The Buxton Planning Board on Tuesday approved plans for an eight-unit condominium development off Spruce Swamp Road.

The complex, built by Gorham-based MFOO properties, will be made up of four structures with two 1,817-square-foot duplexes in each. The units, priced at $525,000, will have two bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and an office space. Each unit will have a separate driveway and garage space and be built on 1.3 acres of the 23.4-acre property.

MFOO is owned by Brian Plowman of Plowman Builders. Plowman declined to disclose the projected cost of construction.

Plowman said concentrating the development close to the road will keep the disruption to the land in the back of the lot to a minimum. He has some livestock and said he would consider using the undeveloped area as a pasture.

At the public hearing for the project on May 11 and at the May 26 meeting, residents who live near the property expressed concerns about the development disrupting the quiet residential neighborhood, surrounding farmlands and wetlands, and the gravel, pothole-filled portion of the road the property sits on.

“This neighborhood was built and formed as a residential area with a certain scale, density and rhythm. Placing a high-density condominium in this lot would fundamentally change that balance,” said Scott Hermanson, who lives in the house next door to the proposed lot. He voiced concerns such as a potentially dangerous increase in traffic on a road that is one of the last to be plowed in winter, disruptions to wildlife, stormwater runoff, noise and privacy issues.

James Lowery, the project manager for the development, reiterated that the design is intended to preserve most of the wilderness on the land.

“The clustering helps to keep the homes up closer to the road, not getting back in and disturbing areas that ultimately are habitat for other animals and birds and wildlife that you’d prefer to leave unimpacted,” he said.

Part of the wetland on the forested swamp property is classified by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection as a “wetland of special significance,” meaning it provides valuable natural resources to the surrounding habitat. Activities in these areas can contribute to their degradation, and the state restricts activities within 75 feet of these areas.

The board decided that a west-facing stop sign should be placed at the top of the hill portion of Spruce Swamp Road that slopes up toward Libby Drive and Route 202 to decrease the risk of collisions in the area, at the discretion of Buxton’s public works director.

Plowman said the units are intended to provide an affordable housing option. According to data from Zillow, the average home price in Buxton is $469,602 and $561,069 in Portland.

Under the terms outlined in the proposal, the owners of each condominium unit will form an association with an elected board of directors that will make decisions about the property. The association will provide maintenance of the building exteriors and shared spaces on the property.

Final approval of the development is conditional on the planning board receiving the performance guarantee from MFOO properties.