At the Oct. 11 Boothbay Harbor Planning Board meeting, Paul Coulombe, owner of the Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Resort, repeated his Oct. 10 talk to selectmen on rezoning the eastern side of town. Like at the previous night’s meeting, the room was filled with concerned citizens sitting— and some standing— shoulder to shoulder.

“We thought it was important to start the process and initiate some conversation about the possibility of rezoning the eastern side of the harbor,” said Coulombe. “We understand that this is a very lengthy process … but we thought, in order to be ready for next spring, that we should probably initiate the conversation with the planning board right now.”

Coulombe stressed he wants to present his ideas in a generic fashion. He said he has nothing designed at the moment to warrant a request for a change. The area Coulombe was discussing ranges from the footbridge to Cap’n Fish’s Waterfront Inn which is part of a larger maritime and water-dependent zone. The rules for the zone prohibit restaurants and inns — anything that is not maritime or water business-related — making many of the buildings there legally non-conforming.

“I think some of the thought process at that time was that we were motivated to really entertain the possibility of expanding a working waterfront,” Coulombe said of the intentions when zoning was put in place in the 1980s. “The working waterfront, as it exists today, is actually south of that area.”

Coulombe expressed no interest in seeing the entire zone turn into another business district, just the footbridge to Cap’n Fish’s. “Nothing further south, nothing further north.”

The motivation behind rezoning, said Coulombe, is that very little can be done to the buildings with regulations as they are. Renovations transformed the former Rocktide Inn into the Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort, but the changes he might have liked to see — such as roof-line, windows, walls, and pilings — were not possible under the regulations.

“We updated a lot of systems,” said Coulombe. “But what we did was put a lot of lipstick on the pig and we still have the pig.”

Coulombe said this is a proposal to increase tourism for the entire peninsula. He then said $25 million in redevelopment investments — including 3 to 3.5 percent going to the working waterfront — could go a long way if hotels, motels, restaurants and residential buildings were allowed.

Coulombe and his associate, Dan Bacon from Gorrill Palmer Consulting Engineers, floated some of their ideas for projects which would then be possible such as a boardwalk connecting the fronts of businesses, a sidewalk to help with meandering in the streets, and a small park to enjoy the view of the harbor. Coulombe mentioned that he had the existing buildings surveyed because he was curious as to their heights. He was surprised to find that many were at or over 35 feet.

“People have fear that ‘Paul Coulombe’s going to come to town and build some big monstrosity’ when it could actually be much better in visibility,” said Coulombe. “We could have view plains so people could actually see the ocean. If you drive on Atlantic Avenue — it’s pretty well entirely blocked by buildings … We can build something that’s economically viable, promotes tourism, and creates more business for the community, creates more tax dollars, and ultimately more employment. I think it can be a win-win for everybody involved.”

With the assistance of Arrowstreet Inc., a Boston architecture firm, Bacon said they plan to work with the boards and residents on potential projects in reaction to answers to questions such as: “What should the zoning look like? What should it enable? What should it protect? And how should it shape the redevelopment of this area.”

Board member John Hochstein asked if a boardwalk might tie in access to the footbridge.

“That’s something we see as a give and take in a conversation with the planning board and community as to what’s possible in meandering a public access-way through these properties,” said Bacon. “I think it would be quite a feat to thread a boardwalk all along the frontage of these properties.”

Coulombe said because he does not own all the properties in that area, he cannot speak for other private landholders, though he hopes he would receive cooperation. He then revealed he has purchase and sale agreements to buy more properties.

Board Chairman Tom Churchill expressed concern about possible spot-zoning, or rezoning an area for a property owner. An audience member said, “Here, here.”

“I think what we need to do is start with the existing business zone that we have and if this was zoned general business like the other side of the harbor, could you do what you want?” Churchill posed. “Modify that as necessary, but I think spot zoning is going to be very hard to pull off in this area.”

In response to questions from the audience, Coulombe said he does not wish to potentially disturb the maritime activity on the south end of the east side, or have the zoning match the harbor’s west side because zoning there bars hotels and motels.

Churchill said the town will always have tourism income. He said he would like to see concentration on more year-round jobs rather than more seasonal work.

Opening the conversation up to the public, Churchill pointed out to Pete Ripley, owner of the property currently under construction across from Hammond Lumber, who was waiting to speak.

“You’ve got a town, here, where the schools are in trouble, you don’t have enough residents,” Ripley said. “A 300-foot setback for residential on (our) back lot seems a little ridiculous, but we can put a commercial building back there within 25 feet of the road? You need to look at all your zoning.”

Ripley said the worries of spot zoning showing favor to key property holders should be of less concern when there is not enough housing to foster the growth in workforce the town desires.

“I think it’s a little bit premature to be coming up with design solutions and throwing out little sweeties to the board of things that you could do, which you claim would be a betterment for the town,” said Karen Swanson. “People need to agree to what you consider the character, appearance, and merits of the town actually are.”

“We’re going to spend many, many months doing exactly what you’re suggesting — we understand it’s a long process,” said Coulombe. “I think you can have modern conveniences, which is different than a modern appearance … People want certain things that they’ve grown accustomed to — I didn’t make those changes in our society — so we’re going to take a long, long time to have joint effort and input.”

Bacon added they did not want to approach the meeting having plans all laid out just waiting for the board to change the zoning process. He said they did not want to come into the meeting without any vision or preparations, either.

Darrell Gudroe, consultant at Pharmer’s Market in Boothbay, then spoke up saying that, when asked, his son remarked that there is very little for youth in the area to enjoy.

“There’s not a lot for the youth in this town, there’s not a lot of families in this town who want to come back here because there isn’t anything for them to do,” Gudroe said. “So, if you could think of the little guys in the town — we want to keep them here, we want their families to be here and if we made it too elite for them or too old for them they’re not going to stick around.”

Linc Sample followed up Gudroe with comments on how the Boothbay region is in desperate need of light commercial work.

“What’s been missing in the last 15 to 20 years of the 57 years I’ve lived in this community is … investment in Boothbay Harbor,” said Sample. “That lot across from Hammond sat idle for the longest time … and now, all of a sudden, it’s going to do something. And success begets success. That’s the way it was in this town in the 50s and 60s. That’s the way it was in this town in 1939 when my father came here. I think that’s what Paul brings, the perception, correctly so, that somebody wants to invest in ourcommunity. I think that’s what we need to think about first and foremost, so we can have more investment because without it — we’re going to die on the vine.

Said Coulombe, “I think Boothbay Harbor is special for a lot of reasons, but one primary reason that makes it more special than any other harbor — whether it’s Camden or Bar Harbor or Kennebunk, wherever it is — is that we have working fishermen, working lobstermen,” said Coulombe. “And I think there’s no more gratification than when people sit at Oceanside … and see fishermen actually right there at the end of the dock. It makes it all part of the experience and I think it’s critically important.”