Editor’s note: The following is the full version of an edited story that appeared in the Feb. 12 print editions of The Times Record.

BRUNSWICK

Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority needs to subdivide almost 400 acres of the former navy base into individual lots before it can market them to prospective tenants.

Before Brunswick Planning Board members can issue approval, however, they will have to decide which parts of the agency’s subdivision request meet local codes and environmental requirements and, perhaps more importantly, which parts don’t. 

While under control of the U.S. Navy, the property was unaffected by municipal and state building codes and environmental standards. But now that it has been returned to MRRA for repurposing and eventual return to the town, the property must be defined by lot lines and any development must conform to municipal regulations.

The distinction has proved complicated and, at times, difficult for MRRA’s efforts to attract tenants to the area now known as Brunswick Landing.

Some places on the former base are still too contaminated by chemicals to be used. The Navy is still doing ecological clean-up work at numerous locations, and constantly monitoring the effects of clean-ups already done at others. 

“We don’t want to have special treatment, but redevelopment of this property does pose some unique planning challenges,” said Steve Levesque, MRRA’s executive director. “As that property comes through (from the Navy to MRRA) it’s in a built state … and essentially acts as a functional subdivision, it’s an operating entity.”

After an initial Planning Board finding that the application was incomplete, Levesque outlined two versions of the request during an almost two-hour board workshop on Feb. 5. 

One version deals with the request as a whole, and includes all lots — in various stages of development — in the parcel. A second addresses only the lots which have already have been developed to some degree. Most of those areas have buildings of various size or parking lots or, in several cases, ballfields.

After the workshop last week, MRRA officials planned to resubmit the application for consideration during the Planning Board’s meeting Feb. 12. However, according to planning department staffers, the application’s reappearance has been delayed until the board’s Feb. 26 meeting.

“MRRA has developed a soil excavation process to protect groundwater integrity, and we’ve spent thousands of dollars developing this plan which, frankly, we don’t have. We’re a public entity, not a huge commercial developer,” Levesque said.

Despite Levesque’s assurances, however, some board members remained unconvinced of the request’s assertions.

Board member Steve Walker has been a vocal critic of MRRA’s subdivision plan request, maintaining that it does not adequately address the comprehensive environmental impact of MRRA’s plans to build.

He said not enough actual field study had been done to satisfy the requirements of the town’s zoning or planning processes.

“The subdivision process is what we’re talking about,” Walker said. “This is a pretty significant piece of land in terms of not only the wildlife habitat, but the underlying aquifer, an urban-impaired stream and a lot of land that drains  down into a very economically important clam flat.”