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No Zone Change on Little Sebago Lake Parcel

October 18, 2010 - WINDHAM -- The Windham Town Council voted 4-2 Tuesday to deny a rezoning request that would have allowed houses to be built on one of the last pieces of undeveloped shorefront property on Little Sebago Lake.

The 9 Cameron Lane property, which lies on a peninsula at the end of Sand Bar Road, consists of 8.4 acres, 3.2 acres of which has been identified in a "resource protection" zone since shoreland zoning took effect in the 1970s. The remaining 5.2 acres are in a "limited residential" zone, which offers fewer restrictions but is still considered a shoreland zone.

The applicants, Allen Bauer and Peter Gilman of Bauer & Gilman Construction, were seeking to remove the "resource protection" zone designation and rezone the entire property "limited residential." That would have allowed them to build up to seven additional homes.

Sarah McDaniel, a lawyer for Bauer & Gilman, argued for the zone change, saying soil testing had confirmed the land could no longer be considered a wetland.

"When this land was originally zoned to resource protection in the 1970s it was because of the waterfowl habitat at that time," McDaniel said. "Over the three decades, the land has lost that waterfowl habitat and when the Department of Environmental Protection updated its (records) in the mid-2000s, it took away the designation of this land as not high or moderate value waterfowl habitat."

McDaniel's citation of the DEP's change in designation, however, ultimately fell on deaf ears when the council voted. Donna Chapman and John MacKinnon were, for reasons of preservation, strongly opposed to allowing new homes to be built on the lake's last remaining forested land.

"I'm concerned with water quality. I believe we do have issues on a lot of ponds, lakes and streams," said Chapman.

MacKinnon lamented the possible loss of a "uniquely beautiful spot" on the lake, he said. He said he was "going to lean on" the part of the shoreland zoning law that allows towns to preserve land that has "scenic and natural value."

He also said it was just "plain dumb" to build in an area that is prone to flooding.

Councilors Peter Busque and Scott Hayman were supportive of the zone change, however. Hayman argued passionately that the council would be stripping the landowner's rights to use their property as they see fit.

"The objective evidence and the scientific evidence with the ... core drills and soil tests that they've done have all passed and not met the stringent standards for the resource protection (zone)," Hayman said. "If it doesn't meet what the state and feds mandate, there's no reason for us as a town to keep it that way."

With Chapman and MacKinnon speaking against a zone change and Busque and Hayman in favor, that left Chairman Bill Tracy and Matt Noel as swing votes.

Tracy asked Town Planner Brooks More to recite comments from dissenting Planning Board members who voted in the minority in the summer when the zone change came up for a vote.

According to More, dissenting members said the area should be considered a wetland because it only had a top layer of soil and that soil testing was done in a dry year. They also argued that development could affect water quality in the lake, which already struggles with milfoil and that animals and waterfowl, including loons, make use of and nest on the property.

The zoning denial pleased Lesley MacVane, whose property abuts the land on Sand Bar Road, and who has lived in a cottage abutting the proposed new zone for 54 years.

"I'm happy the town is taking responsibility for what is left in the town for natural resources. I'm very proud of them for making this decision," she said. "North Windham developed in a crazy way, and it is not a pretty place to drive through on Route 302. There used to be trees and homes but now it's nothing more than strip malls. And we've lost a lot of the charm of what once was."

Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010 11:10 am
By John Balentine jbalentine@keepmecurrent.com


Lakes: Little Sebago Lake
Regions: Sebago


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