Hampden sets zoning change hearing

HAMPDEN – Dunkin’ Donuts could set up shop in the village area if ordinance changes discussed Monday by town councilors are approved.

For about a year, councilors have been revising the town’s zoning ordinance and working to clarify the sections on restaurants, bars, taverns and dance halls.

“It wasn’t terribly consistent,” Town Manager Susan Lessard said Tuesday.

At Monday’s meeting, councilors scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 6 to discuss the amendments, which would allow conditional use in the village area for fast-food restaurants, Lessard said.

The change could prompt a developer from Dunkin’ Donuts to file an application for a restaurant at the intersection of Route 1A and Western Avenue. Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee Tony DeCosta has been considering the location, which is home to a Big Apple convenience store, since July.

At that time, councilors were considering zoning changes that would prevent fast-food restaurants from locating in the village area. DeCosta’s Bangor attorney, Andrew Hamilton, asked the council to rework its proposed changes to allow for fast-food restaurants in the village zones, which now support several sit-down and takeout restaurants.

Hamilton could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The conditional use classification would give the planning board more control in deciding the parameters for development applications, Lessard said. Fast-food restaurants are now a permitted use in the village area, she said.

DeCosta approached the council with his plans in the midst of the ordinance revisions. He chose to wait for the process to be completed rather than rush an application and risk a bad relationship with the town, his attorney said in July.

In other business Monday, councilors tabled a local charity group’s request to set up a roadblock to collect donations for scholarships. The Dollars for Scholars group for years set up the roadblock on Route 1A near Hampden Academy, Lessard said.

In 2002, however, the group had to make other plans when a school board member raised concerns about the legality of the roadblock and the safety of the high school students involved, she said.

“There had never been an incident. Nobody ever got hurt,” Lessard said. “The Dollars for Scholars people aren’t trying to be disruptive. They’re trying to raise money for a very good cause.”

The council wants more information about traffic and motor vehicle statues before making a decision on the matter, Lessard said.

Councilors did, however, make a final decision to allow a community group to build a veterans memorial in front of the town office, she said.

The Hampden Community Honor Roll Committee plans to include the names of more than 1,000 local veterans on the granite monument, which will cost an estimated $50,000, Lessard said.

The group hopes the memorial will be completed by Veterans Day next year, she said.