NORWAY — The Norway Planning Board voted to accept a site plan application from a man seeking to construct a Jehovah’s Witness church on Greenwood Road.

Chairman Dennis Gray said the board accepted the application as complete at its Nov. 9 meeting and scheduled a public hearing for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, at the Town Office.

At the board’s Oct. 27 meeting, Brian Lawrence of Parsonsfield in southern Oxford County said he wants to build a one-story church, 36 by 78 feet, that would accomodate around 130 people. It would “only be used for worship,” and would feature an auditorium, two small meeting rooms and two bathrooms, he said.

Gray said the lot is an old cornfield. He said one of the concerns he expects people to have is that the church doesn’t seem to be compatible with the other buildings in the area.

“It definitely looks like a newer, commercial building, like a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant or something,” Gray said.

Code Enforcement Officer Scott Tabb said the building is just outside of one of the four  rural villages in North Norway that people are prohibited from building large commercial or industrial developments in.

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