Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on April 28, 2014

Posted:Today Updated: 12:51 AM Zoning changes could be key in determining the site of a Dunkin Donuts shop.

By Matt Byrne mbyrne@pressherald.com Staff Writer

Theres a neighborhood to the left and a synagogue to the right, and stuck in the middle might be a new Dunkin Donuts and its drive-thru.

click image to enlarge

On Monday, the South Portland City Council will consider the first part of a package of zoning changes that could help determine the fate and the final site of the proposed Dunkin Donuts shop.

An initial plan to tear down a former church to make way for the Dunkin Donuts upset neighbors who said a 24-hour restaurant with a drive-thru would bring light and noise pollution. But a newer plan that would spare the church has drawn criticism from a synagogue, whose leaders are worried about losing valuable sunlight.

The hullabaloo began in December, when Cafua Management, a Massachusetts-based conglomeration of the famous New England coffee and pastry franchises, bought the St. John the Evangelist Church property at the corner of Thirlmere Avenue and Main Street. The company proposed tearing down the church to build a 24-hour Dunkin Donuts to replace an aging shop nearby on Main Street.

But because of pending zoning changes that would make the church site unworkable for a 24-hour restaurant with a drive-thru window, the city is now considering leasing a 2.3-acre former park a few steps away on Main Street. The park is next to the Bet Haam Synagogue, at the corner of Main and Westbrook streets.

The convoluted development process has raised the question of whether the new zoning requirements will save the churchs neighbors from the distraction of a 24-hour restaurant, only to raise a new question of whether a tall building containing a Dunkin Donuts could block sunlight from the synagogues glass-walled sanctuary.

I want to make sure the neighbors around the church arent having a 24-hour drive-thru, because thats upsetting for them, and we want to make sure we still have sunlight coming into our garden and our sanctuary, said Lisa Munderback, president of the Bet Haam congregation. I hope Cafua will come to some mutually agreeable solution.

See the article here:

South Portland City Council weighs dilemma of doughnut shop location

Category: Synagogue
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