The Scarborough Planning Board has given its preliminary seal of approval to an expansion at the Piper Shores retirement community that would add new memory care services for residents, among other upgrades.

The board voted 5-0 in support of the plan during a meeting held last week. Now the project must also get approval from the Town Council in order to move forward.

Piper Shores, which is located on a seaside campus near Higgins Beach, was originally built under a contract zone, and therefore council approval is required for any substantial changes at the property.

Following the April 21 Planning Board meeting, Jim Adamowicz, the chief executive officer at Piper Shores, called the new memory care unit “a great addition to Piper Shores.”

The new memory unit would consist of 28 beds, according to Adamowicz. The proposed upgrades also include a new arts building, and what Piper Shores has called “space enhancements” to its dining, wellness center and parking facilities, as well.

Piper Shores consists of 160 independent living apartments and 40 cottages, along with 40 skilled nursing beds and 20 assisted living units. The campus is located on 138 acres off Spurwink Road, which also includes 96 acres that are under a conservation easement.

Adamowicz said the proposal to build a new memory care unit and make other changes at Piper Shores would not impact the conservation easement, which had been a major concern for town officials and residents when the expansion project first came forward this past fall.

Although Piper Shores was approved under a controversial contract zone in the late 1990s, Adamowicz said this time around the reaction to the proposed expansion project has been “overall very positive.”

He said the plans for a new memory care unit have been embraced by the broader community, and Adamowicz is “really pleased that local authorities have (also) been so positive and open” to the project.

If everything remains on track with the approval process, Adamowicz said Piper Shores would break ground this summer.

In addition to two meetings at the council level, which will be held in May, he said the project still needs final site plan approval from the Planning Board, which he hopes to get in June.

There was no public comment at last week’s Planning Board meeting, but Adamowicz said board members asked questions that were “direct and to the point, and we were able to provide satisfactory answers.”

During a meeting with neighbors held in December, Adamowicz said the memory care unit was “generally well received” and that the residents who attended the session were “very supportive” of the project.

Although Piper Shores also hopes to eventually add 52 more independent living units, Adamowicz said this week the goal was not to “cloud the immediate proposal,” since the additional independent housing is a more controversial proposal.

At last week’s Planning Board meeting, member Ronald Mazer questioned Adamowicz on the need for the memory care project, especially with the opening of the new Bellavita at Scarborough assisted living center in Oak Hill that also includes 20 specialized memory care beds.

Adamowicz said a market study conducted by Piper Shores supports the need for the new memory care unit there. He said the need is mostly for current residents of the retirement community unlike the beds being offered at Bellavita.

In concluding the Planning Board meeting, Chairman Cory Fellows thanked Adamowicz and the team from Piper Shores for being so “responsive to the board’s questions and concerns.”

The Piper Shores retirement community is hoping to break ground this summer on an expansion project that would bring a memory care unit to its seaside campus in Scarborough. Courtesy photo