BANGOR – Members of the city’s planning board Tuesday night unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council approve a contract zone change sought by the Masonic Temple Association as one of the first steps in the group’s rebuilding effort.

A year ago in January, the Masons and several associated groups lost the historic brick building that had served as their headquarters for 135 of the Masons’ 200-year presence in Bangor. The fire, which began on Jan. 15 and lingered for days, reduced the five-story downtown structure to a pile of smoking rubble.

But the group vowed to rebuild, and on Tuesday cleared one of its initial hurdles when the planning board agreed to endorse its request for a contract zone change for a 3.25-acre lot at 300 Perry Road, across the street and down the road a bit from the Cole Land Transportation Museum.

During a public hearing that drew no opponents, Guy Chapman, a Mason and a Shriner, outlined plans for a one- or two-story building, possibly with a full basement.

“I’m personally leaning toward two stories,” Chapman said, adding that the building would be about 14,000 to 20,000 square feet in area.

“What we are proposing is not another tin building,” Chapman said. “We want to build something that would exemplify what Masons are all about.”

In order to do that, however, the Masons must get their property rezoned from Industry and Service District, which doesn’t allow for private clubs or lodges, to contract Urban Service District, which does.

Cost estimates have yet to be developed for the new lodge, which would house two local Masonic Temples, the York Rite and Scottish Rite chapters, and the Masonic Learning Center for Children, which provides free tutoring for children with dyslexia, John Tripp, the organization’s president, said after the meeting.

The Masons decided to move to Perry Road after determining that it would be too expensive to rebuild on their original downtown lot. Though the city expressed some interest in buying the property late last year, councilors chose not to pursue it in the end.

The Masons are negotiating the sale of the property, but the deal hasn’t yet closed, Chapman said.