BANGOR, Maine — The man who said he would start his own church in order to operate a day care business at the former Forest Avenue Congregational Church is trying again for a zoning change.
If approved by the city, the change would allow the proposed child care facility to operate as a tax-paying, for-profit business at 300 Forest Ave.
Brian Duprey, CEO of Duprey Enterprises Inc., said this week he will seek to rezone the property from urban residential district to a government and institutional services district during Tuesday’s meeting of the planning board.
This time, he is seeking a contract zone change, which would limit the 0.53-acre property’s use to a day care and a place of worship.
The proposal comes after the planning board denied a permanent zone change in April, when four neighboring residents raised concern rezoning could increase traffic in the residential area, open the property for other uses if Duprey were to sell or lead the way for additional zoning changes in the area.
“Most of their concern was the future use after we left,” Duprey said. “If I were to sell the building, the contract zone change ends with me and it reverts back to what it was.”
City officials said Thursday the zone change and any contract restrictions would remain in place for the property permanently unless altered by City Council.
The proposed contract zone change also would limit the maximum square footage of the former church to 5,000 square feet and prohibit the property owner from providing any accessory dwelling or overnight accommodations at the site.
During its meeting Monday, the City Council, which declined to overturn the planning board’s decision in April, referred the new request to the planning board for consideration.
Duprey Enterprises Inc. owns and operates Little Angels Daycare and Preschool, which has three locations in Bangor and one in Old Town.
Duprey told the planning board in April he planned to open a Bangor Christian Daycare and Preschool at the site in August, initially serving about 30 to 40 children. By 2018, he hoped to use the entire facility to serve as many as 80 children.
Duprey said this week he has a deal with a local church to rent worship space for Sunday services. He said he would not yet identify the church, but the pastor would speak at Tuesday’s meeting.
Since the closure of Life Academy Daycare at Grace Church Bangor on Broadway last year, Duprey said there is a need for biblically based early education.
After the city’s decision on the rezoning, Duprey, an ordained pastor, initially said he would start his own church at the site in order to operate the day care.
Churches are allowed as a conditional use in the current residential district with approval of the planning board, and day cares are allowed as an accessory function of that church, according to Gould.
The property has operated as a day care before. Former Hampden Mayor Carol Duprey, wife of Brian Duprey, told the City Council in April that about 70 percent of the building was rented out for a day care as far back as 25 years ago.
Duprey Enterprises operated a day care at the site that served about 45 children from 2005 to 2008.
According to planning officer David Gould, the government and institutional service district is typically how churches are zoned. He wasn’t sure why the more than 100-year-old church building remained in a residential zone.
“I’m guessing they just never got around to it,” he said, adding it likely got overlooked because it didn’t have much impact.
Other facilities that could operate in the district — without contract restrictions — include schools, medical offices, clinics, nursing homes and any facilities operated by public agencies or private nonprofit agencies.
The zone specifically excludes clinics for the treatment of chemical dependency.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.