BANGOR – Members of the city’s planning board voted 4-1 Tuesday to recommend that the City Council grant developer Judson Grant Jr.’s requests for a series of zone changes affecting more than 80 undeveloped acres from Griffin Road along Broadway to his property line with Abundant Life Church.

Grant said last week that he is considering a combination of residential and commercial uses, including the development of house lots, rental apartments and a yet to be designed commercial component.

Not everyone was in favor of the proposal.

During a public hearing that preceded the planning board’s vote, residents cited concerns that the rezoning could result in a “big box” store, that people in the area might lose their access to the woods and wetlands on Grant’s land and that the project could increase traffic on nearby roads, including narrow Kenduskeag Avenue.

“I run and cycle and walk in those woods,” said Dr. Clifford Rosen, a resident who goes to the area for lunchtime exercise.

He said he understood the need for housing, but “this really bothers me.” Among his concerns are that the developer might build “not a local store but a big box store that’s going to draw a lot of people from the [Interstate 95] exit.”

Leslie Dickenson said that any commercial development on Grant’s land “should be very local to the [planned residential] development, not developed to draw people in. I don’t think anyone in Bangor wants any more big box stores.”

Husson College President William Beardsley was the only proponent to address the board.

He said that Grant’s proposal meshed nicely with the campus’s long-range plans for growth, which include building an entrance along Griffin Road.

While he, too, opposed the concept of a “destination” store like a big box, he said the residential aspect of Grant’s proposal could help Husson ease a future housing shortage. Working with existing landlords and property managers to find student and staff housing in a range of price levels would be far cheaper than building new dormitories at a cost of $50,000 per bed, he said.

The zone changes, if approved by city councilors later this month, would pave the way for a mix of residential and commercial development on Grant’s land at the corner of Broadway and Griffin Road.

In an effort to address neighborhood concerns about the proposal early, members of Grant’s development team, led by Grant’s son-in-law Michael Longo and attorney Andrew Hamilton, held two meetings with neighbors and other concerned individuals, the most recent just two hours before the start of Tuesday’s meeting.

Both the development team and neighbors thought the meeting was worthwhile and appreciated the opportunity to exchange ideas.

While most planning board members said they were comfortable enough with what they had heard to recommend the zone changes, member Nathaniel Rosenblatt cast the only opposing vote.

He said he thought the city could better control what ultimately gets built on Grant’s land with a contract zone change, which would allow the city to set specific limits for such physical aspects as maximum floor area.

The three properties up for rezoning, which amount to 82.25 acres, now are zoned low density residential, high density residential and rural residence and agriculture. The land is located next to a city-owned parcel on Griffin Road used to compost leaves.

Grant’s rezoning requests, if granted, would bring the land in line with the city’s zoning policy map, which since 1979 has shown high density residential and shopping and personal service as appropriate zoning districts for the intersection, Planning Officer David Gould said during the meeting.

As the city’s planning staff sees it, Grant’s plan to cluster commercial zoning at the corner would provide better opportunities to manage driveway access to the property than the narrow commercial strips along the length of busy Broadway.