Gravel pit application moves forward
ELLSWORTH Planning Board members have unanimously found complete a preliminary application submitted on behalf of E. Skip Grindle & Sons Inc. to dig a gravel pit on North Street. Consultant Steve Salsbury of Herrick & Salsbury of Ellsworth presented plans on April 7 for a 10-acre pit at the site where a much smaller pit now exists.
“The scope [for this meeting] is to determine if this is a complete application or not,” Chairman John Fink reminded the board, following discussion on noise, access and the site’s proximity to KidsPeace.
Salsbury had initially presented a sketch plan of the proposed project to the board on March 4, where board members raised those issues. The preliminary application includes a letter from KidsPeace Operations Supervisor Dale Cook stating no objections to the proposed site. It also outlined the equipment, noise levels and hours of operation: 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. All falls within the city�
Proposed gravel pit near KidsPeace raises concerns
ELLSWORTH Planning Board members at a sketch plan meeting on March 4 aired concerns over the proximity of a proposed 10-acre gravel pit to KidsPeace. Those concerns are based on the noise associated with an extraction operation and what effect it might have on the autism program in place at the residential school.
KidsPeace is located off Patriot Road, and the proposed site on North Street abuts the school property.
“Bear in mind that we’re constrained by the ordinances that we wind up working with,” Chairman John Fink said. “Some things that some of us would like to see are beyond our purview.”
Planning Board sees issues with 8 Union St. plan
ELLSWORTH The Planning Board on Jan. 7 accepted as complete a preliminary application to convert a former medical building at 8 Union St. into a mixed-use building with office, commercial and residential units. Questions have been raised, however, on whether the uses detailed are permitted under the city’s unified development ordinance.
The building sits on a 0.7-acre plot in the Neighborhood Zone and is under contract to be sold to Dale and Barbara Joyce of Swan’s Island.
The Joyces plan to convert medical offices into business office space and a small gallery downstairs, with two residential units upstairs and a second handicapped-accessible ramp to the east side of the building where the five or six offices would be situated.