Bangor panel limits N.Y. Street development

BANGOR – Citing neighborhood concerns, a split City Council on Tuesday voted to limit any development of a 5.7-acre parcel off New York Street to single-family homes.

“That’s a very secure single-family neighborhood,” Councilor John Rohman said of the upscale area near the Bangor Municipal Golf Course. “I don’t think anything else is appropriate for this location.”

With its 5-4 vote, the City Council, meeting as the Strategic Issues Committee, opted not to consider any proposals for the wooded area that did not strictly adhere to the city’s requirements that limit any development to single-family, detached housing.

The decision came after a two-hour public hearing that drew 60 neighbors to City Hall. There, the debate centered on a single line in a request for proposals that would have allowed the council to consider plans that included attached condominiums or clustered housing.

But while some frowned on the idea of anything other than what’s already in the traditional neighborhood, Councilor Frank Farrington warned that the council should not be in the business of limiting a developer’s creativity so early in the process.

“I hate to see us cut ourselves off at the pass,” Councilor Frank Farrington said, noting that the council could always reject a proposal if there were objections. “It is not logical to me to say no to something that I’m ignorant about.”

The split vote came after an attorney for potential developers John and Nancy Dawson asked the council to allow for alternatives to traditional single-family homes in its request for proposals.

Even if the council lifted the restriction, a zone change would have been necessary to build anything but single-family homes.

The city purchased the west side property about a year ago for $200,000 with the intent of selling it to a developer who would build up to 25 homes there, with price tags of between $150,000 and $200,000.

Although some neighbors had requested that the city keep the forested area as a park, city officials made it clear that some kind of development would occur to give the crowded city some much-needed housing.

Neighbors had raised numerous objections to developing the property in the midst of the Fairmount Park area. Concerns included increased traffic, the effect on the wildlife and wetlands in the area, and increased demand on the water system.

At Tuesday’s public hearing, about half of those who spoke supported developing the area – a hilly, forested parcel that features a small frog pond and intermittent stream.

“We need to keep moving ahead with development,” said Ken Rozeboom, who lives on nearby Graham Street. “If we want to keep our city moving and vital, we can’t be pulling back all the time.”

Others told the council to slow down and make any new development fall in line with the existing neighborhood.

“This is a single-family residential area, and I would like it to stay that way,” said Silver Road resident Jane Dyer, whose neighbors on Tuesday also asked that any developer include a traffic study of the area in any plans.

City engineering staff on Tuesday told the council that the traffic increases in the area would be between 2 percent and 4 percent with the addition of new housing in the city.

The council’s vote Tuesday directed city planning staff to send out the approved request for proposals, responses to which will be due sometime in late March or early April.