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Planning board reviews early concept for Eastern Trail Estates; access, sidewalks and trail buffering raised
Summary
Applicants presented a sketch plan for Eastern Trail Estates. Board members focused on need for a second access, sidewalk continuity, buffering from the Eastern Trail, groundwater depth concerns and stormwater/fire suppression capacities; municipal coordination with Old Orchard Beach and Saco remains outstanding.
At the start of its June 17 meeting, the Saco Planning Board held a workshop sketch‑plan discussion of “Eastern Trail Estates,” an early residential subdivision concept that abuts the Eastern Trail and the Old Orchard Beach municipal boundary.
City Planner Emily Cole Prescott told the board the proposal is in initial concept stages and that Saco staff have met with Old Orchard Beach staff “to see how these municipal coordination considerations could be addressed.” She recommended the board comment on design while leaving intermunicipal access coordination to staff.
Applicant representative Andy Morrill of BH2M said the project will require a second access and that the applicant is negotiating rights over land owned by the St. Louis family in Old Orchard Beach to create that second egress. Morrill said the Old Orchard Beach review is an administrative amendment there and that he expects the subdivision will ultimately require engineered plans and resolution of municipal questions.
Board members raised a range of site‑planning and ordinance compliance issues. Member Jeff Bruscia asked for the town boundary to be clarified on the plan and emphasized continuity of sidewalks and pedestrian connections: “We've been very consistent, striving to be very consistent with our ordinance that all new subdivisions would have sidewalks, internal sidewalks, as well as connecting to existing ones.” Bruscia also urged a vehicular buffer to the Eastern Trail to prevent motorized access.
Bruscia and others noted wetlands and shallow test pits, observing limiting groundwater at about 18–24 inches in places, and reminded the applicant of an ordinance that can require hydrogeological assessment when seasonal high groundwater is near the surface. He also asked the applicant to document fire suppression capacity of the existing main the subdivision would tap and to confirm underground utilities.
Vice Chair Joyce Leary Clark and other board members emphasized the need for strong buffering along the trail to preserve the trail’s wooded character and suggested limiting rear building windows and increasing landscape buffers so the trail does not “feel like you're in the back of a subdivision.” Clark and other members also stressed that any vehicular access to the Eastern Trail be physically blocked (bollards, stones, etc.).
Applicant representatives said their “intention is to have 2 accesses” and that one of Old Orchard Beach’s requirements for approval is a second egress; they reported a right‑of‑way for the second access already exists and that they are seeking Old Orchard Beach approval. The board offered several recommendations—document sidewalk connections, provide sidewalk design to match the ordinance, show snow storage and utility easements, and identify mailbox and internal lighting locations—while noting several administrative intermunicipal matters will need to be resolved by staff.
Because the application was at a sketch stage, the board offered comments but took no formal vote. Staff and the applicant agreed to return with engineered plans and further documentation after municipal coordination with Old Orchard Beach was completed.
