WATERVILLE — The Planning Board voted 6-0 Monday to approve a plan for a new 1,728-square-foot Taco Bell fast food restaurant at 345 Main St. at the site of the former Bank of America.

The unanimous vote, with board member Scott Workman absent from the meeting, came with conditions including that no left turn be allowed from the property onto Main Street and that a lighting system be approved by City Engineer Greg Brown so it is in compliance with city rules with respect to light pollution. A traffic island must be installed to guide vehicles turning into the property and it also must be approved by Brown.

Board member and former chairman David Geller also proposed as a condition that if a traffic easement agreement between the owners of Taco Bell and the Sherwin-Williams land, located to the rear of the Taco Bell property, is modified, it would need to come before the Planning Board as required by Brown. Such a modification would affect the site plan, according to Geller.

The board approved those conditions as part of approving the final plan for Taco Bell, but not before board member Paul Lussier objected to the condition that any proposed modification come before the Planning Board. Another condition the board required is that the fire chief approve locations of outside trash receptacles.

Christi Holmes of Gorrill Palmer, which represents Taco Bell, said the City Council approved Taco Bell’s request to rezone the property from Commercial-C to a contract zone with a 12-foot setback for the building. The 0.6-acre property is 360 feet from the Main Street intersection with Armory Road, she said. The 500-square-foot bank on the property will be razed to make way for the restaurant.

Brown said Taco Bell offered Liberty Tax to the south of the property a shared access, but Liberty owner Rebecca Ruff declined that shared access. Taco Bell, Brown said, agreed to eliminate a connection to a private sewer main that serves the neighborhood and install its own. Brown recommended the Waterville Sewerage District approve the new main and that the existing sewer system from the Ruff property to the bank be plugged and closed.

Brown led the discussion about whether to allow Taco Bell a left-hand turn out of the property onto Main Street, saying he has spent time in that area watching traffic and trying to turn left — and at a peak traffic time he nearly got hit head-on there.

“At nine o’clock in the morning, it’s probably not an issue and at noon it’s probably not an issue, but at peak times, I think it’s a serious issue,” he said.

Lussier and others said vehicles leaving the area typically exit onto Armory Road.

In a separate matter, the board voted 4-1 to recommend to the council that 319 Main St. be rezoned from Commercial-C to Commercial-A to allow property owner Bill Mitchell to have four apartments constructed inside a barn attached to the rear of an office building on the property. Board Chairman Nick Champagne abstained from voting, as he said he is an employee of A.E. Hodsdon engineers and Mitchell is Hodsdon’s client. Geller opposed the recommendation to the council, referring to his “historical aversion to spot zoning.”

“And I think the motion is too vague,” Geller said.

He was referring to Lussier’s motion to recommend to the council that the property be rezoned and a “definitive line on this piece of property be brought to the council as part of the review process for the rezoning.”

Geller objected to the fact that the board designated no specifics for what part of the property would be rezoned.

At the start of the meeting, Champagne said an agenda item for a public hearing to consider recommendations to the council about appropriate locations for and restrictions on marijuana-related facilities would be moved to later on the agenda after businesses had a chance to show site plans for their projects. Mitchell’s item was listed first on the agenda, and the marijuana hearing was listed second.

More than an hour into the meeting, which started at 7 p.m., the public hearing had not yet been held.

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17

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