The Planning Board was receptive to site plans for two new buildings Tuesday.
Developers are proposing a retail store on Mallett Drive and a medical office building in The Highlands retirement community.
Agren Appliance and Television is proposing a twostory, 12,500-square-foot building on 1.81 acres at 78 Mallett Drive, opposite Rite Aid and bounded by Route 196 and Monument Place.
The site plan calls for access both from Mallett Drive and Monument Place.
Town Planner Rich Roedner urged that the driveway not be on Monument Place, saying it may be too close to the Mallett Drive intersection.
Kevin Clark of Sitelines said the applicant seeks two waivers concerning parking, and there was discussion about ways to reduce the need for 50 parking spaces as required by town code.
The building design utilizes a tower element and windows around two sides.
“We’re trying to make it look like more of an inhabited building than a retail building,” designer Bill Hopkins told planners.
Roedner said in a memo that full drawings, landscaping, lighting and storm-water plans must be submitted for formal review.
Matt Teare, development manager for The Highlands, detailed a proposed medical office building to be sited in view of the Coastal Connector.
He said the building would be consistent with the cedar shingle cottage look at The Highlands. The goal is to get approvals by May, start construction in June and finish by the end of the year.
Teare described a 10,000- square-foot building, possibly with two stories, and about 70 parking spaces. Engineer Chris Belanger said the main floor would host a Mid Coast Hospital practice; the second floor would be rented.
Roedner asked how the project would affect traffic on Route 196, which currently backs up during peak travel times on the Coastal Connector, and suggested evaluating the timing of the traffic light on the connector.
The Highlands also will have to submit a complete landscaping plan, a lighting plan and engineering drawings for formal review.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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