BIDDEFORD — The Planning Board on Wednesday unanimously approved the final site plan of a 7,000-square-foot office building for the University of New England.

The office space, located at 588 Pool St. (Route 9), will sit directly between the Sea Star Market and an abutting private property.

UNE Assistant Vice President for Planning Alan Thibeault presented initial plans for the building at the board’s meeting on Sept. 8. The plans call for the construction of a metal office building with added parking spaces located off a graded, curved driveway shared with neighboring Sea Star Market.

The building would supplement existing office space located at the site.

Thibeault said in September that the university’s needs have outgrown the capacity of the existing space, which would be connected to the new facility by an awning.

The new facility will also add 16 parking spaces, increasing the number of spots from 24 to 40.

In September, the board expressed concern over the idea of a shared driveway with Sea Star Market. The market is located in a congested area at the intersection of Hills Beach Road, UNE’s main entrance. Board member Matthew Boutet at the time likened the area’s morning traffic to “anarchy.”

For the board’s approval Wednesday, Thibeault presented a revised site plan calling for a driveway straight off Pool Street for the new office space, eliminating the shared entrance with Sea Star Market.

Thibeault said the decision to change the plan came at the request of the Biddeford Fire Department. BFD staff thought the original curved driveway was problematic in emergency situations.

“We thought we had addressed the fire department’s access needs appropriately with the original submission, but after talking with them, they felt it was a little too circuitous to go through the Sea Star-UNE combined entrance and zig through the parking lot,” Thibeault said.

The revised site plan also calls for the installation of a new fire hydrant on Pool Street. Thibeault said the closest hydrant is located further down Hills Beach Road, and is not easily accessible to the new office building – for which codes do not require a sprinkler system – in case of an emergency.

Thibeault said Maine Water would be handling installation of the hydrant.

Land-use regulations stipulate that the building maintain a 50-foot buffer of forested area between it and the surrounding plots of land, including Sea Star Market and the neighboring private property.

Board member Richard Potvin, who did not approve of the original driveway, said the revised site plan was much improved.

“I like the layout better than the first, original one,” he said. “It flows better. I think it makes a lot more sense.”

The cost of the project has not been released, as the university requested that the board withhold cost as a condition of approval.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or [email protected].