Mall bid rejected > Board denies zoning change

PRESQUE ISLE — A request from a Kingston, Pa., developer to rezone a 150-acre proposed mall site on U.S. Route 1 was denied Thursday by the Presque Isle Planning Board.

The board voted 6 to 1 to deny the rezoning request. Traffic problems were cited as the main issue of concern. Board member Marilyn Dean voted in favor of the request.

Representatives of Mark Development Co. requested a change at the proposed site from agricultural farming to a business zone designation. Opinions on the development were expressed by about 50 residents at the meeting.

The final decision on rezoning will be made at a Presque Isle City Council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20, at City Hall.

Company officials presented engineering studies. They reviewed site plans, traffic studies, suggested mall layout and locations of proposed anchor stores. The enclosed mall was expected to be similar to a second mall proposed along Route 1 by Oneida Ontario of Clay, N.Y.

Dean said the mall plan was good for development in Presque Isle, except for the traffic problems it could pose. Dean said the traffic issue should have been handled by the Maine Department of Transportation.

Neil Adams, board chairman, said he believed the developers were genuinely committed to building a first-rate mall, and encouraged Mark Development officials to continue their search for a more suitable location in Presque Isle.

Development officials said the proposed mall site, located three miles north of the Aroostook River, was a result of requests from anchor stores for a location near Route 1.

Adams said traffic problems were the main reasons for denial of the rezoning. Problems included the mall layout, a dangerous intersection, traffic delays and how the mall would affect access onto Route 1. Mark Development officials said they would continue to look at developing a center in Presque Isle.

The second developer, Oneida Ontario, had anticipated ground breaking for its Aroostook Centre mall this fall. Oneida is awaiting approval of a site-location permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, and a building permit from the city.

A site-location permit application was filed with DEP on July 16. Company officials could not confirm the date for ground-breaking, but said the location in a Job Opportunity Zone was expected to speed the site-permit process. The application to DEP indicates the start of construction by April 1991, according to city officials.

A July 20 memorandum from Duane Tuttle of the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development to John Edgecomb, Presque Isle director of planning and development, stated that the zone has a “high management priority” at DEP as part of a 1988 agreement between both agencies.

The DECD memorandum stated that the Aroostook Centre site “was approved in 1980 and analyst (Andrea LaPoint, DEP project analyst) is not aware of major environmental concerns, with the possible exception of traffic.”

The memorandum added that “tentative timing for (site application) approval (from DEP) is three months from time of application.”

Edgecomb said based on the statements in the memorandum, the application should be approved by Oct. 16.