The Topsham Board of Selectmen voted unanimously Thursday to pass a resolution in support of the housing disposition plan for the Topsham Annex.

Thursday’s vote, following a similar endorsement of the housing plan goals by the Brunswick Town Council on Dec. 5, meets a key condition included in the purchase-andsale agreement that would link ownership of the residences with the land beneath them.

Developer George Schott’s Affordable Midcoast Housing LLC (AMH) bought 702 former military residences in October 2010. The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA) acquired the land beneath those units in Brunswick and Topsham via a conveyance associated with the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

On Nov. 17, the MRRA board approved a purchaseand sale agreement to sell the land beneath the residences — 214 acres in all — to AMH.

Selectmen first discussed an earlier version of a housing disposition plan submitted by AMH at a Nov. 16 meeting, at which they tabled the discussion. Chairman Donald Russell said Thursday that selectmen felt at that time “there were not enough specifics in (the housing plan) to endorse it and move forward.”

Russell said Thursday that, since Nov. 16, Topsham officials have met with Scott Howard, a representative of AMH, and gathered information to address concerns identified during the initial board consideration of the plan.

On Thursday, selectmen considered a new resolution and “also more important in my estimation is the total housing plan that would be part of the covenants of the deeds for the transaction,” Russell said. “The Topsham Annex plan, which is based on the part called Patriot Commons,” contains 12 items that he called a considerably larger number than what was in the prior plan.

Regarding parts of the Topsham Annex Redevelopment Plan that give municipal government the option “to accept any or all of the roads in Patriot Commons as is,” Russell said Thursday: “We’re not saying the town is going in and taking those roads with the infrastructure that’s maybe not correct at this time, but it gives us the option if we choose to do any of it for any reason. It also gives us the option to work with the developer to bring roads up to date to accept them.”

One of the reasons for this stipulation, Russell said, is because Canam Drive connects to Highland Green to reach the other side of town.

The Highland Green site plan and subdivision shows the road being opened. It was gated when the Navy controlled the property.

“I don’t want you to leave here thinking that we’re going to take a bunch of roads that are not up to town standards,” Russell explained.

Another stipulation calling for AMH to upgrade the utilities to meet state, town and utility district standards as individual homes are sold and as future new development occurs led Selectman Andrew Mason to question how the overall sewer system will be upgraded.

Russell said it is something he feels the sewer district will have to work out.

Howard, who attended Thursday’s meeting, noted there’s nothing to prevent the utilities systems from remaining private. He said AMH intends to have “many of those roads upgraded, many of those utilities upgraded, so that the town and the utility districts would accept them in the future.”

Bill Fitzsimmons, a member of the Topsham Sewer District board, said, “If and when you endorse this plan, we would like to have a contingency in place that states that there must be a contract between the Topsham Sewer District and AMH. That’s important to us. … From our perspective, this is a private utility, it’s a private system. It’s currently being billed through a meter. We had an agreement with the Navy that was in place for more than 25 years. We need to relook at the way that contract was structured.”

Fitzsimmons noted the Navy gave only 30 days notice of termination of the contract, which didn’t provide the sewer district an opportunity to negotiate a contract. He said that the sewer district board is exploring a contract with MRRA.

Russell said he believes the utility matter is addressed by the plan.

Howard explained that “AMH has no ability to negotiate with the sewer district at this point,” because it doesn’t own that land or those utilities.

Declaring AMH’s commitment to resolve complex questions related to converting utility delivery and management at the former military property to civilian use, Howard said, “ The details will take many months to resolve, but AMH is committed to doing what is necessary to maintain those services.”

Part of the resolution calls for AMH to report to the Board of Selectmen on a semi- annual basis, or at selectmen’s request, on the progress of the sales of housing.