By GARY REMAL
Staff Writer Monday, May 07, 2007

Maine Course Hospitality Group of Freeport, which operates the Econo Lodge on Western Avenue and is building Fairfield Inn & Suites on Anthony Avenue, is seeking city approval to place a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel and adjoining restaurant at the rear of 254 Western Ave. on property owned by Edward Gall.

The firm also owns hotels in several other Maine communities.

Peter Anastos, one of the principle owners of Maine Course Hospitality Group, said the site is currently designated for residential and business use and needs to be rezoned for commercial use before the project can proceed.

The Planning Board will consider the zoning change when it meets Tuesday at 7 p.m.

The property abuts an apartment complex to the south and homes on Orchard Street on the east. Anastos promised to be a good neighbor to abutting residential areas and offered to install any necessary buffers to insulate neighbors from the impact of the hotel. "The questions the (Planning) board will have to answer have to do with exactly how or whether to change the zoning considering the neighboring residential uses," said Matthew Nazar, the city's deputy director of development services.

The land also is near Augusta Crossing, a shopping center now under construction and bordered by Western Avenue, Storey Street and Interstate 95.

Given the amount of ledge in the adjoining shopping center project, Anastos said construction of his hotel complex likely would involve blasting.

"I can't say for sure until we get the geo-technical study, but I'd probably have to do some blasting," he said. "But that would be true whether it was residential or commercial."

The firm's application asks that the area for the project receive a contract rezoning to the city's Regional Business District, which would limit uses to business, professional and government offices; retail uses; service businesses; and restaurants to give the developers flexibility should their plans for a hotel and restaurant fall through, she said.

But Nazar said board members must decide if they wish to allow such a broad range of potential uses in considering a zoning change, even if concerns for nearby neighborhoods can be resolved. Contract rezoning is generally more restrictive than a traditional zoning change. Board members also are scheduled to consider a revised architectural plan for a Walgreens Pharmacy on Memorial Circle, Nazar said.

Board members will review a number of technical changes, as well, he said. But the primary issue remaining before the board is the design of the building itself, the city planner said.

"We'll have to see what the Planning Board ends up saying" about the new design put forward by Capital Maine BCD Inc., Nazar said. "I think that's the biggest issue. I don't know if the Planning Board will be satisfied or not."

Other items on the Planning Board agenda include:

n A conditional-use request by Medical Rehab Associates to renovate and add a 462-square-foot addition to the firm's building at 55 Middle St. in the Medium Density Residential District.

n A conditional-use request by Bruce Dang for a Chinese take-out restaurant in an existing building at 264 Eastern Ave. in the Planned Development District.

n And a request for a conditional-use permit by Larry Mason of Mason's Lawnmower, an existing non-conforming use, to demolish a portion of a building at 18 Haskell St. and construct a larger building in its place in the Low Density Residential District, Nazar said.

Gary Remal -- 621-5642

gremal@centralmaine.com