FREEPORT

The Project Review Board will conduct a site walk where L.L. Bean wants to build a new Outdoor Discovery School on Sept. 11, and could vote on the company’s final plan afterward.

The town’s flagship business wants to build a twostory, 7,200-square-foot building on its Marietta Lane property off Lower Flying Point. The building, in the same style as Bean’s two village stores, would house its recreational programs, with meeting space on the top floor and showers on the first floor.

The Outdoor Discovery School would be located near Backyard Cove.

Bean officials and SMAA architects explained the company’s plans Wednesday to the Project Review Board.

Architect Mark Spaulding explained Bean wants to follow the same stylistic “precedent” it has established at its two flagship campuses in the village. “That was something that L.L. Bean wanted to make sure of, that that was continuing,” Spaulding said.

Spaulding said the building’s shape might have a more “coastal” look than Bean’s “urban” buildings. Per L.L. Bean standards, it will be LEED-certified, he said, referring to a set of renewableenergy construction standards.

The porch of the Outdoor Discovery School will be about 750 feet from the water.

At the outset of Wednesday’s meeting, Board Chairman Clifford Goodall explained the board has no authority regarding Bean’s use of the property. But the Town Council, Planning Board and the code-enforcement officer will want to weigh in, he said.

“We only review the proposed structural changes and the site changes,” Goodall said.

Bean plans to remove three structures prior to construction, and says the net increase in square footage will be minimal.

Carolyn Beem, manager of public affairs for L.L. Bean, said she has sent 200 letters to neighbors and conducted a meeting informing them of the plan.

Board member Alan Tracy recused himself from consideration of the project after he informed the board that he lives nearby.

Tracy had asked Bean officials what uses they had planned for the new building.

Goodall responded that Tracy was “going beyond the scope of the review” with that question, then asked Tracy how close he lives to the property.

Tracy responded he lives about a third of a mile away, then Goodall said Tracy might have a conflict of interest.

“I want to resolve the conflict issue,” Tracy responded. “I have always felt that if a member lives in the vicinity of a project, then there is a conflict of interest.”

Tracy spent the remainder of the meeting in the audience.

Bean officials told the Project Review Board meeting they could have a final plan ready for Sept. 11, or for the board’s October meeting.

The Sept. 11 site walk, open to the public, begins at 5 p.m.

lgrard@timesrecord.com