A used car dealership at 735 East Pond Rd., and 541 Upper East Pond Rd. has already begun selling vehicles, as the Nobleboro Planning Board continues to review the owners’ application.
The Nobleboro Planning Board held a site visit Oct. 13 and a public hearing Oct. 15, with a meeting to review the application following the hearing.
Long-time friends Greg Collins, 19, and Nathan Chapnick, 28, plan to open the business on two adjacent properties owned by their parents. A lease agreement between the business partners and the property owners has already been signed and a sign advertising GNC Auto Sales and Service has been erected at the Upper East Pond Road location.
Both Chapnick and Collins are certified Maine vehicle inspectors. Collins is a graduate of the Mid-Coast School of Technology (Region 8). Chapnick told the board that no repair work would be done at either location.
During the site visit, Chapnick showed board members where vehicles would be parked. There was some discussion about visibility and signage.
Chapnick said lower overhead costs resulting from the pair’s arrangement with their parents would be passed onto customers. He said all those abutting the properties have been contacted and no objections have been raised.
At the hearing, resident Shoshana Zuboff questioned the impact the new business would have on the neighborhood and asked what might happen if Chapnick and Collins decided to amend their business plan or sell to another owner.
Chapnick said he has a one-year lease from his parents and could not transfer ownership of the business without the state issuing a new license for the new owner. He said the requested use falls within the zoning guidelines for those lots.
“If my parents decide tomorrow they don’t want cars on their lawn, it’s over,” Chapnick said. He said his application does not indicate a specific number of cars or a particular part of the land where they would be displayed.
“That is up to us, to place a limit on it in our subsequent meeting,” Planning Board Chairman Dave Kramer said.
Kramer later said the meeting that followed the hearing became more of a “teaching session” in which Chapnick was given detailed instruction as to how to complete the board’s checklist for permit applicants.
“We changed from going through the site application to more of an instruction of where it (the application) is insufficient and needs more detail,” Kramer said. “It was almost a reiteration of what the checklist included. There’s another meeting coming at some point in the future.”
He said the matter was tabled until Chapnick and Collins can provide a more comprehensive map of the area, showing all the required features.
Chapnick later said he had “no idea what happened” at the meeting that followed the hearing and was unsure of its purpose.
“I wrote down some notes of what they want for the next meeting,” he said. Chapnick said the list included a request for signatures from the property owners at the business location and the addition of contour lines on the site map.
When planning board members at the hearing suggested additional signage might help promote the business, board secretary Sharon Abair said Code Enforcement Officer Stanley Waltz would contact Chapnick and Collins about meeting ordinance requirements.
Chapnick said he and Collins intended to move cars between the East Pond Road and Upper East Pond Road lots in order to allow for haying of the field.
“Nate will provide a well-detailed map of where the cars are to be and you will not be able to juggle them around,” Abair said.
Chapnick said the application requested the option of moving cars from one lot to another.
“The preliminary application is either/or,” Kramer said.
Zuboff asked about environmental issues from leaking oil or gas that might develop if more than “a handful of cars” were parked on the land.
“You would have that with any business that’s being proposed,” Chapnick said. “I guess the alternative is sitting home and collecting unemployment.”
“No,” Zuboff said. “The alternative is to understand the issues and mitigate them.”
“I don’t think it’s a concern with the type of vehicles we are selling,” Chapnick said. He said the vehicles would all carry manufacturers’ warranties, and that any necessary repairs or maintenance would be done by authorized dealers.
Chapnick said GNC sells only 2011 and 2012 models, although he later said he has sold a 2005 truck. He said trucks are an important component of providing what customers want and that GNC gets its cars from fleet companies and corporate accounts.
“We put it on a lift, but we don’t change the oil,” Chapnick said. “It’s another cost we would have to absorb and our whole business model is we don’t want costs.”
“Business models change,” Zuboff said.
Chapnick later said rapid growth is an “natural temptation” for any business. “That is what we cannot afford to do,” he said. He said the sign was posted prior to receiving planning board approval because a sign was required in order to receive a dealer license from the state.
“We’re taking baby steps, Chapnick said.
“It’s an issue for Stanley Waltz,” Abair said. “If Stanley isn’t issuing a cease and desist order, you’re okay. I think you’re pretty bold.”
“Precedent is practice (sic),” Kramer added.
Kramer later told The Lincoln County News that GNC’s operating before the permit process is completed is an issue, but that the board did not ask Chapnick and Collins to stop doing business.
“That would be Stanley Waltz’s purview,” he said. “He admitted to having sold two or three cars. We did not tell him he can’t do it anymore until he gets sufficient approval from the board.”
Waltz said Oct. 16 that the operation of a business before permits are issued “should be an issue.”
He said the lack of a sign at 735 East Pond Rd., where the cars are displayed, and the fact that only two cars are being shown at a time, allows the business to operate much as would any resident who wants to sell up to two vehicles on his own property.
Waltz said he was not sure whether Chapnick and Collins own the cars they are selling or are acting as agents. If the latter is the case, Waltz said the business would need to be permitted before operating.
Chapnick said, Oct. 16, that he and Collins do own the vehicles.
“I didn’t say I don’t (sic) display more than two at a time,” Chapnick said. “There were two displayed [the day of site review]. There are none now. We put them out there as they come.”
Waltz said there is no permit in place for the sign at 541 Upper East Pond Rd. and that he was under the impression GNC would be providing automotive service and inspections, despite what Chapnick said at the hearing.
Chapnick said he and Collins are inspection technicians, but that the designation was intended to “add credibility to our business model.” He said the garage would be used for cleaning and detailing only and repeated that GNC would not provide any automotive service.
“That’s not what the sign says,” Waltz said. He said he had hoped the planning board would practice due diligence and consider the business a commercial operation.
Waltz said an earlier meeting between GNC and the board was postponed to accommodate Chapnick’s travel plans.
“Hopefully somebody will call and ask me some questions,” Waltz said. “The sign shouldn’t even be there. He doesn’t have a sign permit. We thought this would be taken care of right off, that it wouldn’t be dragging on.”
“You know, we haven’t heard any negative feedback from the neighbors about our sign which is a small tasteful sign,” Chapnick said. “It’s a small piece of wood hanging from a pole, basically. Nobody’s come to me saying that’s an issue.”
He said he has not spoken with Waltz about the sign or read the town’s sign ordinance. Chapnick said he has reviewed the state sign regulations, but has not read Nobleboro’s sign ordinance.
“We are definitely following everything to a ‘t’,” Chapnick said. “The planning board seems very business friendly.”
Maine Dept. of Transportation Public Information Officer Ted Talbot said DOT enforces signage and prohibits any signs within a minimum of 33-feet from the center of any roadway in the state.
According to DOT Field Supervisor Chip Kelly, that measurement could extend as much as 70 or 80 feet from the center, depending on the road in question.
Measurements made by Lincoln County News staff show GNC’s sign to be within approximately 22-feet of the center of Old East Pond Road.
Kelly said the state also prohibits signs higher than 25 feet tall and that other regulations may be created by municipalities.
“There is a general provision in the law, call it the golden rule,” Kelly said. “Municipalities cannot create ordinances that are less restrictive than state law. However, they can create ordinances that are more restrictive. Therefore if there is a local ordinance that is more restrictive, the business owner has to comply with local rule.”
Kelly said the business owner “needs to get clear with us whether that sign’s in the right of way.” He said the provision regarding the relationship between state and municipal regulation is “prominent in case state law.”
“Municipalities and the state are very familiar with this provision,” Kelly said. “It’s really the basis of how we do business.”
The Nobleboro Planning Board has not scheduled its next meeting.
