Talks about a contract zone that would allow a huge development off Robie Street drew a crowd to a Gorham Planning Board meeting Monday. Robert Lowell / American Journal
The Gorham Planning Board will hold a public workshop Oct. 16 on the allowed pace of construction for a large housing development proposed for 83 acres off Robie Street.
Residents packed a Planning Board meeting Monday to discuss setting up a special contract zone to accommodate growth for the development, but there was no public comment segment and the board unanimously agreed to continue its discussion after a workshop. A date for an official contract zone public hearing is to be set.
KV Enterprises last year filed a site plan calling for 295 multi-family units in 12 buildings and 96 single-family homes in the urban residential and expanded urban residential areas on a 133-acre parcel with 50 acres set aside for open space. Some commercial space would be available in the multi-family units.
Owens McCullough of Sebago Technics engineering firm, representing the developer, said Monday the numbers are consistent with zoning, but a contract zone is needed because the planned pace of the construction does not comply with current allowance of the town’s growth ordinance.
As proposed, the single-family homes would be built in three phases and the multi-units in four.
“This zone is in the town’s growth area,” McCullough said.
The Town Council sent language of a proposed contract zone in September to the Planning Board for its recommendation. The council will have the final say on a contract zone that could cap the number of single-family homes built in a year at 15.
The contract zone proposal will be reviewed by the Planning Board’s Ordinance Committee before going to the full board.
“Nothing has been approved yet,” Town Planner Carol Eyerman said at Monday’s meeting.
KV Enterprises went to the Planning Board last month seeking preliminary approval for 43 homes in a first step, but the initial phase would not be impacted by a contract zone. A site walk will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, with parking at Village Elementary School on Robie Street.
The Oct. 16 workshop will begin at 7 p.m.
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