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Planning board approves Lewiston Mall retail conversion, requires traffic and pedestrian improvements
Summary
The board approved a change of use at the former Sears site (20 East Avenue) to allow a new retail tenant, directing the applicant to satisfy a traffic movement permit, pay review fees, and complete required traffic and pedestrian improvements and engineer certifications before a certificate of occupancy.
The Lewiston Planning Board voted Nov. 20 to approve John Lee Lewiston LLC’s amendment to the Lewiston Mall for a new retail store in the former Sears space at 20 East Avenue (7.4 acres), subject to conditions tied to traffic improvements. Staff and the applicant described a modest site plan that demolishes roughly 10,000 square feet of the old Sears building to create ADA-accessible parking, adds landscaped islands, replaces an aging transformer, and modestly reduces impervious area.
The project triggered a Traffic Movement Permit (TMP). The city’s third-party traffic reviewer and MDOT identified off-site signal and timing changes — notably split or concurrent ped phasing and reprogramming at the East Ave/Bartlett intersection — plus new crosswalks and a sidewalk along part of the driveway to improve pedestrian access. The applicant said MDOT recommended signal timing changes, some new signal heads and pedestrian safety features such as blank-out signs and adjusted phasing to reduce crash risk at a location previously flagged as a high-crash intersection.
Public commenters raised localized issues the board asked staff to follow up on: resident James Dean reported persistent yard flooding and asked that the applicant and public works examine subsurface pipes; another neighbor asked who maintains the rear stockade fence and asked the city to enforce maintenance requirements if they’re recorded in prior development approvals. Several speakers urged inclusion of bike racks; board members and the applicant said they would consider adding visible bike parking near entrances rather than at the rear of the building.
The board’s approval requires the applicant to pay any outstanding traffic study review fees before building permits are issued, to meet all TMP conditions before certificate of occupancy, and to have the applicant’s engineer certify completion of required improvements before CO. The motion passed on a roll call vote; one member abstained while stating support, noting a desire for stronger pedestrian/bike coordination in future capital planning.
