WESTBROOK — Residents of two neighborhoods – one on a dead-end road in the Prides Corner area and the other off one of the city’s most traveled streets – don’t like the housing developments proposed for their area.

Residents on Austin Street, off East Bridge Street, are concerned that a 56-unit project next to 388 Austin St. doesn’t fit into the look and character of their neighborhood. Residents around 425 Cumberland St. are worried about the impact of a 60-unit apartment complex proposed there.

“Anything built on the property would change the feel of the neighborhood and the reason we all choose to live there,” Ben Corriveau, whose 397 Austin St. home has been in his family for several generations, said at a Nov. 6 Planning Board workshop.

Planning Board members are scheduled to take a site walk on the property, owned by Tim Ly’s Hill Street Apartments, at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 1. The walk is expected to take about an hour and is open to the public. Assistant City Planner Rebecca Spitella said the applicant could be before the board again for final site approval as early as the Jan. 15 meeting.

Hill Street Apartments is proposing 28 one- and two-story, two-three bedroom duplexes, according to Michael Tadema-Wielandt, an engineer with Terradyn Consultants. The project, he said, would be constructed “as the market demands.” It would also include a clubhouse and community garden spaces and could be tied into the Mill Brook Preserve, a trail system managed by Presumpscot Regional Land Trust.

Susan Austin of 400 Austin St. was concerned about the additional traffic from the development and the safety of children who walk to a school bus stop at Austin and Pride streets. Tadema-Wielandt said the developer has plans to widen the road in that area to provide space for pedestrians. Doing so, however, would narrow the travel lanes to 11 feet and the city recommends 12-foot travel lanes and a formal sidewalk.

Jessica Corriveau of 397 Austin St. shares Austins’ safety concern with the increased traffic, but said she was also worried about the project’s environmental impact. She asked Planning Board members to “make sure this is not a burden on our community and a detriment to our neighborhood.”

The development would be built on a new dead-end road, but City Planner Jennie Francheschi said the fire department recommends the road be a loop. While doing so would make it easier for emergency vehicles to access the development, Jerry Cabana of 386 Austin St. said it would bring the roadway within 30 feet of his home.

Linda Hanscomb of 394 Austin St. said a duplex development does not belong in a neighborhood of single-family homes.

Tadema-Wielandt said the street includes 75 single-family homes, but also 83 multi-family units, including 49 in Summit Circle, 10 in Austin Place and eight in Austin Meadows.

Cabana fears the impact the development would have on the neighborhood as it is being constructed with construction and delivery vehicles coming into and out of the site.

“There are some pretty serious concerns about what impact it would have on the neighborhood for a development that size,” he said.

For Beth Paulson-Olmstead, whose Methodist Road property abuts the back of the development site, the concern is environmental. She said the site is very wet with a deep slope at the back of the property. She worried stormwater runoff from the property would end up on her land. Paulson-Olmstead has already dealt with water running off from other nearby developments flowing onto her farmland.

She urged the Planning Board to make sure the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in involved because “you are going to come into a whole lot of problems with this.”

“I believe the Planning Board has a obligation to cause no harm to property of abutters just for the sake of a developer doing something on theirs,” she said.

This is the second time in the last few years, the residents of Austin Street have fought a development on that site. Back in 2016, after hearing concerns from abutters and others who live nearby, a Ly plan to build close to a 100-unit development stalled. Residents and Planning Board members said the style and size of the development did not gel with the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, residents near 425 Cumberland St., where a 60-unit apartment complex is proposed, are also wary of the impact the development would have on abutting properties.

Gravier Family Holdings wants to construct five buildings and a 110-space parking lot between Cumberland Street and the City Forest behind Westbrook Community Center, according to Dustin Roma, an engineer with engineer with DM Roma Consulting Engineers.

Marc Drouin of 548 Bridge St. and Andrew Warren of 517 Cumberland St. were concerned about the blasting that would be required for construction and how that would impact their properties. Drouin was also concerned about stormwater runoff and traffic.

Warren’s said the project would introduce a large amount of renters to the neighborhood, which is not ready for “a massive influx of people.”

“I am not against development per se, but this seems to be putting a huge amount of pavement and people in a place that is not quite ready for it,” he said.

Reid Stevenson, a resident of 432 Cumberland St., said it is difficult now to get in and out of his driveway, something that would get more difficult should the development be constructed. His next door neighbor, Lance Cyr of 430 Cumberland St., said the development’s traffic would “dump out on probably one of the worst (spots) on Cumberland Street.”

“It is not a good spot of access for that many cars,” he said. “You are going to have accidents for sure. That’s definitely a concern.”

Planning Board members said the proposal needed additional design work before coming before them again for final approval.

“There is a lot of pavement, but not a lot of thought about layout or neighborhood design integrated into it,” said Planning Board member Rebecca Dillon. “It would be great to have that taken a few steps further.”

Planning Board member Robin Tannenbaum said she would like to see a “strong buffer” between the property and the City Forest.

“This will be a huge blow to all those who worked really hard to put the forest and trail (plan) together,” she said.

The planning board will conduct a site walk on the 425 Cumberland St. property Saturday, Dec. 1, at 10:30 a.m. The project could also be before the planning board as early as January, Spitella said.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 780-9106 or [email protected] or on Twitter @mkelleynews.

Residents on upper Austin Street argued at last week’s Planning Board meeting that a proposed 56-unit condominium project near 388 Austin St. does not fit in their neighborhood.

Hill Street Apartments is proposing a 56-unit development on land along a Central Maine Power corridor across from Jemada Way off Austin Street.