The owner of the Oak Hill Plaza wants to double its size and transform it from a suburban shopping plaza into a downtown for Scarborough.

An architect presented a plan to the Planning Board Monday night to expand what is already one of the biggest commercial developments in Scarborough onto 20 adjacent acres along Route 114 and redevelop the existing plaza.

“I think there’s an opportunity to make a real downtown that Scarborough, for all intents and purposes, doesn’t have right now, but it’s been talked about and dreamed of by the Comprehensive Planning Committee and planning staff,” said Terrence J. DeWan, the landscape architect who presented the plan to the board.

DeWan presented a plan to transform a shopping plaza designed to allow shoppers to park at each business into a shopping area reminiscent of downtown where people walk from business to business.

The new portion of the development would include two- and three-story buildings that would house a mix of retail stores, offices and residences, as well as parks, walkways and landscaping along Route 114. The old buildings and parking lots in the existing Oak Hill Plaza would be reconfigured.

“We see many opportunities to transform this older shopping area into a dynamic, well-designed downtown with shops, restaurants and housing,” DeWan wrote in a letter to the town planner.

DeWan was presenting an early conceptual plan of the development Monday night. It will likely be years before the developers behind the proposal – Steve Berg and Gavin Ruotolo – get approval for it and begin any construction. Berg and DeWan went to the board to see whether the project would be something the community could support.

The developers will need the support because the land they are proposing building on contains wetlands that would normally prohibit such a development there. Town Planner Joe Ziepniewski said the project would likely require wetlands mitigation – creating a wetland elsewhere to replace the wetlands that would be destroyed.

Wetlands mitigation requires approval from both the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It’s also extremely expensive.

“I think a strong argument can be made that this is a proper place for this type of development, but before we start that process we’ll want strong support on the town level,” said DeWan.

Several planning board members praised the concept Monday night. Planning Board Chairman Michael Wood called the plan a “great idea” and said he looked forward to seeing future presentations on the project.

Planning Board member Charles Callahan, who has also served on the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said he felt the project was consistent with the vision for Oak Hill laid out in the draft of the Comprehensive Plan. He said the idea is also appealing to him as a consumer.

“As a frequent user of Oak Hill, I think creating a village concept with pedestrian walking space would be far better than what we see there now,” said Callahan.

Oak Hill business owners were generally supportive of the concept. Diana Locke, the owner of Paws Applause, a pet supply and grooming store, said she would like to see any new development include mostly retail stores to attract more shoppers to the area.

However, she said she liked idea of making Scarborough a town that was more conducive to walking. Locke lives in Kennebunk, where she said she frequently sees people walking dogs on her way home from work.

“Nobody does that in Scarborough because there’s no downtown,” she said. “It’s definitely something that’s missing.”

Jenny Thomas, the owner of the Oak Hill Florist, has been operating the business out of the plaza for 16 years. While she said it would be great to have a business center in Scarborough, she was skeptical of whether it would be possible with the Maine Mall located nearby and so many people so attached to their cars.

“I think it would be lovely if Scarborough did have some sort of community center, and, as a business owner in Oak Hill, I certainly believe this is the center,” said Thomas.

Julie Gallant, the owner of the seafood restaurant Chowderheads, said Oak Hill seemed like a place where a concept like that could work. “Initially, without knowing a whole lot about it, it sounds positive because I can’t believe it wouldn’t bring in more business,” she said.

Harvey Rosenfeld, the president of the Scarborough Economic Development Corp., said he also thought the concept made sense. With the Hannaford grocery store and the banks located along Hannaford Drive, he said Oak Hill has really become the center of commerce for Scarborough. “It seems to me to be a good idea,” he said.

“I certainly hope we get a lot of support from the community, and I think we will,” said DeWan.

Diana Locke, the owner of Paws Applause, a pet supply and grooming store, holds Zoie. Locke said she’d like to see any expansion of Oak Hill include mostly retail stores.Jenny Thomas has owned Oak Hill Florist for 15 years.