A Windham developer is working on a plan for a large retirement community on a private road off Route 115, close to the North Windham shopping district and just across the street from New Marblehead Manor, a senior-living facility.

The proposal, which is still in the planning stages, will be brought back to the Planning Board on March 14 by Ralph Vance, the landowner and contractor, and Dustin Roma, the project’s engineer. The plan was first brought to the board about a year ago.

Vance is seeking to erect 11 buildings on 4.85 acres off Sand Bar Road. Each single-floor building would house two separate two-bedroom units. Roma said between 35 and 45 people would live in the community.

The development would be an age-restricted community for people 55 and older, according to Amanda Lessard, Windham’s town planner. Under federal standards, age restrictions are an exemption in the Fair Housing Act, which prevents discrimination in housing. However, the standards only require that one person in each unit be 55 or older. The Vance development would not have income restrictions.

The application is the first to use zoning standards adopted in 2012 to allow for the development of retirement communities in Windham, according to Lessard. The new regulations allow for “increased density you wouldn’t otherwise get for a residential development.”

Kay Soldier, an advocate of the area’s senior population and a Lakes Region Weekly columnist, said the development is a good idea because of Windham’s need for senior housing, but she “would prefer to see affordable senior housing where rent is based on percentage of income. And I would really prefer to see assisted-living housing.”

Soldier said in Windham, “we have nursing homes and we have independent living. We need something in between for people who get along pretty well on their own but need to be reminded to take their medicine every now and then.”

“We certainly need places for seniors to stay,” added Blanche Alexander, a volunteer with the Lakes Region Senior Center, which is based in Gorham but serves area seniors.

Alexander said members of the group “want to stay where they’ve lived all their lives” but, she said, some have struggled to find appropriate housing. One member waited almost two years before she was accepted into low-income senior housing in the area, Alexander said.

Alexander’s husband, David Alexander, said he has been following the issue of senior housing “because one of these days that might be somewhere we end up.”

“It might be a new place like this or an old mill like Mallison Falls – somewhere people can stay in their hometown with their family and neighbors,” he said. “I think every town should have a place like that.”

Mallison Falls mill in South Windham is the site for a proposed rent-controlled housing project now under review by the town.

Alexander said if the town can use Vance’s proposed retirement community to “develop opportunities for socialization and transportation to medical opportunities, it will enrich the town.”

Roma said the market-rate units would be built to suit and therefore would vary based on what the new owners want for cabinets, floors and amenities. He wouldn’t say what the purchase prices would be for the units.

Development on private roads such as Sand Bar Road was a hot topic at last week’s Town Council meeting, when officials discussed standards for maintenance of private roads. But Lessard said the Planning Board is not concerned about damage to Sand Bar Road during the construction.

The retirement community would not cause a significant increase in traffic on the Sand Bar Road, according to Lessard, who said that the road association will continue to be responsible for maintaining the road. There is a public easement on the road, which means the public is allowed to use the road and the town provides winter maintenance, she said.

Lessard said there was no public comment on Vance’s proposal at a preliminary hearing in June.

As well, the proximity of the proposed community to Walgreens, Dunkin’ Donuts, and other stores and restaurants in North Windham might allow residents to walk to the nearby services, according to Lessard, helping to increase North Windham’s walkability.

Lessard said the developers are still working on revising the stormwater management plans and an engineered septic design. Vance’s proposal will need approval from the state and the Department of Environmental Protection before it can be approved by the Planning Board.

Roma and Vance could receive preliminary approval for their subdivision application at the March 14 meeting, according to Lessard, but they cannot receive final approval until they have state permits.

Roma said they are aiming to have all the necessary approvals by April so they can start construction in the summer.

The site of the proposed retirement community in North Windham was covered in snow earlier this week.