MINOT – The Planning Board on Tuesday night authorized Code Enforcement Officer Ken Pratt to issue Bob Levesque of K & K Excavation a permit to build a spec house on Lot 1 of the Center Minot Heights Subdivision. It came with the stipulation a fire pond must be finished before an occupancy permit is issued.

Developer Dan Carroll of K.R.Y. Inc. presented redesigned plans for the fire pond. The pond had been constructed according to original plans which, while they looked good on paper, simply didn’t do the job, and Minot Fire Chief Steve French had requested appropriate changes.

The revised plans addressed French’s concerns.

At the request of selectmen, planners also voted to accept a notice of abandonment regarding the Hodge Hill Acres subdivision with the note that it did so only because the property is owned by the town.

Hodge Hill Acres consists of 16 house lots on the former Morrison land next to the Minot Consolidated School that the town acquired two years ago for a town recreation area. The subdivision’s interior house lots and road lines must be officially abandoned in order that the town can apply for federal and state grants to help with development of the property.

– Winslow Durgin