BETHEL — Residents voted at Wednesday evening’s annual town meeting to amend shoreland zoning and sign ordinances.

One change was for the shoreland zone between Chandler Hill Road and Taylor Smith Road to allow the owner of a Bethel storage facility to expand his business.

“(The owner) said that he wanted to expand his business, because there’s demand for it, and that it would make his business more viable,” Code Enforcement Officer Jeff Warden explained to voters. “I had to deny his permit application because there’s no expansion or development allowed in the land adjacent to his business.”

The owner contacted officials at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which reviewed aerial photography of that land and said the nature of those wetlands has changed and they don’t require the same level of protection anymore, Warden said.

The Maine Shoreland Zoning Unit in Augusta recommended that Bethel change a section of that zone from “limited residential shoreland” to “limited commercial” to allow for commercial and residential development.

Warden also gave voters an overview of amendments to the sign ordinance, which were recommended by the Ordinance Review Committee. They included:

• Increasing the maximum size of primary business signs in town by about 30 percent;

• Allowing banners to be used as temporary signs for special events and business promotions; and

• Changing the length of time a business can display a small promotional sales sign from seven days in a 90-day period, to seven days in a 30-day period.

Another amendment approved allows signs of up to 16 square feet in areas where the speed limit is less than 35 mph. It had been 12 square feet.

mdaigle@sunmediagroup.net