Plans to open a small retail oyster business at 11 North Main Street in Stonington continue to face challenges, this time from a number of neighbors who expressed concerns about increased traffic, pedestrian safety, noise and excessive lighting.
Stonington resident Abby Barrows, owner of Deer Isle Oyster Company, had hoped to sell oysters, related merchandise and beverages this summer from an 8 by 12-foot building on a vacant lot located just before the intersection with Thurlow’s Hill Road and Indian Point Road.
Plans also called for occasional special events on the site as well. But objections and concerns from both Stonington Planning Board members and abutters may continue to delay or prevent the initiative from becoming reality, at least this year.
Barrows’ application first appeared on the planning docket in April. Changes to the original proposal, questions about whether she, as a lessee of the property, could legally apply for the permit, and a long public approval process have now pushed any possible opening date back to mid-August at the earliest. And there’s no guarantee that the board will green light the project after a sometimes-contentious public hearing on July 16.
Safety, noise and lights
“I’m very concerned about traffic in and out of that driveway,” North Main Street resident Joan Weaver told board members, calling it a safety issue. “It’s a very busy section of Route 15…drivers will sometimes gun the accelerator on that straightaway.”
In written comments she provided to the board, Weaver acknowledged that the oyster retail stand “is just the type of business that Stonington’s comprehensive plan encourages and one we’d all like to see grow and succeed.”
But she questioned whether the site was the right place, arguing that “for events, the space is too small for what is proposed, and the project is not compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.”
Weaver asked the board to place conditions on the project, such as requiring a separate exit and entrance, prohibiting any on-premise events, and restricting hours to the afternoon only. She challenged the application’s parking plans, arguing that the 10 spaces rendered in the plan are less than half the size of a standard parking space.
Robin Alden and Ted Ames expressed similar concerns. Although they have championed marine-based businesses and preserving the town’s working waterfront, Alden said the couple’s fears arise from a seafood business that becomes too successful.
“We support you being able to do this,” she said, addressing Barrows directly. “It’s just really tough for us. Our bedroom is directly over that location. If the food truck does really well, if the events do really well, if it becomes a hopping place — that’s what we have concerns about.”
Alden said that the oyster business might become “the camel’s nose under the tent,” leading to more food-service type businesses in a residential neighborhood. “If this were proposed right downtown, that would be great,” she said. “But if this becomes a ‘restaurant alley,’ I think that would be really sad.”
Barrows defended her plan as a scaled attempt to build a seafood-based business that would benefit the town. She said she had consulted with the Maine Department of Transportation and they hadn’t flagged any specific traffic or safety concerns.
“My intention was never to ruffle feathers,” she said, responding to the site-location criticism. “I was born and raised in Stonington and I love this place. But our town needs more businesses like this, or it may not survive as a town.”
Where is downtown?
The crux of the neighbors’ opposition focused on whether the proposed location was part of Stonington’s commercial downtown. There are no sidewalks beyond Seabreeze Avenue, and Weaver said the town’s own maps show the downtown ending at that spot.
“I am strongly opposed to her plan for a food trailer/food truck in my neighborhood,” agreed Arlene Wusterbarth, a year-round resident living at 21 North Main Street, in written comments. “I enjoy where I live in Stonington…I am particularly concerned that the food trailer/food truck with potential pop-up events would serve as a stepping-stone to more elaborate food service options” at 11 North Street and further up Route 15.
“So, such commercial growth is a real possibility for ‘crowding out’ residential homeowners, like me, and cause us to leave the neighborhood,” she continued. “The departure of residential owners for commercial growth would exacerbate the existing shortage of housing…”
But Economic and Community Development Director Linda Nelson flipped that argument on its head.
“This is the exact kind of problem we want to have,” she told board members, echoing Barrows’ point about Stonington’s need for economic development. And she added that commercial development ought to occur in the town’s commercial area. “If you have a house downtown, then you have chosen to live in a commercial district.”
Nelson suggested that local entrepreneurs generate a network effect, where patrons of one business, such as the town’s Opera House, will frequent nearby restaurants and shops, multiplying overall economic activity.
“We absolutely need business people like Abby to do business here,” she said, or otherwise “we may have a dead downtown.”
“I still take issue with whether we are ‘downtown’ or not,” Joan Weaver replied.
“You are,” Nelson said. “You definitely are.”
At that point, planning board chair Renee Sewall gaveled the meeting to a close. She thanked Barrows and the neighbors, assuring all that their comments would be given due deliberation. The board is expected to take up the application again at its August monthly meeting.