Comments on: Zoning 101: South Berwick’s Zoning Ordinance

By: guest

guest — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:59:02 +0000

What I see is a vocal minority opposing a reasonable change with fear and ‘box store’ propaganda. The area under consideration is a business area. It is too small to be a ‘miracle mile’, ’strip mall’, or ‘chain store’ location. If you are afraid of what property owners might do, why don’t you go look aat what the golf course and associated building look like. You should be happy that people like that are willing to invest and improve the town instead of making it difficult for them with unreasonable zoning restrictions.

By: SueG

SueG — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:30:53 +0000

I shouldn’t have said “recent” since the news item is from 2006. But it’s not too old to be relevant to our discussion.

By: SueG

SueG — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:29:44 +0000

I agree that the Rite-Aid threat is quite real. Rite-Aids build within feet of each other. I read long ago that their strategy is to overbuild just to discourage other drugstores chains from building. Many chains prefer to compete with themselves. You can probably assume that if you can’t see a Rite-Aid from where you are standing, then Rite Aid would like to build there. And I’m not trying to be witty.

Here’s a recent news item about Rite-Aid. It doesn’t have a lot of specifics, but you can see that they spend a lot of time and technology choosing sites. They show no signs of slowing their growth, and they choose both urban and rural, big and small: http://www.pharmacychoice.com/news/article.cfm?Article_ID=30190

The traffic count that we all bemoan in our village is a vision of beauty to a great number of developers, and a it’s crossroads of state highways that we don’t control. That R1 zoning change a few years ago was a crude tool, but it prevented a disaster.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:06:12 +0000

Dave,

There were at least 3 Rite-Aids (and Brooks, etc) in Dover and Somersworth 5 years ago, and well before that. These chains are still marketing strongly. To think they would not try it again, now or 3, 5, or 10 years from now is unrealistic; and I would not hang my hat on that. These drug stores will jump on any local market. It not like WalMart, it takes a much lower population base to draw in one of these national drug store chains. You see it all over the place.

But I agree, let’s get it right. R1? No. B1? No again. I’m worried that the Town Council has this thing on railroad tracks headed down the line as a done deal. They need to slow down and get it right. They don’t need to be worried about lawsuits if they are proceeding to solve the problem in a responsible way.

By: Dave Webster (Not the ex-councilor)

Dave Webster (Not the ex-councilor) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:48:49 +0000

Bill,
5 years ago, Rite Aid was not located in Dover or Somersworth.
What I meant about item 5 is that it is just one of the purposes of the zoning ordinances, the actual ordinances don’t appear to restrict things the same way the goals are written.
There really doesn’t appear to be much difference between B1 and B2.
What should happen is the Planning Board go back and review the ordinances, and rewrite them to provide a clearer picture as to what each one is aimed at restricting.
These changesa should then be proposed and acted on.

While I may disagree with you on what should go in these areas in question, (and no I do not want a Rite Aid in that area) I don’t want to see another flare up in town between groups.
Lets get everything as clear as possible, whether it be the zoning ordinaces, Form Based Zoning, whatever, and make sure that we don’t set ourselves up for legal or civil challenges.
From what one of the posters has stated, there is a law suit pending on the rezoning that occured to change this area from business to residential.
The last thing this town needs is any more ammunition for someone to take the town to court.
We need to let the EDC go through this Moderator process, come to a concensus on what the majority wants, and move forward with zoning ordinaces, and rules that comply with this decision.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:38:07 +0000

Dave (ntec)
I think we agree that B1, and perhaps B2 don’t work for these properties (maybe we dont….), and that a Form Based Zoning approach (or good design review) are very apprpriate to encourage business development without sacrificing the strong points of our community. Item 5 frames this argument nicely, as the area in question has remarkable historic and landmark properties.

As for Rite Aid, I don’t know how much you followed it, but there was a very serious proposal less than 5 years ago for Rite-Aid to raze several of those homes and build. Market conditions haven’t changed much. Based on recent history, it’s a very real threat, if not right now, then possible in the future. B1 wouldn’t preclude that at all. I wouldn’t rely on a trust that “it can’t happen”.

And as I said , less drastic things could have a similar damaging impact. B1? no. Let’s do something smarter.

By: Dave Webster (Not the ex-councilor)

Dave Webster (Not the ex-councilor) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:22:59 +0000

Bill,
While I agree with you that item 5 is a laudable goal, I don’t see anything in the actual zoning ordinance that would prevent normal usage.
If Rite Aid wanted to come to town, it wouldn’ matter if the zoning was B1 or B2.
The ordinace itself does not restrict this from happening, as long as they comply with the ordinance. They could do this by setting up buffers around the property to keep from affecting the abutters.
That is why I stated that any form based zoning the town may adopt needs to be clear and concise as to what is allowable.
I personally don’t believe that we need to worry about a Rite Aid anymore since there are several within a 10 minute ride in tax free New Hampshire, and our town does not have a large enough population to support a store of that size.
That being said, it remains up to the citizens of the town to ensure our concerns are heard by the people making the decisions.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:29:42 +0000

5. To conserve the historical and architectural integrity of the existing historic sites, landmarks and districts and to assure that future development is compatible both in character and in use.

That’s pretty clear. Not a lot of ambiguity with that. The rezoning question demands that we deal with this purpose of the overall Zoning Ordinance.

To provide for business development opportunities between Dunkin and Sewell Rd without dealing with this in a meaningful way is just plain wrong, and very short sighted. The Rite -Aid scare was very real, and could arise in a heartbeat. Less drastic possibilities would be just as damaging. I’m all for promoting business— but in a responsible way. B1 is just not responsible. This town is smarter than that.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:09:37 +0000

When you read the actual words in teh ordinance, it becomes even more apparent that application “B1″ for DD to Sewall Road would be entirely wrong.

To the Planing Board and Town Council:
Do a better job, that the entire community can be proud of,
Don’t blow it for convenience and expediency’s sake,
The town expects more from you.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:48:20 +0000

Molly — Thanks for posting all this great info!

One thing that strikes me as I read the info about the “purpose” of each zone, is that under B1 it says: “To protect the present commercial development from the blight, congestion and inconvenience caused by inappropriate and poorly located development of commercial facilities.”

What I hope about the current rezoning debate is that any rezoning will actually do just that– PROTECT THE PRESENT COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT from inappropriate location of commercial facilities.

In other words, if expanding our business zones, it is crucial to do so in such a way as to protect and enhance our existing small independent local businesses. The B1 zoning now under discussion would threaten, not protect, our local shops and restaurants downtown.

My biggest fears about B1 have to do with the dimensional requirements. B1 zoning has virtually none– the so-called “skies the limit zoning.”

But as we see from Molly’s post, there are other options. B1 is just one alternative. Let’s all look at better ways to expand business activity in South Berwick.