By Belle Hatfield
The Vanguard
NovaNewsNow
Yarmouth’s planner is recommending that a big swath of land east of Pleasant Street be re-zoned for commercial uses. The CI-4 zone includes a wide variety of commercial uses including stores and restaurants. The land is currently zoned industrial.
Arthur MacDonald’s recommendations were considered at a planning advisory committee meeting held Monday, Dec. 3 and the committee has agreed to move the recommendation forward to a public participation meeting. The properties include not only the subject property at 101 Forest Street, but also all the properties in between Clements Avenue and Pleasant Street and between Parade and Forest streets that are now zoned M-1 on the future generalized land-use map.
If the proposal were implemented these lands would become available for both commercial and industrial development. They would be in the CI-4 zone on the future generalized land use map. The map shows the area, with Pleasant Street running vertically on the left and Forest Street running horizontally towards the bottom.
The proposal is being driven by applications from businesses interested in cashing in on traffic from the new school on Forest Street.
In his report planner Arthur MacDonald said, “The owner of 101 Forest Street now wishes to establish commercial uses and take advantage of opportunities associated with the relocation of the high school to 146 Forest Street.”
In a related recommendation the committee is also considering extending seasonal mobile street vendors’ permits from six months to nine months. MacDonald told the committee his department has received multiple applications from businesses wanting to operate mobile food wagons, primarily to serve people at the new school. The PAC has also sent this recommendation forward for public participation.
In his remarks, MacDonald told the committee, “by including commercial uses in an existing industrially zoned area, the impacts will actually be less … it makes good planning sense to go ahead and do this proposal.”
The public participation meetings are expected within the next month.
