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Planning Board approves Elwell Excavation site plan at Libby Hill with conditions
Summary
Gardiner Planning Board found the Lot 12 site plan for Elwell Excavation complete and approved a 9,600-square-foot building and laydown yard at Libby Hill Business Park, subject to two pending letters and a city map substitute.
The Gardiner Planning Board approved a site plan for Elwell Excavation to build a 9,600-square-foot single-story construction services building with associated laydown and parking on Lot 12 of the Libby Hill Business Park, contingent on two outstanding items.
Engineer Jim O'Koffin of O'Koffin Engineering presented the proposal and said the new building would be 160 by 60 feet, single story, with a total impervious area on the lot of 1.23 acres, under the allowable impervious area for Lot 12. “The new building's gonna be 160 by 60, single story,” O'Koffin said during the public hearing. He described parking and circulation designed to allow box trucks to pass through the site and said the proposal includes buffer landscaping, downward-shielded wall-pack lighting, and connections to existing water and sewer on Technology Drive.
Robert Elwell, representing the applicant, confirmed that outside vehicle work would not take place in the laydown area: “No. We're not gonna work outside. If any work's done, it's gonna be inside the building,” he said.
Staff and board members reviewed ordinance standards and environmental requirements, noting that Lot 12 is part of a predesigned stormwater scheme for the Libby Hill Business Park (detention ponds in Phase 1). City staff asked about floor drains and grease/oil handling; the applicant said building work would be performed indoors and spills would be contained and cleaned with absorbent material (referred to in the hearing as “Speedy Dry”).
The board found the application complete with conditions that the applicant supply the correct Maine Natural Areas Program (MNAP) letter (the packet contained the wrong MNAP letter) and either provide an IF&W letter or allow the city map showing no mapped deer-wintering areas to substitute in the short term. Planning staff also noted a city water-letter confirmation from the city’s water director and a public-works letter were included or received.
After making the completeness finding, the Planning Board voted to approve the application with the two required conditions. The board recorded that, with the conditions in place, the application met the Land Use Ordinance review criteria and that standard site-plan elements (lighting, buffers, dumpster screening, parking—16 spaces proposed vs. 10 required for a 9,600 sq. ft. warehouse) complied with applicable sections.
The approval is conditioned on the applicant providing the MNAP letter and either the IF&W response or the city map substitute before final plan signoff; the Planning Board noted those items are standard documentation used to complete environmental and natural-resource review.
