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Planning board recommends contract rezoning at former Martell School site on Lisbon Street
Summary
The board voted to send a favorable recommendation to city council to rezone 860 Lisbon Street to a community business contract zone (reduced setbacks to 5 ft). Members expressed concerns about lot depth, traffic and pedestrian safety; two members voted no and their reasons were recorded.
The Lewiston Planning Board voted to send a favorable recommendation to city council for a contract rezoning at 860 Lisbon Street, the former Martell School site, allowing community-business uses with reduced front, side and rear setbacks of 5 feet.
Staff told the board that the site is a 3.2-acre parcel in the neighborhood business zoning district surrounded by community-business parcels and that the contract zone would align the property with the corridor’s existing character. Staff said required landscaping and buffering could still be met despite the reduced setbacks.
Penn Lindsey, development director with Lewiston Housing, representing the applicant, said the project remains three phases of about 44 units each; phase 3 would add one story to maintain unit counts while altering height and setbacks to be consistent with surrounding parcels. “We are not actually looking to add additional units,” he said, explaining the height change is to make phase 3 consistent with grading and neighboring buildings.
Board members raised questions about lot depth, how the commercial lot would be subdivided, and potential traffic and pedestrian-safety impacts if a commercial drive-through were built at the corner. One member expressed concern that the commercial lot could worsen congestion at the intersection; another asked whether changes would retroactively affect phases 1 and 2. Staff said an amendment to an approved phase could trigger further planning-board review depending on the scale of the change.
A motion to recommend the contract zone passed on a roll call vote. Two members registered no votes; those members said their votes reflected concerns about neighborhood character, possible traffic and life-safety implications, and reduced lot setbacks.
The board’s recommendation now goes to city council for two readings and possible adoption. If council approves, the rezoning would take about 30 days following council action to be effective; any future site-specific development would return to the planning board for development review.
