Planning board asks staff to draft contract-zoning language after overview of time-limited tool

The Lisbon Falls Planning Board asked planning staff on July 9 to draft ordinance language to allow contract zoning after a brief overview of how the mechanism works and discussion of next steps.

Planner Ana Rosa Whitman of North Star Planning explained that contract zoning is a property-specific agreement between a municipality and a landowner that can permit flexible, project-specific terms within the confines of a jurisdiction’s comprehensive plan and statutory authority. “It’s a specific zoning agreement with the property owner for developments on a specific piece of property,” Whitman said, and noted time limits and deed language can be written into the contract to bind future owners if desired.

Board members discussed whether contract zoning would amount to spot zoning and how to guard against that risk. One member asked: “How do we keep if we do this 1 thing, this 1 contract for this 1 spot, how do we keep it from contract zoning just being used as a spot zoning tool for the sector?” The planner and other members said the tool should be used case-by-case, must fit the comprehensive plan, and would be subject to town council review and town attorney input.

Why it matters: Board members raised the contract-zoning option in the context of a previous proposal for temporary housing at the American Legion site that would benefit from a time-limited, site-specific arrangement. Adding contract zoning to the Lisbon ordinance would create a local mechanism to consider such requests without changing underlying zoning across a district.

Next steps: The planning board agreed it would be appropriate for the planning board to draft language and then submit that language to the town council and town attorney for review; Ana Rosa agreed to research the statutory framework and prepare proposed ordinance language for a future meeting.