By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
While the Haigis Parkway is developing rapidly with many large-scale companies showing interest in the project, the Scarborough planning board is still ironing out the smaller details of the development. The signage regulations of the parkway are a major concern of the board members, who have  spent much time on the various regulations that will ultimately determine the overall look of the project.
The Scarborough planning board gathered Monday, Jan. 7, to discuss the amendments to signage zoning and regulations for the quickly developing Haigis Parkway. The signage issues are just one of many aspects that will need to be examined as the Haigis Parkway project progresses, Harvey R. Rosenfeld, president and executive director of Scarborough Economic Development Corporation, said at Monday’s meeting.
In a presentation before the board, Rosenfeld said the original vision of the parkway was of smaller, office-type businesses, and that vision “has changed over the years,” as both small and large retail stores, such as the much-anticipated Cabela’s, are all showing interest in the parkway. There are also a number of restaurants, Town Planner Dan Bacon,  said. Rosenfeld pointed out the various amendments to the original signage regulations, aimed to accommodate retailers needs.
“We need to allow retailers to attract customers without compromising the quality of a highly aesthetic Scarborough,” Rosenfeld said.
In addition to outlining the allowable sizes for free standing signs for single and multiple tenant buildings, the amendments would allow additional signage for the actual structures – two per tenant, one on each façade of the building. The amendments outlined in Rosenfeld’s presentation also detailed specific sizes for directory signs, street signs, pedestrian paths as well as entrance and exit signs.
Mike Starks, a representative of Neptune Properties, who have acquired frontage across from the Cabela’s site, voiced his concerns about the allowable sizes of signs. Starks said he has been working with SEDCO and Bacon since September and if the town truly desired “high quality, they need to meet the standards of national tenants.”     
Even with the proposed changes, the regulations will require signs along the Haigis Parkway to be significantly smaller than the state’s B2 zoning regulations of Route 1, Starks said. Starks used the proposed size of a “directional sign,” being much smaller than a typical stop sign as an example. Rosenfeld said it was an early goal of the board to deviate from the B2 standards, “to attract customers and keep the idea of the Gateway not being a major thoroughfare intact.”
Starks also pointed out that while the ordinance was specific about sign height, the regulations did not specify a universal point from which the height should be measured, “typically the crown of the road,” he said. Planning board member Anne Littlefield commended Starks suggestion about the measurement standards, and said that it could avoid future confusion with the changing landscape of the project.
Rick Shanae, a representative of New England Expedition Scarborough LLC, the project developer for the Cabela’s store, also had concerns about the proposed sign dimensions. Shanae suggested the ordinance should include a “proportionally sized sign” clause to accommodate the extremely large buildings that could become part of the project. Board member Allen Paul said he agreed with not only taking a look at “building to sign size,” but that directory signs should also be proportional to the number of businesses listed on them.
Shanae also pointed out the regulation excluding banners and streamers from the Haigis Parkway, although the town of Scarborough “plans to use banners along Route 1 for the 350th anniversary.”
Rosenfeld said the banner issue was currently “being worked on,” and he felt the amendments already addressed many of the concerns expressed.
“There is going to be a lot of control,” Rosenfeld said when Phil Maynard, a new member of the planning board, asked about the landscaping requirements for all signs involved in the project.
“Signs will have to be an integral component of the site plan,” Bacon pointed out.
Rosenfeld also said a major goal of the project was uniformity, and each sign erected will have to be approved by the planning board for location as well as aesthetic purposes.