By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
Although they are both new to the Scarborough Planning board, members Phil Maynard and Don Shire wasted no time making their opinions heard, as they both spoke openly about their concerns during the public hearing on proposed amendments to the Stream Protection District Overlay along a portion of Stuart Brook.
 Scarborough Town Planner Dan Bacon outlined the amendment, which would increase the current 75-foot building setback along the Stuart Brook, located between Broad Turn Road and the Maine Turnpike, to a 250-foot setback. Unlike the 75-foot setback, however, the 250-foot distance Bacon said, “is not intended to impact roads, existing buildings or the expansion of those buildings within the 250 feet.”
Planning Board member Allen Paul later further explained to Kate O’Neal, a landowner along the brook, that owners would be free to expand their existing structures and construct access roads as long as they did not violate the original 75-foot setback. The change also offers a density bonus incentive to develop away from the brook, Bacon said, which would allow developers to build 1.5 times the normal acreage building allowance should the land in the new buffer be conveyed to the town or a conservation group.
“The buffer was not really designed to take value away from landowners but to promote development away from the brook,” Bacon said.
The expansion of the setback could affect residents on both sides of Stuart Brook, several of whom attended the meeting. Many of the residents feared the expansion would drastically lower their property value. Such was the fear of Kathy Frued, who represented her mother’s interests in property along the brook, about half of which would fall in the newly protected area. Frued said she believed the changes “made a fair effort,” to keep landowners from losing money, but had questions about the installation of septic systems and other building amenities within the new setback. Paul said such installations would have to be evaluated by engineers on a site-specific basis.
Katy Foley, who said that nearly all of her property would fall within the 250-foot expansion, suggested an alternative to the “significant zone change,” by requiring future commercial landowners to enforce environmental programs aimed specifically at protecting the brook.
Foley’s sister and former town council member, Suzanne Foley-Ferguson, said she considered the expansion a “broad stroke” by the board, but commended them for their conservation efforts. Ferguson added to her sister’s suggestions by saying the board should consider the topography of land surrounding the brook rather than expanding the setback uniformly.
“The town is not required to help landowners, but cannot take from them,” Ferguson said.
Maynard and Shire were also concerned that the expansion of the protection area along the Brook could be construed as financially “taking” from landowners, and both said they wondered about the legal liability of such an action. Shire compared the amendment to a similar law passed by the state concerning the setback around protected bird habitats, which he said, “Caused such a ruckus it went back to the legislature.”
“Good luck,” Shire told the board.
Bacon answered several more questions from board member Charles Callahan, who asked why Stuart brook was chosen for the expansion, and Anne Littlefield, who asked how the amendment had decided specifically on a 250-foot setback and not a smaller increase. Bacon said that the increase was part of the “greater plan to give the Dunstan area a unique identity.”
“These neighbors are not going to be businesses, but smaller neighborhood developments for Dunstan,” Bacon said.
The expansion is aimed at developing the “green gateway” concept on Scarborough’s Saco border, Bacon said.
Allen encouraged all landowners affected by the expansion of the setback, which he said offered a “good benefit” by continuing to allow building expansion and road access regardless of how the surrounding area developed, to attend the Scarborough Town Council meetings where the issue will be further discussed.