BETHEL – Call it sprawl, call it a building boom, call it what you want. The Bethel Planning Board is busy.

So far this year, planners have been working on six subdivision applications, amendments to previously approved subdivisions, and site plan applications.

Building permits for homes have nearly doubled from last year, and there appears to be no end in sight.

The code enforcement officer, Richard St. John, said he has already issued permits for five more houses this month.

“I don’t think most people realize that substantial potential for development is occurring in town,” board Chairman Allen Cressy said.

“Two years ago, there were no subdivisions that were approved by the board. It stood out like a sore thumb to me.”

However, that could simply mean that several subdivisions were being considered, but none approved, he added.

The board typically spends three months reviewing the average subdivision application before approval is granted. That’s two or three meetings.

But if a project requires approval from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, it could take from 10 to 12 months for a developer to get the green light from Bethel planners.

Developers applying for subdivisions must meet 17 requirements – ranging from evidence of standing to a phosphorus impact analysis – for preliminary approval.

Then, there are another 14 requirements that must be met for final plot plan approval.

“In a typical Planning Board meeting that starts at 7 o’clock at night, we certainly have our hands full to 9:30,” Cressy said.

They are also meeting more this summer than in previous years.

“Normally, the Planning Board will do one meeting a month in the summer, but not this year. We’re swamped,” he said.

The bulk of proposed development projects before the board target the second-home, high-end price market.

“Bethel has been discovered as being a great place for second homes,” Cressy said.

Eighty percent of the buyers come from out of state; the rest are from Maine’s seacoast area, from Brunswick to York, St. John said.

He believes that the development and construction boom is related to Bethel’s proximity to Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry.

“It’s not driven by the ski area, but rather it’s a fallout of the ski area: People want to have a home near the ski area,” said St. John, who is also Newry’s code enforcement officer.

“Over 200 house lots in the town of Newry were approved in the last two years,” he said. Currently, Newry planners are tackling a proposed 76-lot subdivision.

Second-home construction bodes well for Bethel, Cressy said, because it increases tax revenue with little impact on municipal and educational services.

But right now, development is growing faster than the town’s ordinances and contracting trades can handle.

Already, planners have realized they need better storm water management, erosion and fire protection controls.

Cressy said fire protection “is a major issue right now.”

He asked, “How do you provide fire protection for a subdivision six miles out of town?”

“And 800 vertical feet up?” interrupted St. John.

A backlog of building projects caused by shortages of carpenters, plumbers, electricians, contractors, well drillers and supplies, and it has even opened up a new market: modular homes.

“Most building permits I issue for local people are for manufactured housing. Very few locals in this market can afford to have a contractor-built house,” St. John said.

Earlier this year, former longtime Bethel planner Dennis Doyon predicted that during the next decade, the construction industry would outpace any other type of industry that might locate in the Bethel area.

St. John agreed.

“There was an estimated $8 million increase in valuation from last year’s permits, so we definitely had a lot of people employed,” he said.