Founders Park committee presents 24,000 sq ft community center plan; board schedules site walk

The Town of Wells Planning Board on Monday received a site-plan pre-application for a proposed Founders Park Community Center and voted unanimously to schedule a site walk to review the sketch plan.

Sergei McKenzie, representing the Founders Park committee, described plans to build a 24,000-square-foot, year-round community center adjacent to Town Hall and the elementary-school parking lot. A promotional presentation described a centerpiece 150-by-80-foot ice rink, ADA-compliant restrooms, upstairs storage and mechanical space, 24-hour surveillance tied to the Wells Police Department, and a fundraising walkway paved with personalized bricks for donors. The applicant said only trees within 10 feet of the building footprint or those that pose hazards would be removed.

Mike (planning staff) displayed the sketch plan on the meeting screen and said the site is immediately west of Town Hall and beside the school lot. The board discussed parking demand and noted the original town-hall site plan included retail and a farmer’s-market use that had not materialized; staff said eliminating that retail demand likely frees capacity in the town-hall lot, but code enforcement will need to recommend required parking counts because the community center is a municipal use.

Board members voted to receive the pre-application and schedule a site walk for further review; the date was set during the meeting (site walk schedule to be confirmed). The board also asked staff to provide a recommendation on parking numbers and to check any potential overlap with school-day parking.

The next procedural step is the site walk and then a more formal submission that will include required site-plan documents and any parking calculations staff recommends.