Ellsworth panel OKs Lowe’s plan 138,000-square-foot store off High Street could create 150 new jobs

ELLSWORTH – Public concerns about excess lighting and confusing city zoning practices did little to stop the planning board Wednesday from approving the final application to bring a Lowe’s home improvement store to Ellsworth.

Officials from Jones & Beach Engineers Inc., representing the retail giant, said construction on the store off High Street (Route 3) could begin as early as next spring.

The 138,000-square-foot store, nearly across the street from an existing Home Depot, is slated to open by the fall of 2007, bringing as many as 150 jobs to Ellsworth.

In July, the Ellsworth planning board indefinitely postponed approving the Lowe’s proposal pending review of a storm water management plan.

On Wednesday night, that plan was presented.

However, additional concerns surfaced about the amount of lighting the project would supply and, particularly, the light’s effect on the nearby Stanwood Wildlife Sanctuary, a refuge for injured birds.

“There is a lot of literature about the effect of lighting on birds, and it’s all bad,” said Rufus Wanning, a resident who spoke in opposition of the project.

Wanning also pointed out that the project falls along two different zoning areas. While most of the project – about 93 percent – falls in a commercial zone, the remainder is zoned as rural. Under that definition, the development goes way beyond intention for a rural zone, opponents said.

“[Rural development] zone clearly implies limited commercial usage,” agreed Todd Little-Siebold, who also spoke in opposition. “Added to which, the abutters were promised that there would be no large-scale development.”

Planning board Chairman John Fink countered that because the majority of the project was in a commercial zone, there wasn’t enough merit to dismiss the project on zoning semantics.

Board member Debbie Hogan-Albert added, “It’s hard to imagine any of that area off High Street as rural. I certainly don’t interpret it that way.”

The lighting concern did spark debate among board members, who eventually voted to grant the Lowe’s developers a waiver allowing them to produce light in excess of what is allowed for that zone.

The board agreed that even though Lowe’s plan will provide more lighting to its parking lot, which may affect the nearby sanctuary, the increased lighting also provides increased safety.

Lowe’s, which already has four locations in Maine, is making a big push into the state recently. Aside from locations in Portland, Auburn, Windham and Brunswick, stores already are under construction in Presque Isle, Biddeford and Scarborough as well as additional projects planned for Brewer and Thomaston.