Letter: Vote yes to repeal contract zoning (May 30, 2008)
Editor:
Contract zoning is a recently enacted provision of Kennebunkport’s law that enables the voters to approve an action that would otherwise violate the land use ordinance. It is the subject of two questions on this year’s town warrant.
Question No. 9 would, if passed, repeal contract zoning. Question No. 8 would amend the law to introduce somewhat greater oversight, by the planning board as well as the board of selectmen.
The executive committee of the Kennebunkport Residents Association discussed this issue at some length at its May 7 meeting, and decided to recommend that voters approve repeal of contract zoning by voting “yes” on warrant Question No. 9.
This recommendation is made with full appreciation for the diligence of the planning board and others who have worked to build additional safeguards into the contract zoning process.
In the last analysis, however, the fact remains that contract zoning is by design a means of circumventing the land use ordinance.
The land use ordinance is our first line of defense against harmful or unsightly development, and it must be enforced rigorously. It has been said that the land use ordinance should not be a “straitjacket” and that contract zoning is needed to alleviate inconvenience. First, the voters always have the right to amend the land use ordinance, as indeed they are asked to do elsewhere on the warrant. Second, of course the land use ordinance can prove inconvenient to petitioners; otherwise, why have it?
Contract zoning initially was sold to the town as a way of introducing bathrooms to Goose Rocks Beach. The cause was right, the means wrong. Subsequent applications of contract zoning have also been right-minded. But the opportunity for abuse is still there, even with the added provisions of Question No. 8.
Thus we urge a “yes” vote on Question No. 9, to repeal contract zoning.
(Note: if Questions No. 8 and 9 both pass, the stricter provision – Question No. 9 – will prevail.)
KRA Executive Committee: Susan Graham, David James, Ernie Lyman, Mary McLaughlin, Dennis Rogers, Jack Senese, Fred Van Veen, Bill Wade
Contract zoning is a recently enacted provision of Kennebunkport’s law that enables the voters to approve an action that would otherwise violate the land use ordinance. It is the subject of two questions on this year’s town warrant.
Question No. 9 would, if passed, repeal contract zoning. Question No. 8 would amend the law to introduce somewhat greater oversight, by the planning board as well as the board of selectmen.
The executive committee of the Kennebunkport Residents Association discussed this issue at some length at its May 7 meeting, and decided to recommend that voters approve repeal of contract zoning by voting “yes” on warrant Question No. 9.
This recommendation is made with full appreciation for the diligence of the planning board and others who have worked to build additional safeguards into the contract zoning process.
In the last analysis, however, the fact remains that contract zoning is by design a means of circumventing the land use ordinance.
The land use ordinance is our first line of defense against harmful or unsightly development, and it must be enforced rigorously. It has been said that the land use ordinance should not be a “straitjacket” and that contract zoning is needed to alleviate inconvenience. First, the voters always have the right to amend the land use ordinance, as indeed they are asked to do elsewhere on the warrant. Second, of course the land use ordinance can prove inconvenient to petitioners; otherwise, why have it?
Contract zoning initially was sold to the town as a way of introducing bathrooms to Goose Rocks Beach. The cause was right, the means wrong. Subsequent applications of contract zoning have also been right-minded. But the opportunity for abuse is still there, even with the added provisions of Question No. 8.
Thus we urge a “yes” vote on Question No. 9, to repeal contract zoning.
(Note: if Questions No. 8 and 9 both pass, the stricter provision – Question No. 9 – will prevail.)
KRA Executive Committee: Susan Graham, David James, Ernie Lyman, Mary McLaughlin, Dennis Rogers, Jack Senese, Fred Van Veen, Bill Wade
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