ROCKLAND — As of Monday, Dec. 10, no business has vocalized wanting to move operations to Pleasant Street; therefore, Rockland City Council has no true feel for whether an ordinance to rezone the area from residential to business park is worthwhile. However, if the Council waits for a business to request such a change, the City may be accused of favoritism to that particular enterprise.

“That’s why picking this land, this... five parcels, was to basically encourage development there,” City Manager Tom Luttrell said during the Dec. 10 City Council meeting. “I know there’s been a lot of concerns of what might be going in there. We don’t know what’s going in there.”

Luttrell said that there’s been activity on some of the parcels for businesses considering it, if the ordinance passes.

For now, though, “it’s been a lot of tire-kicking,” he said.

In a three-to-two vote, for a number of different reasons, Councilors elected to postpone the ordinance until January.

“I think we should rezone it to business park,” Councilor Ed Glaser said. “But I’m in favor of postponing it partly because it’s coming before the ordinance amendment that changes the zone. So, if the zone change failed, then we’d be putting into place a zone that is the way it currently stands, not the way we envision it standing.”

Councilor Ben Dorr wished to provide the affected parties with another workshop.

“Our agenda meeting that we had last week felt more like a presentation, and they didn’t get the chance to stand up and sit and speak with us,” he said. “I’m also kind of hesitant about zoning before we see any type of proposal about what we may put there.... It’s not going to go anywhere. It’s December. Nobody is going to build a building there in the next 30 days.”

Councilor Amelia Magjik disagreed with Dorr. A lot of work and discussions have already taken place, she said. Changes have been added to appease concerns.

During the Wednesday, Dec. 5, agenda-setting meeting, Community Development Director Julie Hashem spoke of Rockland’s mil rate.

“Only 12 percent of the parcels in Rockland are commercial and industrial,” she said. “That accounts for 28 percent of the tax revenue. If we want to keep our mil rate stable over time, we need to find opportunities to grow and our marching orders are in the comp plan as to how we do that.”

“This is a move in the right direction,” Magjik said. “We’re levelling the impact on taxpayers by bringing more business to Rockland. And we have control over what these businesses are. They would all go before the planning board before any construction would occur.”

Camden-based Attorney Paul Gibbons told councilors, during a public hearing portion of the meeting, that changing the zone would cause difficulties for Rockland.

Gibbons reminded the audience that Rockland has a stormwater disposal problem. That stormwater continues to flow into the sewer system. Adding more buildings, more driveways and access points, reduces vegetation to absorb the ground water. This increases the stormwater far beyond what already accumulates.

“Where is all of this water going to go?” he asked.

With a large-density increase instead of growth of an area in gradual increments, “it is certain that you’ll have flooding,” he said. “It is certain you will destroy people’s properties down gradient. It is certain that you’ll have floods on the streets, and they’ll freeze in the winter.

“People invest in attractive places until they are no longer attractive,” Gibbons said.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com