A rendered image of the Edge Sports Complex Design for the Scarborough Downs Project. Contributed
SCARBOROUGH — The town won’t use a documented timeline to oversee what developers are doing at the community center project at Crossroads Holdings Scarborough Downs because officials say developers are keeping the town informed enough.
“This (documentation) came up in early August, and we’ve come a long way since then,” said Town Manager Tom Hall. “Largely the reasons we wanted to come to this understanding was to identify mutual expectations and obligations. (The agreement) was meant to provide clarity, but it doesn’t.”
According to the memorandum of understanding tabled at the meeting, the Scarborough Development Entity LLC, and Edge Sports Group, a Massachusetts company that develops sports facilities, are collaborating on a community center within the “downtown” area of the project. Edge Sports Group signed on earlier this year.
“I was an advocate for this six weeks ago, but now we have a strong committee up and running and the developers have been an active participant and are collaborating well,” Councilor John Cloutier said. “This document doesn’t add anything to the process and could confuse things.”
The developers include brothers William Risbara, Marc Risbara, Rocco Risbara III, along with siblings Peter and Richard Michaud.
According to the Edge Sports website, the complex would be a private, for-profit, fee-based facility offering various types of memberships, such as individual, group, league and municipal. It would include swimming pools, ice rinks, indoor and outdoor playing fields, spectator areas and other activity spaces.
The Town Council created an Ad-Hoc Community Center Advisory Committee earlier this year to undertake the analysis and make recommendations regarding the community center, with a submission deadline of Dec. 15. The committee has nine voting members and six non-voting members.
The rules, put together in September, had set a deadline for completion, and made clear that the town would work closely with the developers. However, councilors said the constant cooperation of developers with committee members has shown a formal agreement is no longer needed.
According to the agreement, the downtown community center aims to reduce transportation costs and increase convenience for high school sports teams, while also offering people a place to come together and participate in recreational activities.
The newest phase includes Innovation District at 90 Payne Road, which abuts the Scarborough Downs harness horse racing track and will incorporate residential, commercial and recreational components. Plans for a third phase are still in the early development stages, according to developers.
The project will include 2,500-square-foot incubator spaces designed to support small businesses and startups that are ready to lease professional space but not prepared to buy or invest large amounts of money.
The $621 million project is near the intersection of Payne Road and the Maine Turnpike and will have three commercial gateways. Also included will be 10 miles of recreational trails, with 40% of the total acreage to be preserved as open space.
The sale of the Scarborough Downs race track property, which opened in the 1950s, was completed in January 2018. However, the track remains open and races are still being held.
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