GORHAM — Town planners Monday heard their first description of what a new industrial campus off Main Street and Libby Avenue will look like.
The as yet unnamed campus on the site of a former cow pasture will have 16 lots with more than a mile of interior roads.
Town voters in November 2019 backed borrowing $4 million to buy the 141-acre site and another $1.9 million to develop it to broaden the property tax base, easing the burden on homeowners. The property has 93 acres off Main Street and another 48 off Libby Avenue.
Tom Poirier, community development director, said Monday the project will be built in phases, but approval is being sought under a single plan. Poirier also pointed out that a lot off Libby Avenue is being “broken out” to sell separately. The Town Council last month authorized Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak to sell 7 acres.
The Town Council appointed a steering committee and an engineering firm worked to design the range of lot sizes. The smallest proposed lot size is 2.29 acres and a 12.48-acre lot is the largest.
The total area represents 91.2 acres with 420,000 square feet of building area. Roads will be 6,700 feet. The site is served by town sewer and water.
Town Planner Carol Eyerman said the Cross Town Trail runs through the property, which also includes wetlands.
The property abuts Cobb Road and the legal status of the road is in question, according to Eyerman. Cobb Road appears to be an abandoned town road.
Only one member of the public called into the Planning Board’s Zoom meeting. George Robicheau of Buxton said he is concerned about the project’s impact on land his family owns that abuts the proposed development.
The project is also adjacent to a residential area, Shamrock Drive. Planning Board Chairman George Fox said the town has received correspondence from neighbors about visual buffering.
The Planning Board will view a drone video of the property in lieu of a site walk. Site walks have been conducted virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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