NORWAY – Do you eliminate the dry kilns?

Knock down the office machine shop?

Can there be too much parking?

What about the green space?

Should residences be built?

A committee of town officials and private citizens attended a presentation Tuesday to discuss the possibilities for the approximately 5 acres of property formerly the site of C.B. Cummings.

Brett Doney, chief executive officer of the Enterprise Maine/Western Maine Development, hired Terrence J. DeWan & Associates to create a master plan for the property. The for-profit conglomerate recently purchased the property.

Based on an Oct. 30 brainstorming session with about 40 residents, the planners created three possible site plans.

And after the Tuesday meeting, it is clear that the only thing certain about the site is that nothing is certain.

“The whole plan is an evolutionary process,” said Terrence DeWan, principal architect of the firm. “We’re not going to come up with the plan. It is important that whatever comes in here seems like it belongs in Norway.”

The presentation was geared to get participants thinking about possibilities for the site.

Doney said the project is under time constraints and things must move quickly.

He said he hired a firm to do the environmental studies, which should be complete soon. He said the survey work should be back any day. He announced that he had just secured financing for the property from Norway Savings Bank for $150,000; $100,000 was to purchase the property and $50,000 for the due diligence work and to pay for the site plan.

Doney said in order to qualify for a Community Development Block Grant issued by the Department of Economic and Community Development for $400,000, the town is going to have to declare the property blighted.

The grant would pay for parking, green space, storm water management, demolition of buildings, cleanup of debris and exterior lighting.

“The big issue is how much the costs will be and how much a match is needed,” Doney said. “The match is going to be an issue.”

To get the grant, a site plan, design, costs estimates and a public hearing to approve all the work has to be completed.

Doney said he has a meeting scheduled with the Norway Planning Board on Dec. 11 and then has to meet with Norway Code Enforcement Officer Jeffrey VanDecker and Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments planner Ferg Lea to determine how to legally divvy the site up.

Smith went through the ordinances and said the project is being driven by parking.

For instance, housing units require one and one-half parking spaces per dwelling. Retail use requires one parking space for every 300 square feet; office use requires one parking space for every 200 feet.

So parking must be considered in determining the use of buildings and how the site will be laid out.

The architectural firm’s representations of possible site development are available to view at the town office.

The next meeting of the committee will be Dec. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at the town office.

jsmedley@sunjournal.com

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