Court upholds Orono’s denial of housing complex plan

BANGOR – A Penobscot County Superior Court justice on Wednesday upheld the town of Orono’s denial of a plan to build a 153-unit housing complex on Colburn Drive.

The ruling upheld denials of the project by the Orono planning board and the town’s board of appeals.

Rhode Island-based Peregrine Developers proposed building the housing complex on Colburn Drive, off Park Street. It originally was denied because the planning board determined the units were “dormitory” style.

Peregrine, seeking compensation for deprivation of property rights and attorney fees, filed a lawsuit in January against the town in Penobscot County Superior Court. They alleged that Orono officials violated the company’s property rights by denying the project. The original appeal was filed by local attorneys representing Peregrine in April.

Justice Jeffrey Hjelm upheld the original decision Wednesday.

“The court upheld the planning board and board of appeals denials,” said Orono acting Town Manager David Struck. “So basically, it comes down to they decided the Peregrine Development was a dorm, which isn’t an allowed use.”

The development was originally proposed for a 20.6-acre site at the end of Colburn Drive. The complex would have had 494 beds spread among one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments.

Dan Peleggi, the attorney representing Orono, said Wednesday that the issue is dead as far as the town is concerned.

“From our perspective we believe the case is over,” the Ellsworth attorney said. “The applicant has the option to appeal through the state Superior Court.”

Peregrine will need to start from scratch if they want to develop in Orono, said Struck. The company has 21 days to appeal the judge’s decision.

“We’ll just wait and see what happens,” Struck said. “If the developer wants to come back with a new proposal, we’d be happy to talk with them again.”

In April 2002 the planning board granted Peregrine Developers preliminary approval for a 153-unit residential student development complex on Colburn Drive. The University Courtyard at Penobscot Commons development was, at that time, considered student housing.

After planning board members and local residents raised concerns about noise, parking and the development’s status as student housing at two public hearings on the matter, the board turned down the development’s project in November 2002. When Peregrine appealed the decision to the board of appeals it was again denied on the basis that the development was considered dorm style housing.

While the land use ordinance doesn’t include a definition for dormitory, the ordinance defines a “commercial dormitory” as “premises consisting of more than three rooming units in a building used primarily to house more than three unrelated individuals, with or without cooking facilities.”

Commercial dormitories aren’t among the allowed uses in any of the town’s zoning districts.

During pitches to the planning board, Peregrine developers called the units “student housing” at the beginning of the planning process and later changed the wording of the proposal to include “multifamily housing.”

The planning board gave preliminary approval to a 153-unit residential complex for student housing at the end of Colburn Drive by a 6-1 vote on Sept. 18, 2002. The project was halted by the council the following month after they looked into the issue further. At the end of November 2002, the planning board denied final approval of the complex by a vote of 4-3.

Last April, lawyers for Peregrine Developers petitioned the court to change decisions by the Orono planning board and town’s board of appeals who both denied Peregrine’s petition.

Reporters’ phone calls to Peregrine Developer’s attorneys were not returned Wednesday.

NEWS Reporter Aimee Dolloff contributed to this story.