PHIPPSBURG — The Phippsburg Planning Board is expected to decide whether to approve a recreational vehicle park at Popham Beach Tuesday after two previous delays.
David and Tracy Percy, the former owners of Percy’s General Store in Phippsburg, want to create an 11-unit RV park on the former site of their store, which was demolished last year. If approved, the RV park would be set up at 6 Sea St., near the intersection of Sea Street and Popham Road.
Riverside Camping would operate May through October.
According to the project plans, each campsite will have a connection for water, electricity and septic, as well as a fire pit. The facility will include a two-story, 20-by-30-foot utility building with storage, an office and a bathhouse for guests.
The board unanimously approved the 50-foot setback from the center of Sea Street and the two-story bathhouse earlier this month, but delayed a final decision on the project until the applicants could receive further consultation on two issues.
Although a 6-foot-tall wooden fence around the perimeter for privacy and to reduce noise was also proposed for the park, the planning board required the applicants to get an engineered audio plan to see what kind of setback or barrier, such as a fence or vegetation, would block the most noise from the site’s neighbors.
The applicants also needed to contact the Phippsburg fire chief to ensure all emergency vehicles can easily enter and exit the site.
The two other planning board meetings on the proposed RV park have drawn a crowd of around 30, several of whom were opposed to the RV park because they feared the fence would block their view, the RVs would be loud or visitors would leave trash behind.
Kerri Hanscom, who grew up in Popham Beach and started the Facebook page “I love Popham Beach,” is concerned about how the proposed RV park could affect the area and its neighbors because “it’s a small area to try to fit 12 campers there.”
“[The fence and two-story bathhouse] will affect the value of people’s houses and if they rent their homes, there’s a good chance people will lose their renters,” she said.
The meeting will be held at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28 at the Phippsburg Elementary School.
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