FARMINGTON – Planning Board members approved a plan Monday for a four-unit apartment building for homeless youth to be constructed on Thomas McClellan Road behind Rite Aid. Several board members attended a site walk Friday.
At a public hearing in March, several neighbors voiced concerns about the project, particularly about clientele, according to Ernie Gurney, social worker for New Beginnings, a Lewiston-based agency that provides transitional housing for 18- to 21-year-olds. The program is designed to help youths become independent by providing training and counseling.
After the public hearing, Gurney said he was glad he had the opportunity to address neighbors’ concerns and felt their fears were calmed. However, at the board’s meeting Monday, several neighbors voiced other worries. The meeting was not a public hearing, but the board often allows public comment prior to voting as a courtesy, according to Steve Kaiser, code enforcement officer.
In a letter published Saturday on the editorial pages of the Sun Journal, Lynn Washburn Lamb, who lives at 115 Wilton Road just 100 feet from the proposed building, wrote, “the concept of New Beginnings is a good one.”
However, she wrote she was opposed to its proposed location.
She argued that the neighborhood, in which her family has lived for several generations, has deteriorated.
“Our security and peace of mind has been lost because of the party houses that surround us,” she said. “This is not a suitable location to house troubled young adults without on-site supervision,” she continued. Gurney would have an office in the building during the day, but there would be no nighttime supervision.
Marc Bowering, detective for the Farmington Police Department, said Tuesday that there have been problems with partying in that area in the past but not since last spring. He had patrolled there in his unmarked vehicle one night this past weekend and noted no problems.
Lamb was unable to attend the meeting but her husband, Bill Lamb, said access at both ends of Thomas McClellan Road, onto which cars leaving the facility would turn, is dangerous. A sharp curve north of the proposed site’s entrance could block visibility.
“Entering the proposed driveway from the north will be a crapshoot,” he said.
The neighbors also cited concerns for drainage issues.
Mary Wright, chairwoman of the selectmen, asked agency representatives if they had considered other locations, even some in surrounding towns.
But Mary Ruchinskais, an agency representative, said a grant to construct the building requires that it be located in a service center to better serve the clients who may not own vehicles.
Another issue was parking.
During the site walk, noted Bill Lamb, none of the attendees parked on the narrow street but instead parked in a nearby parking area.
Consciously or not, he said, attendees at the site walk determined that it was not safe to park on the narrow “two-rod” road. He asked members to cast their votes as if the project were going into their own backyards.
Board member Craig Jordan, who had recused himself from voting, explained that the board must consider projects based solely on zoning ordinances.
“They are tough calls but we have to go by the laws we have,” he said. “We’re growing and we’re growing fast here,” he added.
The board approved the proposal with five votes in favor, one member absent and Jordan abstaining.
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