NORWAY — The Planning Board has approved a partial site plan application for the proposed new site of the historic Gingerbread House following a site walk Thursday night.

The unanimous decision stopped short of approving a full change-of-use application until details about the house’s future use are determined.

Thursday’s decision allows the house to be moved under the conditions that it meets Norway ordinance set-back requirements and that when foundation work is done, erosion and storm water controls are in place, said Planning Board Chairman Dennis Gray.

The approval is one more step in a nearly two-year volunteer process that will eventually move and rehabilitate the 1851 Evans-Cummings House. The building is more commonly known as the Gingerbread House for its elaborate “gingerbread” trim that was put on the home near the turn of the 19th century during a renovation.

The Gingerbread House, now situated near the intersection of Main Street and Pikes Hill Road, is owned by C’s Inc. which is a real estate holding company affiliated with Sun Media Group, publishers of the Sun Journal and Advertiser-Democrat. The owners agreed late in 2008 to delay demolition of the historic home if a grassroots organization of volunteers could successfully figure out a way to move the massive house off site.

The group is using nearby land from Maine Department of Transportation, the town of Norway and the building owner, C’s Inc., for a new site While the town has transferred its 0.31-acre parcel of the property, and a memorandum of agreement has been reached with the Department of Transportation, details are still being worked out with C’s Inc. for the land.

“It’s all in the works,” said Shearman of the work to transfer the land and raise about $200,000 for the move and other work on the house, which is structurally sound. It is hoped the move will take place by the end of this year’s “good weather,” Shearman said.

The group has raised about $110,000 to date and this week it learned the Norway Savings Bank will donate another matching $10,000 to the cause.

Once the land status issues are worked out, the ownership of the house and land will be transferred and the Gingerbread House group can sign a contract with James. G. Merry Building Movers of Scarborough, which  will actually move the house.

The building has graced the entrance to Norway from the north since 1851. Its builder was Richard Evans, who was considered an important contractor who also built the Nash house on Pleasant Street and the passenger railroad station at South Paris. The 80-foot by 17-foot house is on the National Register of Historic Places.

If the committee is successful, long-range plans still have to be determined but members have already agreed the building must be self supporting.

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