NEW GLOUCESTER – An open letter signed by 68 residents to the New Gloucester Planning Board on Duayne Maschino’s proposed gravel pit operation off the Outlet Road was handed to selectmen Monday.

The site is landlocked and accessed through a roughly 2,000-foot, 30-foot-wide easement granted by the United Society of Shakers across from Outlet Beach.

The Planning Board is reviewing the application and determining whether abutters were legally notified of a recent public hearing. Deliberations will continue Sept. 19.

Lillian Nayder, who lives off Outlet Road, read the letter to selectmen. She said a traffic and road improvements study is warranted and should be performed, despite the Planning Board turning down the study last week.

“This can only be deemed as appropriate planning, and the town needs experts to help in that determination,” Nayder said. “We hope that you, as our selectmen, will lend your voices to our own in this matter.”

Intervale Road resident Beth Sutherland also provided selectmen with a letter addressed to the Planning Board. Selectmen appoint Planning Board members.

Sutherland said, “First, I would like to assure the Planning Board, Mr. Maschino and Brother Arnold of the Shakers that, in our objecting to the proposed pit, we are not forgetting that two other pits that already exist on the road. Our objection is to the specific location of the access road exiting the proposed pit. The other pits do not require heavy equipment to travel within 15 feet of the Royal River, nor exit right across from a well-used, highly trafficked beach as this proposal would.”

Sutherland said, “At the hearing (Sept. 5), certain Planning Board members stated their fear of litigation as the reason why they ‘cannot’ impose conditions on applicants despite clear wording in the ordinance allowing them to do so.”

Sutherland said, “I think the fear of litigation if a child were to be hit by a gravel truck or by a car swerving to avoid an emerging truck would be enough to help them overcome their reluctance to protect our safety.”

Sutherland said she was shocked to hear members of the Planning Board clearly state that they cannot impose any conditions on applicants.

The Mineral Extraction Ordinance adopted by voters in 1989 gives the Planning Board authority to impose conditions as are necessary to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the community, Sutherland said.

She added that the ordinance states that plan review includes at least 20 separate items, including safe entrances and exits, daily hours of operations, route for transporting material and proximity to water bodies and wetland, general effect on the aesthetic, scenic and natural beauty of the immediate area, and compatibility with surrounding uses and neighbors.

Steve Libby, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said, “We as selectmen should not comment on pending applications before the Planning Board. We do not know all the facts, we do not attend the meetings. Selectmen should not get involved with Planning Board issues, our only interaction is that we appoint the members.”

He will turn the documents over to the town planner.