LEWISTON — Developers of a Veterans Clinic by Turnpike Exit 80 are eager to get started, after a positive Planning Board vote Monday.

Sean Roberts, vice president of development for Summit Smith Health Care Facilities, said crews will begin digging on the 15 Challenger Drive site as soon as the weather allows. He said the company plans to wrap up its work by December, handing the keys over to the Veterans Administration.

“They’ll need a couple of months to move in furniture and equipment and get themselves set up,” Roberts said. The clinic could begin treating patients in the spring of 2012.

The permanent clinic is meant to augment the Togus VA hospital, located outside Augusta.

“The intent is to relieve pressure on the major medical centers and also to reduce travel time for patients,” Roberts said. “So, this clinic will have primary care, audiology, radiology, an eye center, a lab for blood taking — things that Togus already does and people would have to go there for.”

The project was approved as a part of last year’s federal budget. The 32,200-square-foot clinic will be built on an 8.75 acre lot leased by the Veterans Administration.

Local approvals hinged on storm water runoff issues, traffic and zoning. The plan includes 150 parking spaces, more than enough for the center’s proposed 45 treatment rooms. At its busiest, it should generate as many as 55 car trips to and from the center in mornings and 62 in the afternoon. Both are low enough that traffic permits with the state Department of Transportation are not needed.

When completed, the project will convert 2.91 acres of wooded land into rain-impermeable parking lots and roofs. City staff asked the Planning Board to require Summit Smith Healthcare Facilities, the contractors, to hire a professional engineer to verify that storm water collection systems have been installed properly.

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