Developer Vincent Maietta of KV Enterprises, right, and engineer Owens McCullough of Sebago Technics take notes Tuesday before the Gorham Town Council granted them a contract zone for a 391-unit housing development in Gorham Village. Gorham Community Development Director Tom Poirier is pictured in the background. Robert Lowell / American Journal

The Gorham Town Council Tuesday granted a contract zone to KV Enterprises to build 391 housing units off Robie Street. The multi-year agreement will allow stepping up the pace of construction.

KV Enterprises plans 96 single-family homes and 295 multi-tenant units in a designated growth area in Gorham Village.

The town’s growth ordinance limits permits to 10 per year for one development in growth areas outlined in the comprehensive plan. But the contract zone agreement will allow the developer to build 15 single-family homes in a year and one multi-family building, which would contain multiple units, in a 24-month period.

Under terms of the agreement, the developer will pay a $1,000 impact fee for each single-family home and $500 per unit in a multi-tenant building to offset the cost of increasing school capacity.

Owens McCullough of Sebago Technics, representing the developer, said the apartments will be one and two bedrooms in five-story buildings with mixed-uses allowing commercial uses on the first and second floors.

Vincent Maietta, of KV Enterprises, said some tenants working remotely could use a bedroom for an office.

The Planning Board has already approved 44 single-family homes in the project’s first phase. For each subsequent phase of the development, the developer still will have to return to the Planning Board for approval. One multi-tenant building, in a subsequent phase, is planned for tenants ages 55-plus.

The project has undergone 30 months of intense Town Council and Planning Board review since it was first presented. The Town Council last month approved extending White Birch Lane across town-owned land as an access into the development site in addition to Robie Street and Bramblewood Lane. The White Birch Lane extension could ease construction traffic through existing neighborhoods.

Ruth Kelly of New Portland Road said existing residents hadn’t been considered enough. Kelly cited the construction traffic and said a safe haven for children in that area would be taken away. “Contract zones are hard to enforce,” Kelly said.

The board that will have two new members after November’s election. An attempt to table the matter to allow time for more specific information about apartment sizes and looking for an alternative, temporary road to handle construction traffic was unsuccessful.

Planning Board member David Walsh told the Town Council that a contract zone is an “excellent tool. I ask you to approve it and move forward.”

The board favored the agreement 4-2, with Council Chair Suzanne Phillips and Councilor Virginia Wilder Cross opposed. Councilor Phil Gagnon was absent. Phillips said she is not a fan of contract zones that would circumvent zoning.