In a marathon meeting Tuesday evening, the Gray Town Council moved forward with proposed zoning for a new business district north of the village while tabling consideration of a fire suppression ordinance.

Working on a full agenda that took the meeting past 1 a.m. on Wednesday, councilors removed language from a proposed zoning ordinance that would have allowed excessive traffic for the newly-established Business Transition District near the Public Safety building on Shaker Road. The zoning lays out the rules for limited business zones to replace a residential/agricultural zone and a wellhead protection zone at the site of a proposed Hannaford Bros. grocery store.

The proposed zoning prohibits vehicle access to businesses from decreasing traffic on local roads below what is defined as Level of Service D. While LOS D would see speeds on Shaker Road reduced below speed limits and cars and trucks hemmed in by each other, councilors agreed with Councilor Andrew Upham's recommendation to remove a paragraph that would have allowed exceptions creating even greater traffic problems.

The Hannaford store is to be located in BT 1, with an entrance across from Libby Hill Road, the road to the Gray-New Gloucester High School and Middle School. Hannaford Bros. spokesman Mitch Feeney said the company is planning to install a traffic light at that intersection. Shaker Road is a major route for travelers to Oxford, Poland and Bethel. The year-old Route 26 bypass begins just south of Libby Hill Road, where traffic is often backed up in the early morning and mid-afternoon as students and teachers make their way to and from school.

The Business Transitional District covers so-called Area 8 which was created in an amendment to the town's Comprehensive Plan. The district is divided into Business Transitional Zone 1 which lies outside the town's wellhead protection zone, and BT 2 which covers portions of the wellhead protection zone. The ordinance lays out restrictions for BT 1, but limits uses for BT 2 to those specified in Wellhead Protection Zone 2.

During public discussion of the zoning, James Monroe questioned the one-acre minimum size of allowed lots in BT 2. He read from an engineering report from the Gray Water District that did not find problems with the area where the Hannaford Bros. store will sit, but did find problems with such small lots.

The engineering report by Sevee and Maher Engineers of Cumberland Center warns of possible danger to the town's drinking supply from businesses in BT 2. The report also recommends rolling back the amount of impervious land from the proposed 50% to a 10% limit.

Area 8 sits just north of the Maine Turnpike on Shaker Road, while the town's water is drawn from a well on Shaker Road just south of the turnpike.

The zoning ordinance takes effect 30 days from this vote.

Fire Suppression Tabled

After an hour of discussion at the end of the meeting, Councilors were unable to reach a decision on the first reading of a proposed ordinance pertaining to fire suppression. Shortly after his election two years ago, Councilor Upham advocated for this ordinance, citing inconsistencies in requirements for developers building houses in Gray. Under an interpretation of town rules, developers have been required in past years to provide a water source for use by the fire department. However, no specific rules for these water sources, such as cisterns or fire ponds, were laid out in the town rules.

The proposed ordinance sets requirements for these water sources, but Councilor Skip Crane said he had some concerns, especially about the ambiguity of some of the wording. He said the proposed ordinance leaves a lot of authority in the hands of one person. He also said he was concerned about the requirement of the town to maintain cisterns after they are installed. He said the the town should be placing or creating water sources in places needed, rather than having cisterns throughout town that may not be needed.

Upham said he was concerned that developers are required to provide water supplies, but a person building an individual home is not required to install a water source or sprinklers. He said he is "uncomfortable as get out mandating sprinklers in single-family homes." He said he would not support an ordinance that requires sprinklers in residences.

Gray Fire-Rescue Department Chief Ricky Plummer said the sprinkler requirement was dropped from this proposed ordinance. He said the main intent of this ordinance is to improve water supply in case of emergency.

Upham asked Plummer to clarify how much water is needed, and to get specifics written into the ordinance. The motion was then tabled.

New Council Chair

Deborah Mancini, elected to the Council last June, was chosen as the new Council chair. Upham remains as vice-chair.

Previous Chair Alison Libbey resigned for personal reasons several months ago, and Tracey Scheckel was named to the Council last month to bring it back to full strength.

Pennell Property Usage

The Council approved a commission to the Community Economic Development Committee to facilitate discussions with the intent of finding solutions toe the best use of the Pennell Insitute building and property.

The town recently concluded a trade of the town's library building and property on Hancock Road with the Pennell property owned by the Pennell Trust. The trust is administered by local school district MSAD 15. The town is now renting the library property back from the trust, while taking full control of the future of the Pennell property.

The Village Master Plan Advisory Committee was dissolved at Tuesday's meeting. That ad-hoc committee helped in the creation of a plan that includes suggestions for usage of the Pennell building.

Knight's Bridge Opposed

Although a motion move forward with design of a replacement for Knight's Bridge on Mayall Road was voted down just two meetings ago, the identical order was presented again at Tuesday night's meeting.

Upham said that a failed motion should not be brought up again for a year. Mancini said that nothing in the council rules prohibits the council from presenting a motion again.

Councilors discussed the merits of presenting this order again, then moved into a discussion of the bridge design.

After determining that more work is needed on the bridge design and the impact of that design on land upstream and downstream from the bridge, the motion was unanimously opposed. The weight limit on Knight's Bridge was recently reduced from 30-tons to 10-tons.

The Maine Turnpike Authority plans to replace the one-lane Mayall Bridge overpass at the turnpike with a modern two-lane structure. Construction vehicles for that project will not be allowed over Knight's Bridge with this reduced capacity.