DERRY — Town planners continue to work on a new zoning plan to help protect a historic local farm while giving nearby businesses a chance to grow.
Planning Board members hope to draft a new General Commercial III zoning designation on a section of Route 28 heading south toward Salem. The new zone would help protect the Robert Frost Farm while encouraging growth and development in the area.
After the town's legal counsel looked at the draft, it was decided more work was needed.
"The town attorney wanted to make suggestions from a legal point of view," Planning Director George Sioras said.
Town officials have hosted several workshops on the rezoning issue, discussing ways to enforce zoning requirements.
Several businesses approached the board for rezoning consideration. Supporters of the Frost homestead also gave input on zoning issues, and on what growth in the area might mean to the poet's former home.
Permitted uses could include restaurants, but no drive-through service windows; pharmacies with one drive-through allowed, but no 24-hour operation; and retail/professional offices of no more than 5,000 gross square feet.
Excluded uses include sexually oriented businesses, manufactured housing, car sales, wireless communication facilities and gas stations.
Getting the wording in the zoning ordinance just right is the key, Planning Board member Maureen Heard said.
"This is such a unique situation and it needed a unique solution," she said.
The Planning Board will host one more workshop on the issue next month and hope to have a public hearing after that, possibly in September.
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