[Amended 10-5-2021; 7-5-2022; 8-1-2023 by Ord. No. 23-104]
[Amended 8-5-2025 by Ord. No. 25-82]
The purpose of the Mosher Corner Mixed Use District is to provide areas in the Town of Gorham which accommodate a suitable mix of retail commercial businesses and professional offices in a manner which maintains the attractiveness of the major entrances to Gorham, protects the physical environment, maintains the traffic capacity of existing major roads and protects abutting property owners.
[Amended 8-5-2025 by Ord. No. 25-82; 10-7-2025 by Ord. No. 25-108]
The following are permitted uses in the Mosher Corner Mixed Use District:
A. 
Retail stores.
B. 
Service establishments.
C. 
Personal services.
D. 
Business and professional offices and professional outpatient clinics.
E. 
Shopping centers.
F. 
Municipal buildings or uses.
G. 
Park or playground.
H. 
Rooming house, excluding collegiate Greek system residences.
I. 
Funeral home.
J. 
Places of public assembly, including indoor theater, which have not more than 2,000 square feet of floor area.
K. 
School, hospital, church, or any other institution of educational, religious, philanthropic, fraternal organization or social nature which is not used for residential purposes, which has less than 2,000 square feet of floor area and generates fewer than 200 vehicles trips during any twenty-four-hour period.
L. 
Public and private utility facilities, including substations, pumping station(s) and treatment facilities.
M. 
Drive-through service which is accessory to a permitted use.
N. 
Accessory buildings and uses, including home occupations.
O. 
Residential uses, including one-family dwellings, two-family dwellings, apartment buildings and multifamily housing.
P. 
Day care homes as home occupations.
Q. 
Bed-and-breakfast establishment.
R. 
Bed-and-breakfast establishment with public dining as an accessory use.
S. 
Inn.
T. 
Office of contractor or tradesperson.
U. 
Offices for executives, administrative and data processing activities.
V. 
Commercial schools which have 2,000 square feet or less of floor area.
W. 
Medical or quick-care facilities.
X. 
Indoor recreation facility.
Y. 
Outdoor recreation facility.
[Amended 8-5-2025 by Ord. No. 25-82]
The following are special exceptions in the Mosher Corner Mixed Use District:
A. 
Day-care centers.
B. 
School, hospital, church or any other institution of educational, religious, philanthropic, fraternal organization or social nature which is not used for residential occupancy which has 2,000 or more square feet of floor area or which generates 200 or more vehicle trips during any twenty-four-hour period.
C. 
Places of public assembly, including indoor theaters, which have more than 2,000 square feet of floor area.
D. 
Commercial schools which have more than 2,000 square feet of floor area.
[Amended 7-1-2025 by Ord. No. 25-73]
A. 
Residential uses.
Sewered
Unsewered
Minimum lot size
20,000 square feet
40,000 square feet
Minimum area per dwelling unit
20,000 square feet
40,000 square feet
Street frontage
100 feet
150 feet
Front setbacks:
MDOT numbered roads
50 feet
50 feet
Local roads
15 feet
25 feet
Side/Rear setbacks
15 feet
15 feet
B. 
Nonresidential uses.
(1) 
Standards for nonresidential uses shall be as follows:
(a) 
Minimum lot size: 30,000 square feet.
(b) 
Minimum street frontage: 100 feet.
(c) 
Minimum front yard, local or collector street: 50 feet or two times the building height, whichever is greater.
(d) 
Minimum front yard, state numbered routes: 80 feet or three times the building height, whichever is greater.
(e) 
Minimum side and rear yard: 50 feet or two times the building height, whichever is greater.
(f) 
Maximum impervious coverage ratio: 0.60.
(g) 
Minimum landscaped buffer on any side abutting state numbered route: 50 feet.
(h) 
Minimum landscaped buffer on any side abutting all other streets: 25 feet.
C. 
Notwithstanding the provisions of this § 300-1.67, an auxiliary public utility structure is exempt from the minimum lot size, street frontage and floor area ratio requirements of this district. Structures must meet setback requirements. Additional screening and buffering can be requested by the Planning Board.
[Amended 3-12-2024 by Ord. No. 24-32; 8-5-2025 by Ord. No. 25-82]
The performance standards in Part 2 of this Land Use and Development Code shall be fully observed. The following additional performance standards shall also apply.
A. 
Lot layout.
(1) 
For lots with frontage on Main Street, no parking lots shall be located between any building façade facing Main Street and Main Street.
(2) 
All generators, storage areas, electrical transformer pads, HVAC ground-mounted units, above-ground propane tanks and dumpster pads shall be landscaped and located behind the buildings and structures so that they are not visible from any public street or residential properties. The Planning Board may allow generators, storage areas and dumpster pads to be located so they are not located behind the buildings if the Board finds that the proposed locations are required to provide for a better overall design of the lots/development and that they are sufficiently buffered from public roads and residential properties.
B. 
Utilities.
(1) 
All nonresidential uses and subdivisions shall be supplied with public water service meeting the requirements of the Portland Water District.
