ANDOVER – Under threat of increasing development spilling over from surrounding towns, Andover planners circled their wagons Monday night.
Planners Leon Akers, Victor Peterson, Gerard Michaud and two alternates discussed hurriedly creating, tweaking and adopting a site plan review ordinance with help from a government consultant.
“I think we ought to be moving forward fast,” Akers said, suggesting that Andover model its plan on Bethel’s site plan review ordinance instead of Norway’s.
“We get into the nitty-grittys pretty much the same as Bethel,” he added.
Lacking commercial zoning regulations, Andover has only three ordinances with which to regulate land use: shoreland zoning and subdivision. They are shoreland zoning, subdivision and roads.
“It’s pretty easy pickings for developers to come in here and push you people around,” said Andover resident Bim Hansen, although planners have stood their ground.
“You should set a standard, and it should be stricter than Norway’s because they don’t have the tens of thousands of acres that Andover has.
“This is a poor town, and we’ll be dealing with rich clientele if they want things in the future,” Hansen said.
Worried about malls, cell-phone towers, golf courses, hotels and other large-scale development moving in, planners discussed strategies with consultant Fergus Lea of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments in Auburn.
“We’re trying to give ourselves a little power,” planner Gerard Michaud said.
Lea showed the group site plan review ordinances from Bethel, Bowdoinham, Greene and Norway. He cautioned them about stringency, saying that whatever standards they choose would apply townwide, not solely to developers.
“We’re seeing more and more proposals for development in the Mahoosuc Mountains Range, into Bethel and in the Carthage area,” Lea said.
“There’s a reason to move forward with this. Besides, you’ve got this development staring you in the face,” he said.
MaineVest LLC, a corporation registered in Goffstown, N.H., purchased 5,398 acres in Andover from International Paper and proposed a subdivision with nine lots ranging from 500 to 855 acres.
It is currently before the Planning Board, which has yet to find the extensive application complete and begin work on it.
Planners agreed to bring a draft ordinance to the board’s next meeting in two weeks.
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