With a room packed with about 60 people, Shaw Brothers Construction Inc., which is proposing a multi-million project asphalt plant- quarry project, asked the planning board Monday for approval of a revised plan that would relocate the plant within the 125-acre site on Mosher Road.
The move is an effort to ease neighborhood opposition. The
construction company now would put the plant behind the Lachance Brick Co. buildings, back from Mosher Road and farther away from Queen Street. The original plans called for the asphalt plant beside the brick company and closer to Queen Street.
Monday, a series of sessions were scheduled to deal with the project. The quarry and asphalt plant application will be reviewed again at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19, at the municipal center. Town planner Deborah Fossum said after this week’s meeting that Shaw Brothers needed to submit more information about lighting, widening a shoulder on Mosher Road, berms, landscaping and plans to reduce the width of a screen of trees around the project from 200 to 100 feet.
At the request of an opponent of the project, Gorham residents and town planners will take a second look at the site.
“I’m requesting a second site walk to see where the proposed asphalt plant is being located,” asked Theresa Dolan of Mosher Road, who also urged the town’s planning board to reject the project.
Planners viewed the site a year ago on Oct. 27 in a rainstorm. But the board members scheduled a second look at noon on Sunday, Nov. 18, to see first-hand the revised plans. But before revisiting the site, the planning board will discuss the project in a workshop 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15, at the municipal center, 75 South St. No public comment will be heard at the workshop.
The proposed quarry and plant became a political campaign issue in the race for three town council seats. At Monday’s planning board public hearing, the night before the election, Susan Robie, planning board chairman, warned the public about making political comments. “I will stop you,” Robie said.
Danny Shaw, a co-owner of the company, said during the public hearing he hoped neighbors would agree that the revision had addressed their concerns.
“We take our responsibility to the town seriously,” he said. “We are confident it will be a good thing for the town.”
This week’s public hearing featured a mix of comment from a variety of voices. An outdoors recreation advocate, Bob Frazier, Aspen Lane, said he feared runoff from the project would drain into the nearby river.
“My presumption is it ends up in the Presumpscot River,” Frazier said.
Gary Noyce, Dolloff Road, said he believed he is the neighbor closest to the project and was concerned about air quality and impact on his well.
“It’s really a destructive project,” said Noyce, asking for more information.
But Tom Ellsworth, president of the Gorham Economic Development Corp., which promotes business for Gorham, favored the proposal and said the project wouldn’t operate unchecked. Ellsworth said it would create job opportunities, produce significant tax revenue and lower costs of
future road projects.
“We consider Shaw Brothers to be a valuable contributor to the local economy,” Ellsworth said.
Emotion has run high in hearings about the project this year. But David Kent, Fort Hill Road, said he felt the board would review the request based on science.
“If it goes through, there will be a huge impact on our taxes,” Kent said.
If approved, a $3 million portable asphalt plant would operate at the site, eventually replaced by a $10 permanent plan.
Asphalt plant 2: Another site walk, more meetings
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