Senior housing project clears hurdle, but developer cautioned

SCARBOROUGH — Over the objection of local residents, including two town councilors, and even some of its own members, the Scarborough Zoning Board of Appeals has cleared the way for an 81-unit senior housing complex – but not without wagging its own proverbial finger.

“We want some serious attention spent on design, [road] access and water issues,” said Mark Maroon, board chairman, citing issues raised by more than 45 neighbors of the project who attended the March 14 meeting.

Wegman Companies, a 35-year-old firm based in Rochester, N.Y., operates 14 assisted-living homes, primarily in New York and Ohio. It plans to move into Maine with a 59,000-square-foot facility – including 46 studio apartments, 15 one-bedroom units with limited kitchen facilities and 20 “dementia units” – on an 8.5-acre lot off Black Point Road, just 300 feet from the busy Oak Hill intersection with Route 1.

"If I were to take my zoning board hat off and put my own personal hat on, this doesn’t make sense to me, where they’re putting it,” said board member Richard Loisel, “but we will approve what the applicant legally has a right to do.”

Still, Loisel cautioned, “My advice to the applicant is, since there's a lot of resistance from the public, I'd listen closely to what they're saying."

What was said repeatedly during the two-hour session, in which Maroon was admittedly lenient with the gavel, was that Wegman’s facility will overwhelm the Oak Hill area.

“This building is huge in comparisons to our homes,” said Black Point Road resident Lisa Ronco. “It’s huge. It’s enormous. It’s disturbing. There are a lot of issues, a lot more than just the zoning. It’s like our homes are crumbling before us.”

Maroon acknowledged that issues presented by the Wegman proposal, including the continued growth of the Oak Hill area, are “about a lot more than just this project.”

“I absolutely support the idea of assisted living, but this is going to put a huge strain on an already overloaded road,” Councilor Carol Rancourt said when the project was before the Planning Board in January.

Although not at the March 14 meeting, Rancourt has continued to speak out against the development location.

Councilor Richard Sullivan was on hand, and he took the other popular position against the project – that neighbors downhill will get inundated with stormwater runoff once the wooded development area is cleared.

“For 31 years, I’ve taken care of the property at Stratton Woods as a landscaper,” he said, referring to a 58-unit condo complex. “Over the years, the water problem has continued to increase, and I don’t think the plans, as put forth to the Planning Board, have been properly vetted.”

However, despite his own admonishments, Maroon pointed out that his board had no jurisdiction over traffic or drainage. Instead, the matter was referred to the board by Assistant Town Planner Jay Chace, since the 20 dementia units Wegman wanted fall under the definition of an actual nursing home. Because of that, Chace said, the project needed a “special exception” from the Zoning Board of Appeals under rules in the “transitional zone” – between commercial and residential zones – in which the project site sits.

The board’s authority, Maroon said, extended only to the question of the dementia units.

Given those “very narrow” confines, the board voted 4-1 to grant the exception.

“I’m conflicted,” said board member Art Dillon. “If this was a 20-unit standalone [project], then OK, but it’s not just 20 units. It’s 20 units housed with this much larger thing,” said Dillon, who admitted at one point he would have cast a no vote if allowed to review the project as a whole.

Even when considering just the suitability of the dementia units, Dillon did vote against certain findings of fact, including the finding that it would not create unsafe traffic conditions.

Leroy Crockett, the lone no when the final vote was taken, also voiced concern over traffic.

“My grandfather had dementia, I know what can happen,” he said. “It’s is so close to Route 1 and so close to Black Point. You get someone out there who doesn’t know what’s going on, it could be bad.

Joe McEntee, vice president of senior housing for Wegman, cited measures designed to keep dementia patients from wandering freely down the highway, including secured doors, delayed exits and a 6-foot-tall fence around the site’s outdoor garden area.

"In the regular assisted living side, people check in and out, but they're free to come and go as they please," he said. "On the dementia side, they're not. It's a secured unit. You need a special pass to get in or out."

According to Chace, Wegman now needs Maine Department of Environmental Protection approval before returning for final review from the Planning Board.

When planners do look at the project again, they’ll find it comes with a “request” for the board. Noting that he could not make it a requirement of Zoning Board of Appeals approval, Maroon nonetheless asked planners to require a “baseline water test” to determine stormwater flow from the proposed development site as it now sits.

“In the event that that baseline is changed because of the fact that building is built, then the ownership of that problem will belong in your laps to be repaired, replaced or resolved, so the neighbors are not paying the price for this project.” Maroon told McEntee.

“I know your people do a good job with things like that, so I’m sure that’s not a threat,” said Maroon. “I just want the Planning Board to be aware that this board is concerned about that.”