(2) 
All nonresidential uses and subdivisions shall connect to public sewer meeting the requirements of the Portland Water District and the Town of Gorham. The Planning Board may grant a waiver for the requirements of the extension of public sewer main extension if the lot is located greater than 200 feet from the nearest connection to a public sanitary sewer and the costs to connect into the system is greater than two times the costs for an on-site sewerage disposal system as identified by the Planning Board.
C. 
Buffer yards and landscaping buffering shall conform to the following standards:
(1) 
The required setback between any public road and/or any residential zoning district or property shall be designated as a buffer area unless it is part of a mixed-use project and the residential/commercial uses are developed as part of an integrated development and provide an aesthetically pleasing environment.
(2) 
A landscaped buffer area shall be designed and maintained to minimize the adverse impact on abutting properties and the public and to soften the appearance of the structure(s) and in particular, to minimize the adverse impact on any structures which exist on abutting lots located outside this district. Landscaped buffers should include a mix of evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs and plants. Hardscape features such as, but not limited to, stonewalls and decorative metal or wooden fences are also encouraged in the buffer area to provide and shall buffer and balance the plantings. No building, parking or service areas shall be located in the buffer area. Access roads may cross the buffer area to provide access to and from a street, but shall be designed to minimize the disruption of the buffer area. No direct access to parking stalls shall be provided from an access road located in a buffer area.
(3) 
The landscaped buffer area shall require a plan to be prepared or reviewed by a licensed landscape architect or qualified landscaping firm. The plan shall provide all the required submission requirements outlined under Part 3, Subdivision, and/or Part 4, Site Plan Review. The name of the landscape professional and firm preparing the plan, along with their credentials, shall be provided with the landscape plan.
(4) 
Parking lots shall have internal landscape islands designed to reinforce the desired circulation pattern and to provide a visual break and buffer.
D. 
Building design standards.
(1) 
All principal buildings and structures for nonresidential purposes shall be of a traditional New England Village design to be compatible with the predominant scale and character of the existing Gorham Village architecture.
(2) 
The predominant exterior building materials shall be of high-quality materials, including, but not limited to, wood or vinyl clapboard siding, masonry units that replicate shake or clapboard siding, brick, sandstone, wood, native stone and tinted/textured concrete masonry units and/or glass products or metal or plastic roofing that simulates shake or shingle roofing. Simulated material may be substituted for any of the aforementioned building materials.
(3) 
At least three different materials shall be used for the primary front façade for the building facing the primary street the building accesses and/or Main Street/Mosher Road. The Planning Board may waive the building materials to two different materials if it finds the building design has enough architectural details to sufficiently break up the massing of the building. Glass for use in windows and doors shall not be considered on the required building materials. All facades that have frontage on streets or private ways shall be considered a primary façade.
E. 
Access management.
(1) 
Projects involving more than one building and/or lot shall provide an internal circulation system to minimize entrances to the project.
(2) 
Entrances and uses in this district shall be combined to the maximum extent possible. Developments must allow for vehicular access into the lot's driveways, sidewalks and/or parking lots from the abutting properties.
(3) 
For lots with frontage along Main Street, Mosher Road and another street, the access drives shall be located off the street of lower classification unless the Planning Board finds that no safe alternative exists.
(4) 
A parcel that does not have frontage on Main Street or Mosher Road shall not be granted vehicular access from the street except in cases where access will be provided through a combined entrance with another parcel which has frontage along the street.
(5) 
Lots with access on Main Street or Mosher Road must have driveways located so that they are a minimum 400 feet from another driveway on the same side of the street unless:
(a) 
The Planning Board finds that the distance would provide for unsafe circumstances.
(b) 
The driveway's spacing to abutting properties' driveways cannot be spaced to meet the 400-foot minimum requirement. The Planning Board shall provide for driveway spacing to the greatest extent practical.
(6) 
Lots with frontage on Mosher Road and/or Main Street are required to install sidewalks for the lot frontage should sidewalks not be located along Mosher Road and/or Main Street.
(7) 
The internal pedestrian access shall connect to the sidewalks located on Mosher Road and/or Main Street. The requirement for off-site sidewalk extension shall be modified by the Planning Board or Site Plan Review Committee, provided the following conditions are met:
(a) 
For projects that are under site plan review the costs for off-site sidewalks exceed a cost of $1,000 per 2,000 square feet of gross commercial floor area, or for projects proceeding under subdivision review the costs for off-site sidewalks exceed a cost of $10,000 per lot. Subdivision lots that have been reviewed under this provision are not required to be reviewed again under site plan review.
(b) 
In place of a full sidewalk extension, the applicant is required to extend to the nearest sidewalk the following lengths towards the proposed development:
[1] 
For roads with existing closed drainage systems and curbing, the applicant shall extend the sidewalk 200 feet for each 5,000 square feet of gross floor area under site plan review or 400 feet for each lot.
[2] 
For roads without existing closed drainage systems and curbing, the applicant shall extend the sidewalk 100 feet and close in the drainage system for each 5,000 square feet of gross floor area under site plan review or 250 feet for each lot.
[3] 
For existing public roads with sidewalks in poor condition as determined by the Public Works Director or designee, an applicant can request that half of the required extension be utilized to repair the existing sidewalk network on a foot-by-foot exchange. The lot is also subject to the connection of pedestrian improvements located off the lot as required under Parts 2, 3 and 4 of this Land Use and Development Code.