FARMINGTON – Merritt and Ethel Emerson attended a public hearing at a meeting of the Farmington Planning Board on Monday to learn more about a proposed senior living development.

Vernon Schanck told the Emersons during an informal chat that he has been in the housing business since he was “a kid,” running a construction company and later selling mobile homes.

Now, Schanck wants to build eight units on 3.36 acres of his property about a half-mile from Route 4 on Knowlton Corner Road, a proposal which the board approved Monday night. The Emersons seemed interested in the project, saying they are getting too old to maintain their home in Farmington Falls and have been researching their options.

Ten people attended the meeting, though most were either journalists or town officials. No one objected to the project, and the questions posed to Schanck were informational.

The board accepted soil erosion and site plan applications for the project at its last meeting. Schanck just needed the board’s approval for his English Garden Estates after the public hearing.

The two-bedroom rental homes will be placed along a maple-line road off Knowlton Corner Road. There will be a garden near the entrance, and each home will have its own lawn and garden. Schanck will maintain the lawns, plow snow and shovel it from walkways. Residences will include a two-car garage, laundry, dishwashers and trash compactors, said Schanck. Rents are expected to be $1,000 to $1,200 monthly – a price, Ethel Emerson said later, that might work for the couple.

Initially the road will be gravel, but Schanck expects to pave it within a year.

The board of three attending members and one alternate voted to approve the project with no opposing vote. Attending were Vice Chairman David Averill, Lloyd Smith, Craig Jordan and Clayton King, who served as alternate.

Construction on the road and infrastructure will begin immediately. The developer hopes to have two units in the works by next spring.

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