NEWRY – About 20 people got a peek Monday night at The Peaks Development, a proposed 58-home residential development on 440 acres of the southwestern face of Mount Will.
Engineer Tom DuBois of Main-Land Development Consultants Inc. of Livermore Falls briefly introduced the Maine Mountain Properties LLC project at Phoenix House and Well restaurant, opposite Sunday River Ski Area in Newry.
He then opened the 30-minute informational meeting to questions from abutters, municipal officials and the public.
Headquartered in Newry, Maine Mountain Properties is the joint business venture of Michael Liberti of Newry, Bruce Lilly of Bethel, Steve Swasey of Andover, and Peter Getman of Dover, N.H.
Maine Mountain Properties was required by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to conduct Monday night’s meeting, because the project is undergoing review by the department under the Site Location Development Law and Natural Resource Protection Act.
According to a Maine Mountain Properties news release, the property overlooks the ski resort and the bulk of the rugged Mahoosuc Mountain Range, over which traverses the Appalachian Trail.
“We believe every lot in this subdivision will have a view that can never be surpassed by any other property in the Sunday River Valley,” stated Getman in the release.
The lower portion of the property runs down to the banks of the Sunday River, while its peak reaches a height of more than 1,700 feet.
DuBois said that 2,000 feet of logging road leading to the property is to be upgraded. New road construction accounts for another 11,000 feet.
The Peaks Development is to be reached by a road extending from Sunday River Road through the Mountain Vista Condominium Project, then across Sunday River onto the site, which has been traditionally used as a wood lot.
Also, a 150-foot clear-span steel and concrete bridge is to be constructed over the river and its floodplain “to give it room to wiggle,” DuBois said.
The bridge is to be 2 feet higher than the 100-year flood level, affording canoes and kayaks unimpeded access.
Pending approvals from DEP and Newry planners, the bridge and road to the development’s first large curve is expected to be built this summer and fall.
The remainder of the road right-of-way is to be cut during the winter of 2005-06, with construction on remaining roads set for spring, summer and fall of 2006.
The first phase, including the right-of-way through Mountain Vista Condominiums, is the build-out of the 440-acre parcel. The second phase would include townhouses.
A 100-foot-wide wooded buffer was requested by the DEP on both banks of the many streams on the mountain. Additionally, lot buyers are to be limited to clearing slightly less than a half-acre.
As for the Mount Will Trail, which provides access to the other side of the mountain from a trail off Route 2, DuBois said that a 300-foot buffer is planned to protect the trail’s summit atop open ledges, and to visually obscure the development from trail users.
“The focus of Maine Mountain Properties is to develop high-end properties that yield spectacular views with a mindfulness to the surrounding environment,” Liberti said.
Comments are no longer available on this story