TOPSHAM

The Planning Board got its first look Tuesday at plans for a restaurant in the Topsham Fair Mall that the developer confirmed is to house a Panera Bread restaurant.

The proposed 4,140-squarefoot fast-food restaurant at 75 Topsham Fair Mall Road was proposed by Topsham Property Holdings, LLC, which is a company of Priority Group, LLC.

Jim Howard, president and chief executive officer of Priority Group, told The Times Record on Tuesday morning that a Panera Bread restaurant will be locating in the building, adding, “We hope to start construction by Nov. 1 and have it opened by next April.”

The project was only before the Planning Board on Tuesday for sketch plan review so the board took no formal action. According to an email from Town Planner Rich Roedner, the board looked at the layout and expressed some concern over traffic circulation, entrances and exits, which the applicant will work to address as part of the overall site plan.

Before the sketch plan review, the board held a public hearing on a proposed amended subdivision submitted by L & K1, LLC, during which no one spoke, Roedner said. The board approved the subdivision amendment, he said, which was a line adjustment between three adjacent lots all owned by the same entity, in order to facilitate the development of an existing pad site where the Panera Bread building is to locate.