Vision for York Beach in 10 years: New homes, shops, restaurants, parking garage?

YORK, Maine — The town recently was shown renderings of what Short Sands Road could become — lined with neighborhoods, shops, restaurants and satellite parking for nearby York Beach.

The drawings were concepts born from feedback by residents at last month’s Planapalooza, a four-day charette at the York Beach Fire Department. Town planners and a design firm met with residents throughout the week to collect feedback for the future rezoning of a 300-acre area near Short Sands Beach.

“The drawings we’re going to show you are not proposals. They’re not even suggestions,” said Brian Wright, principal of the Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative hired by the town. “We use drawing as a tool so you can respond to how we’ve interpreted the ideas that we’ve talked about.”

The charette was just one step in a process that goes back years as the town looks to combine six different zones into one cohesive district. Town officials had referred to the future zone as the Green Enterprise Recreation Overlay District, though it was changed this year to the York Beach Greenway District.

The zone includes the York's Wild Kingdom, which is approximately 60 acres. The park has been up for sale in recent years, which leaves the possibility of that property being redeveloped under the new zoning. Also included are several acres of town-owned land along Short Sands Road that connects Route 1 to the beach.

Feedback from the recent charettes will now be used to guide new proposed zoning that will go before voters next November.

“That’s the hope,” Planning Board Chair Wayne Boardman said. “The whole idea was to get as much community input as possible to make sure that people were informed of what’s being considered.”

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Consultants pitch ‘Village 2.0’ in future Greenway District

Town planners and staff from Wright’s firm TPUDC met in the York Beach fire station from Sept. 18-21 with maps available so residents could come in and out to share feedback. At night, sessions were held with residents to facilitate discussions about a range of related topics, from culture and history to housing, recreation and tourism.

In their final meeting the night of Sept. 21, Wright told attendees the town must prioritize character when crafting new zoning. He said his staff had heard from some residents their displeasure about how development has been approved in the past, particularly with the loss of open space.

“We heard loud and clear and observed ourselves the way that new development’s been happening around here,” Wright said. “It seems to be from a clear-cut methodology that hasn’t been well received.”

To fix this, Wright said future zoning needs to be as specific as possible to prevent what residents do not want to see. He said many people wanted to preserve trees to the maximum extent.

“You might want to shore that up a little bit,” Wright said.

To help guide Wright and his team, residents participated in exercises where they placed different colored dots to represent what they wanted to see and not see. Residents have said they hoped for zoning to promote more recreational activities, conservation land and artisan vendors.

Wright’s renderings demonstrated the potential for all those uses intermingled with residential properties to create what he described as the “Village 2.0.” That section was drawn on the map where a new police station was proposed. He included drawings of a small town with residences surrounding a corner store in the middle of an intersection.

The zone also includes wetlands. Wright suggested those areas could be used for trails with boardwalks to take pedestrians across.

Wright also said they heard of a need for more parking at the beach. He included in renderings proposals for satellite parking in several places in the Greenway District, as well as pointing out the potential for a parking structure on Route 1.

Wright said by scattering parking throughout the zone, new parking spaces can be made available without adding to the concrete in the Short Sands Beach area. The plans also showed the potential for buildings to surround the smaller lots to hide them from view as people go towards the beach.

“We didn’t want to make it your welcome mat, your postcard moment,” Wright said. “We have hidden it within the block.”

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Feedback from residents

Residents had mixed responses to the presentation from Wright’s firm. TPUDC was hired from Tennessee but has done work in New England.

Some in the group who reacted negatively to the idea of a parking garage said they were concerned it would result in more of a city feel. Others believed there were not enough recreational activities included in the vision presented by Wright. They also suggested against naming any new section of town as being labeled a “village” given the significance of York Village in another part of town.

Wright reiterated that any vision is subject to change due to the process of drafting new zoning. A slide in the presentation showed new zoning would be drafted in the months following Planapalooza, and final revisions would be ready for public hearings next summer.

The rezoning process has led residents to discuss specific uses they hope to see or avoid in the Greenway District. In an introductory meeting in August, residents talked about the potential for a future community center. One audience member was adamantly against one, another saying it was sorely needed.

Town officials have said rezoning is not about starting specific initiatives like a new community center. Rather, the plan is to allow for cohesive zoning across the district that officials say will meet the goals of the town’s comprehensive plan.

“It’s not so much to mandate what’s there,” Boardman said, “But to allow the uses that make sense in that area.”

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York Beach of the future: Vision for 300 acres near Short Sands