ROCKLAND, Maine — The City Council will consider Monday night a zone change to allow a Main Street business owner to lease space to a restaurant.
The council will consider amending the transitional business 1 zone regulations to allow restaurants that are no larger than 1,500-square feet.
The ordinance amendment change was prompted by a request from the owner of 218 Main St. Polly Saltonstall, who owns the three-story commercial building with her husband, John Hanson Jr., said she has tried for nearly a year to find a good tenant, but the current zoning restriction makes it difficult.
She said two previous tenants — both small markets including Sweets and Meats — have not succeeded.
“The zoning is a little bit wacky,” Saltonstall said at the Monday night council meeting.
The current restrictions allow a market to have up to 10 seats to serve food, but it must be an ancillary use to the market, she pointed out. The location is not ideal for retail, she said, because it is just far enough off downtown that there is not a lot of tourist foot traffic.
Saltonstall said that Primo Restaurant’s owner Melissa Kelly wants to open an Italian market with a restaurant.
If the council approves the zone change Monday, it would likely go to a public hearing and final vote in July, and the change would become effective in August.
Saltonstall said she and her husband have passed on various potential tenants because they would not have been a good fit for the area, which abuts a residential neighborhood.
“When we bought the building and renovated it for our offices [ Maine Boats, Homes & Harbors] we wanted to be an anchor for the neighborhood. We still want to be a positive presence of this end of Main Street,” she said.