NEW GLOUCESTER – Applications for a rock excavation business and an 11-lot residential development were approved Tuesday night by the Planning Board.

Hilltop Quarry, the town’s first known rock excavation business, was approved with numerous conditions.

Rodney Boyington of Gray, doing business as Southern Maine Sand and Gravel Inc., is the owner of the 90-acre parcel on the western side of the new Route 26 bypass. The land is in the groundwater protection overlay district of the rural residential zone. It is also in the Sabbathday Lake watershed in the vicinity of a neighborhood and several residential subdivisions.

Maine environmental officials told the board that a two-phase mining plan is concentrated on roughly 21 acres. The first phase of extraction encompasses roughly eight acres and is estimated to take 10 years. The second phase will excavate 11 acres, reducing the elevation of the quarry from 530 feet above sea level to 425 feet.

The project is under review by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection, and a waiver is requested for managing water runoff and sedimentation. The permit requires strict adherence to air quality controls.

According to a letter from Gary M. Fullerton, director of natural resources of Sebago Technics Inc., an unnamed tributary originates on the site and flows parallel to the quarry access road from Route 26. There is a small granite quarry in the central portion of the site.

The board agreed that the project impact to neighbors will be noise levels from the blasting and excavating and truck traffic estimated at three loads per hour. Dust will be managed by calcium chloride application, Johnston said.

The operating hours will be Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday from 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A portable toilet will be on site plus a cold storage building for equipment.

The board approved the application pending letters from DEP on managing groundwater, erosion and sedimentation, and a letter from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on wintering deer yards.

Cumberland County Soil and Water Conservation District will be contacted to give recommendations on the project, as well. No excavation work is allowed before 7 a.m.

A random decibel level measurement will be taken after a month of operation and periodically after that.

The board also approved Margaret and Stuart Park’s 11-lot residential subdivision named Park Place on Route 100.