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Planning Board continues 800 Portland Road mixed-use proposal to May 6 for additional reviews
Summary
The board continued the public hearing and application review for a proposed 49-unit condominium with 3,000 sq ft of commercial space at 800 Portland Road to May 6, directing staff to prepare draft findings and track outstanding peer-review comments, including wetland and wildlife input.
The Saco Planning Board continued the public hearing and application review Tuesday for a proposed mixed-use project at 800 Portland Road that would add 49 residential condominium units and about 3,000 square feet of commercial space, and asked staff to prepare draft findings and conditions for the May 6 meeting.
Cale Brassic of Goral Palmer presented revisions and responses made since the board's February review, including changes to the commercial building's architecture, relocation of mail service into the commercial building, revised stormwater BMPs (switched from subsurface sand filters to curb-line focal-point filters), and additional tree and soil surveys. He said the team had added evergreen buffering on the south and west edges and refined grading and setbacks.
"We have done a little bit of reworking just with some of the single family units as well," Brassic told the board, and he showed a revised rendering of the commercial building with a gable roof and longer facade facing Route 1.
City planning staff and peer reviewers identified outstanding items. Emily Cole Prescott, the city planner, told the board that a wetland and wildlife peer reviewer had submitted comments received the day before and that the applicant was coordinating further with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife (IFW). Staff also noted a discrepancy in the type of high-intensity soil survey submitted (Class B provided; staff requested Class A) and that the city engineer's review was still pending.
Board members pressed the applicant on wetlands, the possibility of Blanding's turtle or other protected habitat identified by IFW, buffer widths (100-foot vs. 250-foot assessments), and whether the project would encroach on sensitive areas such as Millbrook. Member Jeff said the board needed clarity on buffers and wetland delineations before approving more intensive development near known sensitive resources. Several members nonetheless complimented the applicant's design and revisions to the frontage building.
The board voted 5-0 to reopen the item for public hearing, heard no public speakers, and voted 5-0 to continue the public hearing and application review to May 6. The continuation language asked staff to draft findings of fact and conditions of approval, and the applicant said it would continue coordination with IFW and the city engineer and provide updated materials to the planning office.
Next steps: staff will compile engineering and landscape peer-review comments and prepare draft findings and conditions for the May 6 meeting so the board can consider final action.
