A Cape Elizabeth real estate broker’s proposal for a 42-home subdivision was made possible by his purchase of two small parcels of town land in April.

Jim McFarlane’s development, to be called Spurwink Woods, was presented to the Planning Board Tuesday. It will be located on 26 acres between neighborhoods on Spurwink Avenue, McAuley Road and Killdeer Road, with road access from extensions of two dead-end roads, Dermot Drive and Killdeer Road.

A key to the proposal is a pair of triangular parcels on South Street, totaling less than one acre, which he bought from the town in April. Those pieces gave him access to about 24 abutting acres he purchased a few years ago.

Cape Elizabeth Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said the Planning Board has been approached twice before by developers wanting to develop this land, but in both cases lack of access to the property had blocked the efforts.

In the late 1980s a developer with access to the property from McAuley Road made a proposal. But, at that time the town did not allow a dead-end road to be longer than 1,000 feet, and the proposal called for a clustered septic system, something town officials were not pleased with.

Then in 1995 another developer approached the town about developing the land with the access road coming from Spurwink Avenue and running right through the middle of wetlands that are on the property.

This time, the pieces may work. McFarlane has two partners in Spurwink Woods, LLC: Skip Murray of L.P. Murray and Sons and Craig Cooper of Rainbow Construction. All three men work in town and have children in the town schools.

“I think it’s a good marriage, a good team,” McFarlane said.

The meeting brought dozens of concerned neighbors and nearby property owners to hear the proposal, which is still in its conceptual stage.

Bob Metcalf of Mitchell and Associates, who is working on the project, said McFarlane had decided to go with an “open-space” concept after consultation with O’Meara.

Open-space zoning is Cape Elizabeth’s version of cluster development, which allows the developer to design more compact lots while preserving significant tracts of open space, O’Meara said. Cape ordinances require the developer to preserve at least 40 percent of the gross area, of which 30 percent has to be dry land.

Spurwink Woods would consist of 24 single-family homes and nine two-family condominiums – for a total of 42 units. Lot sizes would average just under a quarter-acre, with the largest lot about four-tenths of an acre. Based on density requirements, 16.5 acres of a total 25.8 are developable, according to Metcalf.

The structures would be upscale homes with basements and two-car garages, priced around $400,000. The project has not been engineered yet, but public sewer and water will serve the subdivision, Metcalf said.

Since the project is still in its conceptual stage no decisions concerning affordable housing have been made. But, the developers will have the option of either making 5 percent of the units affordable for low-income residents or 10 percent of the units affordable for mid-income residents.

Traffic, growth concerns

Planning Board Chairman Dave Sherman brought up the concern that many abutters had voiced to the Planning Board, which is the question of increased traffic for surrounding neighborhoods, most of which are currently quiet dead-ends with only local traffic. Neighbors are worried about the effect the addition of an access road to an additional 42 residences could have.

“We have a closed-in neighborhood with a few houses,” said Peggy Hunter of Columbus Road, which leads to Killdeer Road. “And now we’ll be connected with an additional 100 houses.” With four young children Hunter said she is especially worried about the new traffic. Now, she lets them walk around the neighborhood and ride bikes in the streets, but that would all change.

“I won’t feel safe anymore with all the traffic,” she said.

Jenna McPartland of Thrasher Road is also worried about her two small children and how the traffic will affect her neighborhood.

“An additional 80 cars a day would alter the feeling of the neighborhood and increase the likelihood of accidents,” she said.

McFarlane said there would be an increase in traffic, but added there are two exits from the subdivision. A traffic study would be done and the results would be part of the formal proposal when it is made to the Planning Board, which he hopes would happen in September. But O’Meara said that might be an unrealistic goal.

“They still have a lot of work to do,” she said. “I would encourage them to take the time they need to do it right.”

The 26 acres currently consist of an extensive system of trails that nearby residents use to walk, run, cross-country ski and snowmobile. “There are also beautiful stands of old pines back there,” said Ted Darling of McAuley Road, whose lot abuts the proposed development.

The property contains about five acres of wetlands, but because of the decision to pursue open-space zoning the development would avoid most of the wetlands in the western section of the property. Metcalf said only 2,500 square feet of wetlands would be impacted.

“There will be no disturbance at all for the rest,” he said.

Becky Fernald of Mitchell Road said the loss of that amount of open space in the small community would “change the whole nature of Cape Elizabeth.”

Cape Elizabeth is a place where people move to get out of the city, she said, so the open spaces and rural character of the town should be maintained.

Darling questioned how a development such as this, the largest since the Cross Hill development in the 1990s, fits into the 10-year Comprehensive Plan the town just began reviewing. The long-term effects of development need to be considered, Fernald said.

“I’m not opposed to development. But, it has to be done sensibly,” Fernald said. “This needs to fit into an overall picture of growth for the town.”

For instance, more development would bring more students into the school department, “and our schools are at the bursting point,” Fernald said.

McFarlane said the development is still in the workshop process, but when the proposal becomes formal he would like to meet with all concerned neighbors.

At the workshop Fernald passed around a contact list for concerned neighbors to sign. About 22 names were on the list at the end of the workshop.

The group plans to meet and brainstorm ideas of the best ways to confront the proposal. McPartland signed the list. When asked what concerned neighbors could do in a situation like this she only had two words: “Be vocal.”