SANFORD — Would a 16-unit apartment building styled to look like a multi-generational farmhouse in a rural residential zone on Hanson’s Ridge Road fit in with the city’s Comprehensive Plan?

The project, called the Ridge, is proposed on the site of the former Mountain View Infirmary, a 26-bed care facility that once was the home of some of Sanford’s more elderly residents. Before Mountain View Infirmary, the property housed the Town Farm, where those who could not care for themselves lived and worked.

Mountain View Infirmary, later called Mountain View Residential Care, was operated in latter years by Goodall Hospital. It closed in 2012 and the cityowned property was sold to 7E Properties, owned by brothers Joe and Sam Sevigny, the same year.

Now, the brothers are proposing to demolish the current 6,200-squarefoot brick structure they say doesn’t fit in with the rural nature of the neigh- borhood and replace it with a two-story farmhouse-style building, using the existing foundation and septic system.

But because the area is zoned as rural residential, where multi-family dwellings are not allowed, 7E Properties proposed a contract zone – and the first step in that process is determining if the proposal is consistent with Sanford’s Comprehensive Plan.

The Planning Board has set a public hearing on the matter for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the council chambers on the third floor of City Hall, at 919 Main St.

7E Properties has purchased a number of Sanford’s former school buildings, among others, and transformed them into apartments. According to a submission to the Planning Board, the brothers say all of their units are currently rented.

They point out the project would provide 10 two-bedroom units and six one-bedroom units. All would be market rate housing.

Citing excerpts from the Comprehensive Plan, the brothers say the project is a good fit for the neighborhood. They note a goal of the Comprehensive Plan is to “create good quality, moderate density, residential neighborhoods (both single and multi-family) that preserve significant open space in some areas outside the existing built-up areas to diversify the market rate housing available to middle income households,” as well as maintain the rural character of the outlying areas.

A former Planning Board member and former neighbor of the property in question believes the proposal by 7E Properties is inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Evan R. McDougal, a shareholder in McDougal Orchards, wrote in a letter to the Planning Board that the Comprehensive Plan calls for undeveloped areas to be protected and to maintain rural character. McDougal noted a 2006 conservation easement on 200 adjoining acres to keep it in agriculture in perpetuity.

“Constructing multi-unit housing in this protected rural setting would be an affront to those who worked to conserve the parcels and those who donated significant percentages of the land’s value to permanently protect the rural agricultural nature,” McDougal said, in part.

He said proponents may argue the former infirmary was a multi-unit dwelling, but he pointed out that Mountain View Infirmary – and the so-called “Town Farm,” before it – was the home of people who were typically unable to house themselves or live without care. They did not own or operate cars and lived with the help and support of staff, he wrote.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or [email protected].