FREEPORT – Hoping for a January thaw, the Freeport Project Review Board on Jan. 4 will conduct a site walk to view the location of a proposed 26-lot subdivision on Beech Hill Road.

Most board members already have seen the site, owned by Urban Trust, which is headed by applicant Adriana Contartese, a Boston attorney with family ties to the area. The Project Review Board, in fact, granted conceptual approval of the plan in 2009 and later granted an extension, but Urban Trust allowed the approval to lapse, and it expired last December. Contartese’s father, the late Dr. Michael Contartese, was a local doctor who had formed Urban Trust.

Bob Konczal, the town assessor, confirmed later that the proposed project represents the town’s first subdivision in more than a year. Most new construction has taken place in the West Cove subdivision, he said.

“In 2008, there was an inventory of subdivisions with vacant lots,” Konczal said. “Now, they have been going through a build out. The minds of developers are beginning to change. We’re doing better than we were.”

In order for new board members to see the land for themselves, they again will trudge the stream crossings, wetlands and slopes that lead to the 52-acre site, which lies in the Merrill Brook watershed.

At its Dec. 11 meeting, the board considered allowing new member Jason Thyen to visit the site with Art Colvin, the project engineer with Horizons Engineering based in Littleton, N.H. But the board thought better of it when Chairman Cliff Goodall mentioned a Maine Supreme Court ruling. According to that ruling, Goodall said, one person is not allowed to do such site visits. Board member Alan Tracy then suggested “following all protocol.”

Urban Trust allowed the approval to expire as it dealt with internal issues and waited for the economy to improve, said Colvin.

A staff report supplied by Town Planner Donna Larson showed that, during the original review process, there were questions regarding the trust and rights, title and interest in the project. The applicant looked into this and revisions have been made to the legal documents, the report continued.

“The economy was as much to blame as anything,” Colvin said. “The economy was tanking. This is essentially the exact same plan we had preliminary approval on.”

Following the site walk, the development proposal must pass Project Review Board conceptual, preliminary and final reviews, as well as receive the blessing of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Colvin said that construction could begin next spring “in a perfect world,” but next autumn is a more realistic scenario.

The length of the dead-end road leading into the subdivision and the effect on the water table in the area, as well as flooding at nearby Richards Lane, were among the original concerns.

The board granted a waiver – a waiver that Goodall said has become standard on the dead-end road ordinance – in the original request. The ordinance limits the length of a dead-end road to 2,500 feet with a maximum of 15 houses on a dead-end road unless the ordinance is otherwise waived by the board.

“That’s one consideration we shall have to address,” Goodall said.

Tracy said the board might want to “study the reasoning” behind the dead-end road ordinance.

“It’s been waived at almost every single occasion it’s been requested to be waived,” Goodall said. “The waiver has become the norm.”

Goodall added that additional roads “chew up land and green space, so we’ve been inclined to grant (the waivers).”

Colvin said that, initially, the subdivision plan had a long configuration, a shorter road and fewer lots.

“The layout would suffer,” he said. “Some of the lots would have been smaller than we would have liked.”

The water issues drew some Beach Hill Road neighbors to the original hearings, Goodall noted, but none were present last week.

According to the planner’s report, Urban Trust plans will have to comply with stormwater runoff requirements. Some improvements, however, have been made to culverts and drainage to Richards Lane during the past few years.

“I’m thinking that problem might be fixed at this point,” Larson said.

Toward the end of the meeting, Goodall suggested that the developer might want to include some open space, or recreational area, in the subdivision, though that is not a requirement. Colvin noted that a “substantial stream” runs through the property, and that the open area features a slope, but he will look into that.

A CLOSER LOOK

ITNAmerica is the umbrella organization for ITNPortland. Here are some facts at a glance:

Membership-based. People 60 years and older (age eligibility varies by affiliate), and visually impaired adults are eligible to join.

Community-based affiliates are supported by private, rather than public resources.

Affordable fares that are typically lower than a comparable taxi ride.

Available seven days a week, 24 hours a day for any purpose.

Drivers provide arm-through-arm, door-through-door service and help with packages.

No money is exchanged in the vehicle, and tips are not accepted.

Riders pre-fund a personal transportation account, and a monthly statement details all payments and charges.

Uses automobiles, rather than vans or buses.

Rides may be booked at any time, with discounts for advance notice.

Riders may travel alone or with others, with discounts for shared rides.

Source: ITNAmerica.

The proposed Beech Hill Road subdivision site plan, as prepared by Horizons Engineering.