At its mid-December meeting, the Rockport Ordinance Review Committee voted to recommend that the town place an amendment before voters that, if approved, would allow up to 40 hotel rooms in a specially designated portion of the Village zone referred to as District 913.

This begins the process by which the Select Board and Planning boards will determine whether to hold public hearings on it. (See attached PDF for the town’s table of allowed uses, per district).

Public hearings, according to the town planner, James Francomano, are tentatively scheduled for April 6 and 11, before the planning and select boards, respectively.

The Village hotel amendment is part of a larger work plan that the Select Board assigned to the town’s Ordinance Review Committee in October. (See attached PDF for the workplan). The hotel issue topped the list, and the last four ORC meetings, held weekly at 8 a.m. on Thursdays in the Rockport Town Office Richardson Room, have been dedicated to hashing out the details of this particular amendment.

“The Select Board indicated a strong interest in allowing hotel development in areas currently described in Section 913.3 of the Land Use Ordinance (LUO) as a portion of the broader Section 913 Downtown zoning district,” wrote Rockport Planner James Francomano, in his notes concerning the December ORC decision.

But following a debate amongst the ORC members themselves, the amendment stipulates that only 40 rooms will be allowed in the 913 district. And whoever applies to build rooms must adhere to a first-come, first-serve process. 

“Why cap the number of Hotel rooms?” wrote Francomano. “The ORC discussed the possibility of the Hotel use, once permitted, expanding to such an extent to as to have an adverse impact on the character of the “Downtown” and Harbor Village area overall. At times this has been expressed as concern for preservation of the ‘working waterfront,’ and at other times out of concern for the preservation of the current diversity of small business and nonprofit tenants of the Union Hall and Shepherd Block buildings, which could at some point be converted to hotel use, as well, if the proposed amendment is approved. A numerical cap on the number of rooms would allow the Town to ‘put a toe in the water’ and reassess later.”

District 913 is one of the smallest zones in town, and the zone within District 913 that will allow hotel rooms is even small, comprising a liited area that extends from the commercial fishermen’s wharf, up to Union Hall, and runs on the east side of Central Street all the way the former CMCA gallery on Russell Ave. The zone includes the boatyard Rockport Marine.

And even though the proposed amendment allows for 40 hotel rooms to be built, and a height limitation of 50 feet, the latter does not apply to all of the property within the carved out portion of 913. For instance, Rockport Marine might be allowed by the town to build 40 hotel rooms, but the height limitation of 50 feet there is only allowed for marine use, not commercial lodging.

“No change is proposed to the requirement that redevelopment or renovation up to the new maximum height of 50 feet is permissible on the Main Street parcels only if such improvements are for ‘marine-related’ use,” wrote Francomano, in his notes. “This is due to Maine’s Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act, and the requirement that the Department of Environmental Protection review and approve such changes.”

Rockport’s 913 district is bordered on all sides, except the ocean, by District 901, Harbor Village.

The proposal to amend the town’s ordinance followed a request by Stuart and Marianne Smith, who purchased several Village lots and a building on Central Street in July 2016, to find a way that would allow them to construct a new hotel there.

The Smiths purchased the properties under the name of 14-16 Central Street LLC, and 20 Central Street LLC, and as the names imply, the empty properties are 14 and 16 Central Street, as well as 20 Central Street. The Smiths also purchased 18 Central Street, otherwise known as the the Shepherd Block, the large brick building that had been renovated by Leucadia Corp. in the last decade.

The empty parcels bracket either side of the Shepherd Block, and overlook Rockport Harbor. 14-16 Central is bounded on one side by the town-owned Mary Lea Park, while 20 Central St. abuts the white-walled 22 Central St., owned by Barbara Jackson. Except, the wall itself is under the ownership 20 Central Street, and reflects a time when more commercial buildings filled Rockport Village.

In June 2016, a change to the ordinance governing District 913 was posed to voters, and approved.

That article, which appeared on the Rockport town warrant, asked voters: “Shall an ordinance entitled ‘Ordinance amending the Town of Rockport Land Use Ordinance, Section 1400 — Shoreland Zoning, Section 917 — Land Use Table, 918 — Dimensional Table and Section 913 — Downtown, which would clarify the permitted uses and standard for development in a portion of the Section 913 Downtown zoning district,’ be enacted?”

The measure passed, Yes: 594; No: 108.

Francomano said those changes were introduced as part of the “town’s general downtown revitalization effort; i.e., returning to historic development patterns (including zero setbacks, increased height) to make redevelopment viable.”

The purpose of the zoning in the 913 Downtown District is to: “preserve and enhance the mixture of small businesses, civic, educational, residential, and water dependent development in the core of the Downtown District and to provide additional uses and alternative standards for increased development potential on specific lots with street frontage on Central Street and Main Street consistent with historical patterns of development,” according to the Rockport Land Use Ordinance.

The ORC will meet Thursday, Jan. 5, at 8 a.m. in the Richardson Room at the Rockport Town Office. The Select Board has yet to schedule a discussion about the proposed 913 amendment.

Related information: 

town.rockport.me.us/vertical/sites/%7B6F0724F7-400D-4D0B-B299-FF5E21F5B92A%7D/uploads/Planners_Notes_as_of_2016-12-30.pdf

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Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657