BETHEL – Discussions on one of the biggest subdivision projects in recent years got under way at Wednesday night’s Planning Board meeting.

Savage Land Development LLC is proposing to construct Birch Wood Subdivision, a 31-lot project for high-end homes.

Savage Land Development LLC is comprised of brothers Ron and Rick Savage, with Ron being the company president.

The subdivision would be located off the Mayville Road, or Route 2, halfway between the Irving station and River View Resort on the opposite side of the highway.

“It’s the largest subdivision that Bethel has seen in a while,” said Bethel Code Enforcement Officer Richard St. John.

Recent subdivision projects that have gone before planners were only about half to a third the size of Birch Wood.

St. John said the only comparison would be Newry’s Powder Ridge subdivision, which is 52 lots on 130 acres. Birch Wood would be 31 lots on 120 acres.

“This is a development that I’m going to be proud of, that the developers are going to be proud of, and, I believe, the town of Bethel is going to be proud of,” said Darryl Brown of Main-Land Development Consultants Inc. of Livermore Falls.

After a lengthy delay over disagreements that the project lacked the standing to be presented Wednesday night, Brown presented the project to planners on behalf of Savage Land Development LLC of Bethel.

After the 30-minute presentation, planners found the hefty subdivision application documentation complete by a 7-0 vote.

Deliberations by the board begin at their next meeting Wednesday, Jan. 28.

The standing issue threatened to halt proceedings when Board Chairman Al Cressy voiced concerns over what he believed to be a discrepancy between the project plan and the town’s tax map. At one point, planners voted 7-0 to table the project presentation until standing issues could be clarified.

But that upset the Savage brothers and Brown, who, after the board voted 5-2 to reconsider the standing issues, quickly clarified Cressy’s confusion, showing that the tax map was incorrect.

The project is being reviewed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, in addition to Bethel planners. Brown said he didn’t expect that DEP would give final approval to the project for another two to three months.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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