Gorham town councilors heard some early details Tuesday about Sebago Brewing Co.’s plan to build a complex at Mosher’s Corner in Gorham, a move that would keep the company’s headquarters in Gorham.

“It’s a great project and we have to expand business in town,” Town Councilor Shonn Moulton said.

A longtime company in town, Sebago Brewing Co. has outgrown its facility, co-founder Kai Adams told the Town Council.

“We’ve been in Gorham for 10 years in Gorham Industrial Park,” he said.

Adams said its warehouse is getting too small. So, the company is proposing to build a new facility at the intersection of Mosher Road (Route 237) and lower Main Street (Route 25), two heavily traveled commuter highways. The proposed site is across Main Street from Martin’s Point Health Care facility.

For approval to build at the site, Sebago Brewing Co. is seeking a contract zone. The Town Council unanimously 5-0 (Matthew Robinson and Bruce Roullard absent) voted to send the request to the town’s Planning Board.

Under the proposal, a new facility would include corporate offices, a production plant, warehouse, restaurant and kitchen, along with tasting and function rooms. The project would include two silos.

David Galbraith, the town’s zoning administrator, said before Tuesday’s meeting the Sebago Brewing proposal calls for a 30,000-square-foot building.

The site, which is served by public water, sewer and natural gas, is zoned office commercial but doesn’t allow a production facility. So, Sebago Brewing is seeking a contract zone for its project.

An abutter, James Sanderson, had concerns Tuesday about hours of operation, noise and screening. The public will have opportunities to weigh in on the project.

The proposal now goes to the Planning Board for a public hearing and a recommendation before returning to the Town Council, which ultimately decides whether to approve a contract zone. The board in recent years has approved multiple contract zones in South Gorham.

Adams said Sebago Brewing Co. would keep its restaurant on Elm Street in downtown Gorham.

Susan Duchaine of Design Dwellings owns the site where Sebago Brewing hopes to build its complex. Following Tuesday’s meeting, Duchaine said the site is 8 acres and she would buy an existing property to be included as part of the proposed project.

Duchaine said Wednesday that ultimately their plan is buy the property from her.

Andrew Morrell of BH2M in Gorham, an engineering firm working with Sebago Brewing, showed town councilors sketches of site and building plans. The brewery is seeking approval for parking in front of the building.

Tom Ellsworth, director of Gorham Economic Development Corp., said it’s early in the process and the contract zone request is not a “big stretch” from what is already allowed at the site.

“Here’s an opportunity to help retain them in town,” Ellsworth said. “I’m really excited.”

Town Councilor Sherrie Benner is enthused to see a business growing and wants to stay in Gorham. Town Councilor Benjamin Hartwell pointed to the agricultural connection to the town, where hops are a crop.

“Brewing beer is an agricultural business,” Adams said.

Mosher’s Corner, where Martin’s Point opened its $5 million facility last September adjacent to Beal’s Ice Cream, is poised for growth. Michael Phinney, chairman of the Town Council, called Sebago Brewing’s proposal an anchor.

“This is a great addition to that area,” Phinney said.

In other action, Tom Farmer, a landscape architect and senior project manager at Wright-Pierce in Portland, presented an overview of a draft updating the town’s Main Street master plan. But the Town Council postponed to Tuesday, Oct. 6, action on it.

Kai Adams, a co-founder of Sebago Brewing Co., Tuesday tells of plans for a new facility it’s planning at Mosher’s Corner in Gorham. Pictured, at the right in the foreground, is Gorham Town Planner Tom Poirier and engineer Andrew Morrell, partly obscured. Staff photo by Robert Lowell