A site plan for the 118-home development for the Wormell Farm site off Brook Street in Westbrook. File photo
The Westbrook Planning Board gave unanimous approval Tuesday to the 116-home Wormell Farm project for Prides Corner.
The 58-duplex development off Brook Street will be built out within five years under the terms of the approval.
The approval came with little discussion. Planners previously had criticized the homes’ designs as being bland, but have since favored the developers’ aesthetic changes.
“Since our last time showing this we’ve really worked on fine details,” said Shawn Frank, an engineer with Sebago Technics.
This architect’s rendering shows one of the styles of the Wormell Farm duplexes. Contributed / Westbrook Planning Department
The project will bring more homes into the less densely populated western side of the city, but developers said it will have little impact on traffic.
“We did do a full-blown traffic study for this. The conclusions were that the project would generate 66 trips in the morning hour and 79 in the afternoon, 83 on a Saturday,” Frank said previously.
Other nearby developments include the 18-unit Brook Street Apartments, approved in October, and a proposed 96-home development, Cottages at Berkshire, across Brook Street from Wormell Farm that is currently under Planning Board review.
The board also looked at early plans for a Waterhouse Farm Preserve, 38-unit condominium complex and 11 single-family homes to be built on a new street proposed at 547 Saco St.
Planners had a lukewarm reaction to the early plans from Dog Days LLC, with member Robyn Saunders pointing out the lack of nuance in the layout, and suggesting staggering the homes to avoid a “wall of garages.”
Developer Nancy Sinclair said the plans were preliminary, and that the board will be “pleasantly surprised” when the finalized design is presented.
Other members were concerned about the layout of the proposed new road and traffic.
Developers said they look to move forward with their project “as soon as possible,” but a date for potential approval has not been set.
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