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NCD Use Subcommittee Formed

A subcommittee formed to study the approved zoning uses of the Neighborhood Commercial District (NCD) has begun meeting. A list of potential amendments for the district is being developed.

The Zoning Commission announced on March 25 that it would form a subcommittee to study all approved uses in the NCD after residents voiced concerns about the types of businesses permitted in the zone.

The committee held its first meeting in late April. The members are Harry Ruppenicker Jr., Vincent Gentile, Dwayne Xenelis, Marilyn Ozols, Janice Panella, Darlene Briggs, Meri Wick, Jim Crawford, Dave Russell, and Jack Zamary. The committee included representatives of the Planning Commission, Zoning Commission, Economic Development Commission, and residents who represent the Council of Beaches.

Westbrook Town Planner Peter Gillespie said the next meetings are scheduled for Wednesday, May 29, Monday, June 17, and Thursday, July 18. Gillespie said that the committee asked staff to develop a list of possible amendment topics to be discussed at the next meeting.

Concern about the approved zoning regulations for the NCD has gained steam in the past three years, especially following a controversial application for a retail marijuana store last year.

“This goes back to 2021, which was the most recent time the Plan of Conservation and Development was updated. As part of that, the NCD was made bigger,” Gillespie told the Harbor News last month.

Currently, the NCD runs from about the Old Saybrook town line to the town center, where it breaks, then resumes from the Town Hall to about the Clinton town line.

The NCD includes Route 1, but it also includes areas that are purely residential neighborhoods. Gillespie pointed out that, in theory, businesses would have the right to open in areas that are resident neighborhoods not commercial centers like Route 1.

In a presentation given to the subcommittee, Gillespie pointed out that the NCD was meant to have a mix of low-key uses that would not generate large volume of traffic and that “anyone in town would be okay having next to their house.”

As an example of potential conflict, Gillespie pointed to the recent case of the proposed retail marijuana store in town. In early 2023, the Zoning Commission approved an application that allowed a retail marijuana shop at 755 Boston Post Road. The move was controversial to some in town, particularly those who lived in beach communities in the NCD near the proposed site.

Members of the public expressed concerns about increased traffic, fear of increased crime, and potential illegal parking in the residential streets surrounding the business.

The application and its approval were subsequently withdrawn in early 2024, but the questions about the appropriate uses of the NCD raised by the application remain.

In the fall of 2023, the Zoning Commission debated forming a subcommittee to study the impacts of retail marijuana in Westbrook but decided to wait until the issues surrounding the potential store were settled.

However, Zoning Commission Chairman Ruppenicker said in March that instead of just focusing on the retail marijuana regulations, there was interest in studying the NCD as a whole.