After two months of preliminary discussions, a Piper Village Development proposal to rezone about 50 acres of its Damariscotta holdings is advancing toward a town-wide vote.
The Damariscotta Planning Board scheduled a public hearing about the proposal for Mon., March 5 at 7 p.m.
Piper Village wants to change the zoning of four properties from rural to C-2 commercial. Only a small slice of one of the properties is already in the C-2 zone.
The properties, which represent just a small fraction of Piper’s land, lie east of Bus. Rt. 1 and School Street and extend to Heater Road. “The majority of [the Piper properties] would remain in the rural zone,” Piper Village Development consultant John Mann said.
Mann presented a map to the planning board outlining potential uses for the property, should the town authorize the rezoning.
The map calls for a cultural and performing arts center, long a facet of the company’s plans, as well as a 15-acre area set aside for “light commercial use” and another 15 acres alongside Heater Road “intended for light industrial use.”
The map also includes a trail system and wildlife corridor encompassing about 20 acres.
“This is a vision that’s probably going to take 20 years to succeed,” Mann said. “Right now there’s little, if any, demand for commercial activity.”
“There’s no immediate plans” for the properties beyond the general ideas set forth in the proposal, Mann said. “Once this change takes place we can seriously market it.”
Seven Lincoln County Rifle Club members attended the meeting. The club’s property abuts the properties in the proposal, and club representatives have expressed concern about what shape development might take.
Lincoln County Rifle Club President Gunnar Gunderson said the club would prefer commercial to residential development.
“This doesn’t look that bad to me,” Gunderson said of the proposal. “We want to try to be as good neighbors as we can with Piper.”
“Our concern is that whoever rents or buys from [Piper] knows [the club] is there,” Gunderson said, thus pre-empting potential conflict.
Gunderson said the club hasn’t had any issues with its existing commercial neighbors, Damariscotta Hardware and Hannaford.
