WATERFORD – Ed Keiser won planning board approval to set up a manufactured housing operation at the Sanborn Machine building on Route 37.

Keiser, under the corporate name of Waterford Holdings LLC, has contracted to buy the property for $650,000 from Merrimack Timber Service Inc., of Epson, N.H.

Keiser could not be reached for comment.

A Jan. 5 closing date was listed in the project file at Town Hall.

Sanborn Machine has a long history in the town. The company halted operations two years ago.

Keiser said he plans to employ 35 to 40 full-time people in the manufactured housing plant, and that a small building on the property will continue to be used by Dale Sanborn as a machine shop.

Most of the new homes Keiser will build will be sold to customers in Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine.

Mike Conway of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills told the planning board the project would benefit the community by generating around $1 million in annual payroll. The growth council will lobby for wider roads to transport the homes on Route 37 if deemed necessary, Conway said.

No changes are proposed to the outside of the buildings, according to Keiser’s site plan request for a change of use. There will be some improvements in drainage, and minimal outside building lighting will be added.

Keiser said in his application that he hopes to begin operations in April.

The project was not without opposition from abutters, who were concerned about noise, traffic and the presence of partially completed homes on the site.

At the Dec. 17 planning board meeting, Keiser said he would maintain the existing buffer of trees to hide the property from Passaconaway and Johnson roads. Eight to 10 units would be stored at any one time on the south end of the property, Keiser said.

A year ago, Keiser completed construction of KBS Inc., a $3 million, 73,000-square-foot, upscale modular home manufacturing plant on Route 26 in Paris. Shortly after the plant began operations, however, Keiser was ousted as the company’s chief executive officer. He has filed a lawsuit against his former business partners.

Keiser was also forced out of another business he founded, Keiser Homes, now operating under the name of Keiser Industries. Keiser has 30 years experience in the manufactured housing industry.