Bangor planners set public hearing on zoning change

BANGOR – Residents will be able to voice opinions to officials next week about the proposed 87.3-acre zone change for land parcels along Kenduskeag Avenue and Griffin Road.

The planning board will hold a public hearing for residents to weigh in on the zone change at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 5, in the City Council chambers.

The parcels owned by Judson M. Grant Jr. are zoned rural residence, agricultural district and low-density residential district.

If the planning board approves the change and it is approved by the City Council, the entire 87.3 acres would be rezoned to contract low-density residential district, said David Gould, Bangor’s planning officer.

Under the proposed zoning, the land would be developed for residential use only, and developers must follow specific criteria, Gould said.

The subdivisions must be designed to create less than 260 vehicle trips per day on Kenduskeag Avenue.

An average single-family home generates 10 trips per day, which means only 26 single family homes could be built on the parcel using Kenduskeag Avenue as the access road, he said.

Also, only five access ways would be allowed to connect the subdivision homes to Kenduskeag Avenue. In addition, the new zoning would require 40 percent of the land to be set aside as open space, Gould said.

This plan “seems to work for this spot at this point in time,” Gould said. “What we don’t know is what will happen with the property in the future.”

In May 2005, an area developer was granted a zone change for 20 acres of the land, but the developer did not pursue building the subdivision, Gould said. In November 2006, the City Council heard another zone change request for an 8.8-acre parcel of the land owned by Grant.

Rather than rezoning all 87.3 acres one parcel at a time, the council suggested Grant work with area residents and create a comprehensive list of development standards, which is what they have done, he said.

These standards were “written with a certain concept in mind,” Gould said. “If the original developer goes away and someone new comes in, they may realize [the standards] don’t meet their needs” and may require future rezoning.