Saco Appeals board upholds decision to remove developer's sign

SACO — A decision by the city’s code enforcement officer to order the removal of a developer’s sign on Bayview Road has been upheld by the zoning board of appeals.

Local developer Tim Swenson had proposed six owner-occupied seasonal homes at 60 Bayview Road. The 1.7 acre property formerly had 12 rental cabins, and all but one have been torn down. Swenson’s proposal to put six seasonal homes at 60 Bayview Road was denied by the city’s planning board.

In June, Code Enforcement Officer Dick Lambert visited the property after complaints by neighbors that there was a sign advertising six units available. On June 18, Lambert ordered Swenson to remove the sign within 30 days.

“As you know, the project that this sign depicts was denied the required site plan approval by the Saco Planning Board on January 14, 2020, therefor there is no ‘project’ to offer for sale to the public. You are certainly free to market the entire property as a whole but not as depicted by the sign,” said Lambert in the letter.

When Swenson failed to remove the sign, the city issued a court order on July 22, giving Swenson 48 hours to remove the sign, and fining him $100 for each day the sign was still up if he failed to remove it.  City Attorney Tim Murphy stated in the order that the sign advertised units in a subdivision that had not been approved by the planning board, and there for violated state law.

Swenson has since moved the sign, and appealed the city’s order to remove the sign. The appeal was heard at Monday night’s Zoning Board of Appeals meeting.

Swenson said at the meeting that he believed the sign was legal and depicted a proposed project. He noted that, in a separate case, he was appealing the planning disapproval of the subdivision plan, which is still pending in Maine Superior Court.

“Nothing on the sign dictates that anything is for sale. It’s just a proposed development,” he said.

Resident Mary Lucas said while she’s out walking her dog she she has seen people driving by stop to read the sign and write down information.

“We do not like the sign being up there because we feel like it is false advertising,” she said, speaking for herself and her husband, Tom.

Resident Kathleen Dziadzio said that with the sign up, some unsuspecting person may supply earnest money based on false advertising, and if the person lost the money, the city could be held liable because it knew about the sign.

She said Swenson took the sign down last year after being approached by the city, then put it back up again in the spring before taking it down again this summer.

“So this has been like a ping pong ball, and we’re tired,” she said.

The zoning board of appeals voted unanimously to uphold Lambert’s decision that the sign should be removed.

“I just think that the actions that Dick took were in the purview of his job responsibilities and I don’t see any clear, convincing evidence certainly that his decision should be overturned,” said Zoning Board of Appeals member Brad Paul.

Other members agreed.

“Even though it doesn’t use the words ‘for sale,’ that is the intent of the sign,” said Zoning Board of Appeals member Richard Parker.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.