By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

SUMNER – A selectman who wants to expand his mobile-home park has a layout plan before the Planning Board, but his hope of adding trailers to his property is being met by opposition.

Clifford S. McNeil, who’s been a selectman for about eight years, said Friday he wants to add two mobile homes this spring. There are three homes already on the 15 acres he owns on McNeil Road off Route 140.

But McNeil said some Planning Board members appear opposed. “There have been comments from some on the board that they don’t like mobile-home parks and don’t want them in their town,” he said. “I don’t know why there’s such a resistance to something that has been growing all over the state.”

Planning Board Chairman Gerald Farrar declined to comment on Friday.

In 2002, McNeil received a mobile-home park license from the state, which allows him to rent the three homes on his property. To add two homes, he must work with the town’s Planning Board before the state will consider an expansion license.

“I would like to have the property licensed for the full capacity of what the state and town will allow me to have,” he said. “That figure is somewhere between 20 and 24.”

He formally proposed the expansion to the Planning Board last December and filed a site plan review application. The board now has a layout plan that was drawn by an engineering firm.

McNeil said the board will probably vote on the layout plan by late March or early April. He insists his mobile-home park will be clean, be aesthetically pleasing and comply with federal and state health and safety regulations.

He also said he’s being forthcoming about his intentions. He invited Planning Board members, selectmen and the public, as well as a state Department of Environmental Protection official to a walk of the property last week.

“I’m not interested in filling all the lots anytime soon,” he said. “My only desire is to put in two more lots and fill them this spring. I’m not trying to bring 20 mobile homes in the town of Sumner this summer. That’s a long-term goal, over maybe the next 10 years or so.”

He also said Planning Board members were surprised to find out that a state law regarding dwellings built outside of shoreland zoning supersedes the town’s ordinance that states all dwellings must have a two-acre minimum lot size.

Part of the mobile-home park property is outside of shoreland zoning. McNeil said a state law permits a 12,500-square-foot lot for dwellings that lie outside this type of zoning as long as they have the proper septic system.

“I’m allowed to drop down to 12,500 square feet per mobile home based upon the type of septic system I’m choosing to go with,” he said. “It was a shock to the board to realize this.”

McNeil said he wants his proposed expansion to be considered by the Planning Board based on whether it adheres to applicable rules and regulations, instead of based on individual opinions of mobile-home parks. “I’m asking them to vote based on the facts, not how they feel,” he said. “For every poorly designed and poorly run mobile-home park, there’s a good one being built and managed properly and is a real asset to the town.”