Several Greenville zoning changes will be proposed

GREENVILLE — For several months the Greenville Planning Board has been considering several zoning changes to allow some properties to be used for different purposes than are currently permitted. A public hearing on the proposed adjustments was held during the Greenville Planning Board meeting on April 2.

The proposed changes include some parcels going from the commercial industrial zone to the adjacent village zone and reclassifying a portion of the Hammond Lumber property to allow for the construction of a large storage building.

Any zoning changes would be done with amendments to the land use ordinance via a town meeting vote, if first approved by the planning board and then the select board. 

The planning board would not be making any final decisions that evening, Chair John Contreni said. “We want to hear what folks have to say and we will consider the testimony we hear tonight,” he said with a board vote likely to take place at the next regular meeting on Wednesday, April 16.

Showing a map of the proposed changes, switching some parcels from the commercial industrial zone to the village zone “would open it up for commercial as well as residential use, a lot of land on that side of the street is not being used for industrial purposes,” Code Enforcement Officer Ron Sarol said.

The state is encouraging towns to add housing and Sarol said this could be a way to spur new development. Some landowners have expressed interest in building homes.

In the village zone, single and multifamily dwellings are permitted but mobile home parks are not. The zoning change could boost housing opportunities in Greenville while not limiting business, as the zone also allows for retail sales such as a convenience store or restaurant.

“We are basically just changing a chunk that is not being used,” Sarol said, saying other industrial parcels will remain as is.

Single family dwellings are not permitted in the commercial industrial zone while being allowed in the village zone.

Most of the proposed zone change is around Greenville Steam, which was set up over three decades ago when the town was trying to create business in the section of town. Some lots were never developed and are still vacant. 

Town Manager Mike Roy mentioned he received two recent inquiries with one looking at 40 acres for a business and another for three acres for a storefront along or near the main road. “These are just some of the requests we are receiving, and for housing as well, and it would help opening up more area, maybe taking it out of the industrial area for mixed (use),” he said.

The proposal for Hammond Lumber — Contreni said this can be seen by looking out the town office window — would involve a zone change of land from downtown 2 to village commercial.

Hammond Lumber would like to construct a large storage building to keep items out of the weather. Reclassifying part of the property from the downtown 2 to village commercial zone would allow the business to build a structure over 5,000 square feet while still maintaining some open space.

“We felt that property fits more into the commercial village zone,” Contreni said. Discussions have not yet gotten into where specifically Hammond Lumber would build.

“Some of those old structures would come down and they would clean up that entire area,” Contreni said.

In other business, the planning board discussed another proposed amendments to the land use ordinance that can change how far away a structure must be from the property lines in certain sections of town provided certain criteria have been met. Under this change the setback for primary dwellings would be 5 feet instead of the proposed 10 feet.

A setback variance has been developed by Sarol to be in place should this proposed amendment also be approved at a town meeting vote. The code enforcement officer presented a draft of the form to the planning board. 

“It will be in the file so when I am long gone and someone wants to build within five feet of the property this will be allowed,” Sarol said, as the form is an application to be submitted to the code enforcement officer.

The setback variance form is set to be an agenda item for the April 16 meeting.

The board will also continue discussions on a property and building safety maintenance ordinance, as Greenville currently has nothing on the books to help protect the health and safety of the community as well as dealing with unsightly structures.

Contreni has shared examples of property maintenance ordinances from other towns, including Anson and Paris with similar populations to Greenville and the larger community of Oxford. 

Fifty miles away in Milo the town has a dangerous building ordinance and this is being used to deal with the debris of a home destroyed in a fire in the fall of 2023, Contreni said.

“It would be an eyesore as well as being dangerous,” he said with the property having been left as is for more than 18 months. Greenville does not have the capability to force cleanup in such a situation whereas Milo does with its ordinance.