PARIS – A new convenience store will open on Buckfield Road, despite the Planning Board chairman’s concern that a business has no place in a residential neighborhood.
Chairman Russ Case was the one dissenting vote in the five-person board’s decision to approve Don and Terry Strout’s proposed store, which will be called the Streaked Mountain Trading Post at 48 Buckfield Road.
“This is a residential neighborhood and this is a business moving into a neighborhood,” Case said, adding that he was surprised more people did not come to the meeting to counter the proposal.
Case said he was concerned about delivery trucks in the area. He also said that by approving the store, which will occupy what is now an empty house, the board makes it easier for any other business to open there if the Strouts move out.
Planning Board member George Buddy Coffren said, “But there is no zoning. There is no comprehensive plan in Paris.” Zoning would put stricter limits on where businesses are allowed in town.
Audrey Banks of Emery Avenue was the sole neighbor who attended the meeting to offer her opinion.
“I’m concerned about parking and the parking lot,” she said. She said Buckfield Road is busy and that traffic flows fast. She was concerned that vehicles easing into the road from the store could increase the risk of accidents.
Don Strout responded, “We agreed on an in-and-out driveway with parking in the back and on the sides. People aren’t going to be backing out into the road.” An in-and-out driveway means there is a separate entrance and exit for cars.
The Strouts, who live in Buckfield, own two other businesses, one a drywall company and the other a used-car dealership. The Streaked Mountain Trading Post will be their first store, and they will offer take-out food as well as the typical assortment of convenience-store goods. They expect to open before the first of the year.
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