.
The referendum question reads, “Shall the Town enact changes to the existing Land Use Ordinance of January 21, 2009 and the Land Use Map of the Town of Damariscotta dated June 9, 2010 as accepted by the Planning Board? The changes would result in extending the Commercial C2 District from 423 Main Street (currently Damariscotta Hardware) eastward to Heater Road by converting all or portions of the following lots from the Rural District to the Commercial C2 District: Map 1, Lots 56-1, 53, 50, 51, 52, 58 and converting all of Lot 57 Map 1 to the Rural District. A copy of the proposed amended ordinance and map is on file with the Town Clerk and posted with this warrant.”
The town lists Damariscotta Development as the owner of lots 52 and 58 and Great Salt Bay Development as the owner of lot 50.
A third company, Piper Village Development, manages the properties. The same group of investors controls all the companies, one of the investors said.
Bowdoinham businessman Glenn Flanders is the majority owner and managing partner of Piper Village Development. The other investors include Phippsburg architect Frank Roberts and his wife, Barbara Roberts; another couple and two individuals.
Flanders has identified the individuals only as friends and former business partners, including an accountant, a commercial banker and a small business owner, all Maine residents. They have invested capital in the project but do not play any role in management, he said.
Richard York owns lot 51, Chester Rice, lot 53, and “Lincoln Block,” a company or trust, 56-1.
The amendment would have the most significant impact on the Piper Village and Rice properties. The Lincoln Block property already lies almost entirely inside the commercial zone, while the York lot, a comparatively small residential lot, is bisected by the zone boundary.
The majority of lots 50 and 52 lie in the rural district, as does the entirety of lot 58.
The Lincoln County Rifle Club owns lot 57-1, the only lot going the other way – entirely into the rural zone. A small corner of the club’s property currently lies inside the commercial C-2 zone, the boundary of which extends 1000 feet east of Bus. Rt. 1.
Piper Village Development proposed the amendment in December 2011. The proposal stresses, among other things, the possibility for job creation and the potential for commercial and industrial development to have a positive impact on property taxes.
Piper Village argues that the proposal, and all of Piper Village’s efforts to date, complies with Damariscotta’s comprehensive plan, although critics of the proposal offer a different interpretation.
Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus said he sees pros and cons to the proposal.
The positives include the real possibility for economic development, as the properties would be more marketable to commercial developers.
The town would retain the ability to regulate the development of the property, as any projects would be subject to Damariscotta’s “very detailed” site plan review ordinance and other municipal ordinances, Lutkus said.
“On the negative side, there’s not a specific plan,” Lutkus said. “That’s a concern among a lot of residents.”
“We don’t know what would be there, whether it would be residential, commercial, a new shopping center – no one knows,” Lutkus said.
Flanders and Piper Village Development consultant John Mann have repeatedly said the group does not have specific plans for the properties.
“Truly, all we’re trying to do is increase the value of raw land by increasing its attributes,” Flanders said. “I think people struggle with the fact that our business plan is really that simple.”
The Twin Villages Downtown Business Alliance and some residents have questioned whether commercial development of the Piper Village properties might have a negative impact on businesses in downtown Damariscotta.
Lutkus pointed out that the site plan review ordinance gives the Damariscotta Planning Board the authority to require an economic impact analysis at the applicant’s expense for any proposed large-scale development.
The analysis would address job creation, impacts on existing small businesses and the costs and benefits of the project to the town, among other things.
The Planning Board has the right to reject the application if dissatisfied with the results, Lutkus said.
Flanders said commercial development of the Piper Village properties actually has the potential to benefit downtown businesses. If more people conduct business in Damariscotta, he reasoned, less people would leave town to eat and shop in Brunswick, Rockland and Topsham.
The Lincoln County Rifle Club abuts the Piper Village properties and opposes the proposal for different reasons.
“In our mind, it appears the proposed zone change is part of a plan to make it difficult or impossible for the club to use our property as we used it for the last 66 years,” the president and vice president of the club wrote in a March 4 letter asking the Planning Board to deny the proposal.
Vice President David Hungerford, in a brief phone interview, said the club’s position has not changed.
“We’re not in a fight with [Piper Village], but they do have different interests than we do,” Hungerford said.
Flanders said Piper Village cooperated with the club to make its request to shift its property fully into the rural district part of the referendum.
Flanders also said commercial development at the site would be less of a threat to the club than residential development.
The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 12 at the Damariscotta Municipal Building.
