YORK - Local residents have different opinions on what the future of York Beach should be.
That sentiment was clear at the Board of Selectmen's most recent meeting, when public hearings were held on a variety of zoning proposals, including changes to York Beach.
Town Planner Christine Grimando told the board that the goal of the proposed York Beach Village Center Zone "is to make much of this area conforming" while allowing a "mix of uses and dimensional standards that makes sense."
She noted the proposal includes changes such as smaller lot size requirements, increased maximum lot-coverage and special conditions to allow for 40-foot building heights.
Several residents voiced concerns about the ordinance as proposed, including York Beach business owner Joe Lipton, who has served on volunteer boards in town including the York Beach Renaissance Committee.
"I, for one, want change down in York Beach... The question is how do we get to that end result?" he asked, referencing concerns about such factors as a lack of design standards shared in a letter from York Beach property owners. "There is no safeguarding. We're about to allow buildings to be bigger - with more lot coverage - without design standards."
Local resident Dave Emery urged the board to seriously consider the letter and wait on any zoning change, telling the board "You need to think about things now and not push this through."
York Beach resident Valerie Doran said not everyone wants to see York Beach as a year-round tourist destination, and urged the selectmen to keep the focus on fixing drainage, traffic and parking issues and to "listen to your longtime residents and the majority of your beach merchants."
Among those who spoke in favor of the plan were Dawn Fernald of the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Planning Board member David Woods, who is also a York Beach business owner.
"This thing is in its fourth or fifth generation," he said of the zoning proposal. "... I'm just taking the side of something's better than nothing. Let's just get something done. ... The zoning that is before you does one thing: it makes what's there conforming. At a kindergarten level, that makes sense to me."
Planning Board Vice Chairman Lew Stowe noted the Planning Board's goal was "primarily to write the zoning as to what's on the face of the earth right now."
Ultimately the selectmen discussed changes and voted 3-1 to move forward to a second public hearing on Sept. 8, with Chairman Mike Estes joining Selectmen Ted Little and Cathy Goodwin in support, and Kinley Gregg voting in opposition. Vice Chairman David Marshall was not in attendance.
The meeting's other public hearings included a proposal to limit the expansion of nonconforming structures. Speaking of the proposal, Grimando told the board the ordinance attempts to "ameliorate some of the negative effects within the context of existing neighborhoods" such as cases where a small cottage is replaced with a three-story house on a tiny lot, overshadowing its neighbors.
Doran spoke in favor of the plan from personal experience as an abutter.
"This is a big step in the right direction," she said. "Thank you to Tim DeCoteau, Christine, Steve (Burns) and whoever else was involved."
Describing herself as a land-rights proponent, Goodwin told her fellow board members she believes the ordinance is "going to freeze neighborhoods... It holds people to a very tight standard that I don't think is particularly fair."
Gregg disagreed, stating, "If you want to build a McMansion you don't buy a nonconforming property."
The selectmen voted to move the ordinance forward to the Sept. 8 hearing with proposed changes.
The board's next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 18 and will include a hearing on the proposed Workforce Affordable Housing Ordinance. For more on upcoming meetings and proposed ordinances, visit www.yorkmaine.org.
