
The Cape Elizabeth Planning Board is set to review an application for a 16-unit condominium development off Shore Road two years after it was first submitted.
Landowners Andrew and Debra Carr and Ena Hanson and development company Shore Road Development Partners brought their Carr Woods proposal to the planning board in May 2021, but their application was deemed incomplete and tabled a number of times over the past two years. Design tweaks and the need to address the environmental impact on nearby wetlands and other planning board requirements caused the delay.
Those issues have been resolved and board Chairperson Jonathan Sahrbeck and members Jim Huebener, Matthew Caton and Dan Bodenski on Tuesday declared the application complete. They noted, however, the confusion around the project and the drawn-out process.
Initially proposed as 19 condominiums and a single-family home, the project now calls for 16 units and a single-family home on the Deep Brook Road site, which is between Littlejohn and Wood roads near the entrance of Fort Williams Park.
Neighbors at the meeting say they are concerned about the proposal.
“Many of us have concerns about the technical and financial capability of the applicant,” Lise Pratt of Wood Road said. “Our nightmare scenario is that this project gets as far as clearing and some infrastructure and then goes sideways.”
Sheila Wellehan of Rocky Hill Road agreed, saying she originally understood that funding was already secured for the project only to find out that it is not in place.
Attorney Gordon Smith, representing the Carrs and Hanson, said while funding can be in place tentatively, banks won’t sign off on funding until building permits are in hand.
Sahrbeck said Shore Road Development Partners has worked successfully with the planning board on at least two other projects.
Planning board members will conduct a site visit on Thursday, June 29, at 5 p.m. and will begin a review of the project at their next meeting, on July 18.
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