Concerns about water runoff have put a stop to the sale and conversion of an historic Gorham Village church to a business venture, several weeks after the planning board approved the project.

“I can’t believe this,” said Michel Salvaggio Jr., president of Four Brothers LLC of Falmouth, the company that has been trying to to buy the church for more than a year.

The Gorham Planning Board may reconsider its approval of the project because two recent letters from nearby property owners complain that runoff water would impact their property. Both property owners, who are requesting the reconsideration, also say they weren’t notified of the March planning board meeting.

The item to reconsider the approval is the board’s first order of business on the agenda for a meeting at 7 p.m. on Monday in the town chambers in the Gorham Municipal Center (former Shaw School), 75 South St.

The planning board unanimously approved Salvaggio’s project, which included a paved parking lot, on March 12.

Town Planner Deborah Fossum said Wednesday that the planning board didn’t require a stormwater management plan in its approval because the planning board believed additional runoff water from pavement would be minimal, considering current soil at the site.

Salvaggio plans a restaurant, bakery, deli, coffee house, pizza shop, wellness center and a banquet hall in the former church, at 29 School St. The project converting the church could cost up to $800,000.

The church, which has relocated to its new home and is now the Cressey Road United Methodist Church, has a contract to sell its former building to Four Brothers LLC. The church needs to sell to help finance completion of its new home at the intersection of Cressey Road and Route 25 west of Gorham Village.

The Rev. Linwood Arnold, pastor of the church, said Tuesday the church membership is disappointed to learn of the request for reconsideration. Both the church and Salvaggio hoped to close on the deal by the end of this month.

“This puts it back up in the air,” Arnold said.

Robert J. Pelletier owns the property at 42 Main St. “I am going to be severely affected by this decision,” Pelletier wrote to Fossum about the planning board approval.

Although not a direct abutter, Pelletier said he maintains a deeded right of way to Cross Street, which is where the approved parking lot would be located behind the church.

“This is directly across the street from the proposed parking lot,” Pelletier wrote. “There are several days each year where I need hip boots to get to vehicles that are stranded in more than a foot of water in the back of my parking lot. Your latest decision will greatly exacerbate this problem.”

Alan Bell of JARB Properties, 36 Main St., also wrote with similar concerns about runoff water from the paved parking. In a letter on March 23 to Susan Robie, who chairs the planning board, Bell wrote that he owns a vacant lot used for business parking at 36 Main St.

“This lot is currently a gravel lot that will be unable to handle the volume of water generated by the paving of the Four Brothers parking lot,” Bell wrote.

Bell said in the letter that he isn’t opposed to additional parking, but he hoped the town would reconsider the variance because it impacted future use of his property. “To suggest that the impact of a paved lot compared to a grass and dirt lot is insignificant is not realistic,” Bell wrote.

Pelletier wrote that the town didn’t properly notify abutters and affected property owners. Bell said he’s a new property owner and wasn’t sent notice of the March 12 planning board meeting.

Fossum said Wednesday the department “gave proper notice,” but she said Bell is a new property owner and the notice could have been sent to a previous owner. Natalie Burns, attorney for Gorham’s planning board, couldn’t be reached Wednesday by American Journal deadline for comment.

The possible reconsideration has delayed sale of the historic church, built in 1880. At its new location, the congregation has built a fellowship hall but its plans are only partially built. The church needs to close the sale of its former building before resuming construction this spring.

The church, which moved into its new home in January, has spent $2.1 million on construction so far and plans call for a $550,000 sanctuary. “We’re hoping this doesn’t scuttle plans immediately for a sanctuary,” Arnold said.

Salvaggio called the possible reconsideration a snag. “This isn’t right, it isn’t fair,” said Salvaggio, who added he wouldn’t attend the meeting Monday.

The church has been trying to sell since 1997 but lack of off street parking had been a hurdle. Salvaggio worked out a deal with the owners of the nearby 7-Eleven Store property to develop parking off Cross Street for his proposal. The planning board approved paved parking for 18 spaces, reducing the number from a required 60.

Limited parking in Gorham Village had been one of the factors the church considered for relocating. The new church complex now has parking for 100. The church said relocation makes 26 parking spaces available in the village.

The planning board had postponed Salvaggio’s request for approval last month, requesting more information about signs, storm runoff water and the legal agreement for parking.