Maine news, sports, weather from Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram, Portland, Maine

August 14, 2012

New Windham park may emerge from development deal

The town bought the land around Chaffin Pond last year and wants to install a dog park, fishing dock, pavilion and other amenities.

By Leslie Bridgers lbridgers@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

A dog park, a kayak launch, a fishing dock and a picnic pavilion are all part of the master plan for a new 123-acre park off Route 302 in Windham.

Over the past four months, the town's parks and recreation department has been working on the six-phase plan, which would cost $2.2 million and take five years to complete, said director Brian Ross.

The department will ask the Town Council for direction Tuesday on when to move forward with the project and how to pay for it.

The town bought the land surrounding Chaffin Pond from the Portland Water District last year, in a three-way deal involving a landowner who wants to build a motel nearby.

Martin Lippman eventually reimbursed the town $400,000, including lawyers' fees, in exchange for being allowed to use 10 of the 123 acres to help offset sewer-density calculations when he develops his eight-acre property on nearby Route 302.

Lippman plans to build a motel, a chain restaurant and a breakfast diner on that land. He said Monday that he has done a feasibility study for the motel and is negotiating with local brew pubs, which he wouldn't name.

Lippman said his main purpose in paying for the land was to see a park built, which is a stipulation of the agreement.

He said he and his wife, Donnabeth, for whom the park will be named, realized the value of parks when they were raising their children in New York and had to drive 38 miles to get to one.

Many years ago, they gave a large piece of land to the town of Wawarsing, N.Y., to be used as a park.

The Lippmans, who split their time between Standish and New Mexico, used to run restaurants and later became real-estate investors. They owned several properties in Windham, but sold most of them when they retired.

Windham officials leased the property from the Portland Water District for walking trails for about a decade before buying it.

The parks and recreation department developed the master plan by gathering input from town officials and residents, through public meetings and a survey, about what they want to see in the park.

It calls for six phases of development, starting with an upgrade to the access road from Route 302, an entry gate, expanded parking, a picnic area, a dog park and a fishing dock.

The second phase focuses on trail improvements, including signs and a raised footpath.

The third phase, accounting for about half the project's cost, calls for athletic fields with lighting, basketball and volleyball courts, and a concessions building with public rest rooms.

The final phases include a woodland play area, a picnic pavilion and an observation tower.

Town Manager Tony Plante said the council will be asked Tuesday to decide whether to move forward with the proposal as presented.

If it does, he said, the council will probably take a formal vote on the plan later this month.

Donnabeth Lippman said she has seen the plans and she approves of them.

"I think they look great," she said. "It will be a different side of Windham that nobody has seen."

Staff Writer Leslie Bridgers can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:

lbridgers@pressherald.com

 

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