By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

While most town regulatory standards admittedly remain “works in progress,” Bridgton’s Land Use Ordinance could be headed back to the drawing board.

Feeling the Land Use Ordinance is “too complicated and needs to be clarified” and, in its present form, has been detrimental to local development, Selectman Bear Zaidman Tuesday night called for its repeal.

He feels the ordinance has been difficult to interpret by Code Enforcement Officer Brenda Day, as well as the planning board. It has “slowed the application process,” at times requiring calls to the town’s attorney for interpretations, thus costing Bridgton more money.

While Zaidman felt the committee that wrote the Land Use Ordinance “had good intentions,” when they crafted the 130-page document, he sees a big need to “fix it” and end “mass confusion” that currently exists, which is ultimately hurting the community.

By a 3-1 vote, selectmen backed Zaidman’s push to repeal the ordinance.

Voting in favor: Zaidman, board chairman Lee Eastman and selectman Fred Packard.

Against: Selectperson Carmen Lone.

Absent: Selectman Bob Murphy.

The motion calls “to repeal the Land Use Ordinance retroactively to the prior June 2019 meeting and instruct the Town Manager to have the Community Development Director (Linda Lacroix) and Code Enforcement Officer (Brenda Day) work on it and fix it within a year from the March 2020 special town meeting if voted on by the townspeople, then turn it over to the Planning Board to bring it back for comment, then to the Board of Selectmen to be placed on the warrant at town meeting 2021. In the meantime, go back to the Site Plan, Subdivision, Shoreland Ordinances that we had in place before the town adopted the Land Use Ordinance.”

In his public statement, Zaidman said, “It has stopped some businesses from coming unintentionally; it has put a burden on the development of land use in all districts; no one meant for this to happen, but it has…It has devalued property because of some of these restrictions. I believe it was an oversight. We have told folks it is a work in progress, and it is, but because of the hardship that it has made currently, we need to fix it…I truly believe that this has caused mass confusion to people who want to invest in our community.”

Zaidman apologized to townspeople for “allowing this Land Use Ordinance to be voted on before it was ready.”

“I did so at the request of the Land Use Ordinance Committee, telling me that it was ready and we needed to start somewhere,” he added. “They had every good intention to have this work. I do not believe it has and I believe, because of this, I will make a motion.”

Selectperson Lone agreed adjustments need to be made — some of which the Planning Board has drafted and will hold a public hearing on the amendments on March 17.

“This (Land Use Ordinance) encompasses a lot,” Lone said. “Repeal isn’t an answer. I’ve heard about issues, but nothing specific. I don’t see any list. How many people?… Let’s fix the problems.”

Selectman Fred Packard, who is the Board’s liaison to the Land Use Committee, noted that he served on the Planning Board for 22 years and, during that time, used five-page documents to steer development. He feels the Land Use Ordinance has “too many holes” and questioned the need for a 130-page document, which creates “more confusion.”

Local developer Mark Lopez said the current ordinance created issues in selling lots at his Beaver Farm Estates subdivision and noted that problems could arise for other projects in the pipeline, such as an Assisted Living development recently presented by Lon Walters.

A repeal would create a ripple effect. One offshoot would be the effect on current language in the proposed marijuana ordinances. The Land Use Ordinance identifies “locations” in certain corridors which are included in the marijuana ordinances, while the Site Plan addresses “uses.”

The push to repeal created a firestorm, especially amongst those on the Land Use Committee, who spent five years working on the standards.

LUC member Ken Gibbs looks at Bridgton’s future as a three-legged stool. One leg is the town’s commitment to infrastructure improvements (waste-water system expansion); the second leg is streetscape as a means to improve the town’s appearance to draw visitors and commerce; and the third leg is regulation to protect the town’s future and how it is developed (including directing commercial ventures to appropriate places, and thus not conflict with homes).

By repealing Land Use, Gibbs feels knocking one leg out of the stool can send the town flat on its face.

LUC member Bill O’Connor agreed that the document is “not perfect, we know that” but also knows that “anything can be fixed with a little patience” and the town now has a “professional (Lacroix)” who can help guide the way — a resource the Land Use Committee did not have on a consistent basis during ordinance development. He also pointed out that the length and maybe lack of clarity exists because of restrictions placed by legal counsel.

“Our hands were tied,” he noted.

O’Connor fears that a repeal would bring about a “Wild West” development mentality that anything goes.

LUC member Lucia Terry equated the Land Use Ordinance as a “living, growing document.”

“You have to think of it that way. It could have been more perfect if we had had help,” she said.

Lopez disagreed with the Wild West scenario, pointing out that the Planning Board had rejected projects, like a proposed automotive garage in a residential neighborhood, by using existing standards.

“We’ve had development done tastefully without a 130-page document,” Lopez said.

Commenting as an “individual” and not Planning Board chairperson, Deb Brusini felt it would be difficult for her to overturn an ordinance approved by 426 voters in such a short time of existence. She added adequate time should be given to allow the public to study the issue, pose questions at a workshop, and take time to consider the ramification of one’s action.

Brusini is the Planning Board’s liaison to the Land Use Committee.

“Make it a fair fight for everyone,” she said. “Give voters time to make up their minds before June.”

New resident Dorothy Marquis vacationed in Bridgton for 20 years before making the town her home.

“I’ve seen changes. I grew up in Long Island and spent time in South Jersey, and saw what happened there,” she said. “Bridgton is a beautiful place. There are great things here to market. It’s why people move here. Do me a favor, work it out.”

A public hearing will be held on Tuesday, March 17, at 5 p.m. (open to the public), in the municipal complex’s downstairs meeting room to review Land Use amendments. This is a combined meeting of the Planning Board and Select Board.

As for the repeal, it will be a balloted vote, and could either occur at a special town meeting or the annual town meeting in June.