PARIS — After neighbors aired their concerns, all parties left the Planning Board meeting satisfied and a new storage unit will soon come to town, according to Vice Chairman Rick Little.

At the Oct. 24 Paris Planning Board meeting, a site plan review was held for Dan Reavis to create Paris Self Storage at the former Paris Farmers Union grain mill at 8 Skillings Ave. He will build individual locking storage units inside the warehouse, developing about 9,000 square feet, according to his application.

“They had four community members there that were emotionally involved,” Little said. “They were nice and polite and friendly. They were just concerned and they just had questions.”

He added, “They were worried about the place catching on fire again like it did years ago. They were worried they were in there doing work before coming to the Planning Board.”

But that wasn’t the case, Little said.

“(Reavis) was just in there securing the building, fixing broken windows, keeping people out,” he said.

Advertisement

Neighbors also expressed concern about use of the second floor.

“(He’s) not using that for storage. It will be locked off with two entrances,” Little said. “It will be a typical storage unit where there’s two doors to get in, a hallway and a bunch of storage units.”

The project is estimated to cost about $12,500 and Reavis will use his own money for it, according to his application. There will be five parking spaces, which already exist at the site.

Daniel and Nickolaus Reavis have a five-year lease with Paris Farmers Union for the space, which became effective Oct. 1. There is an option to buy the property for $150,000 with that deal expiring Sept. 30, 2022, according to documents submitted to the Planning Board.

The timeline for the storage units includes constructing the interior by the end of 2017 and painting the exterior in the summer of 2018.

This is the second business to be approved for the former Paris Farmers Union site. In August, the Planning Board approved Norway residents Jennifer and David Siegler’s plan for 21 Taps Wood Fired Pizza at 231 Main St. That business will feature wood-fired pizza and a variety of microbrews from Maine, with a projected spring 2018 opening.

eplace@sunmediagroup.net


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

filed under: