NORWAY – Many Oxford Hills residents may remember buying lobster at the old lobster pound on Fair Street. Some might even remember visiting Fair Street Variety and buying pastries when the building was a bakery. Soon, someone may be living in the building where cookies once baked and lobsters swam.
The Planning Board approved an application to convert the building attached to Amato’s at 30 Fair St. into an apartment at its meeting Thursday and issued a building permit to Amato’s franchise owner Steve Roderick.
Roderick told the board that the 40-by-28-foot building already has all the necessary wiring, plumbing and lights. Smoke detectors in the former lobster pound are wired into the store’s alarm system. The two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment will have one door, on the opposite side of the building from Amato’s entrance, and four windows that can be used for emergency exits.
Roderick sold Fair Street Variety to Amato’s nine years ago. Before the sale, the attached building held a bakery for 18 years. It housed a lobster pound until two years ago.
In other business, the board heard from representatives of the Oxford Hills Christian Fellowship, who want to construct a building on their Harrison Road property. The building will replace the church now on the site, and will include a sanctuary, offices and classroom space. Board chairman Dennis Gray asked the group to return with a site plan review.
The board scheduled a public hearing for its July 27 meeting to discuss a proposed pet crematorium on Thomas Hill Road. “I’m sure neighbors would have questions,” said board member Maureen Birtic.
Tara Shepard, who would run the crematorium as a home business, said that she will install a fire wall in the barn that will house the incinerator, which she said produces little noise and no odor or smoke. Shepard will provide information on the incinerator, including emissions, at the public hearing.
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