RUMFORD — A 4½-story apartment complex at 105 Hancock St. for those 55 and older has won subdivision approval from the Planning Board. Occupancy is expected by August 2024.

The structure will replace three apartment buildings that burned Feb. 9, 2020, at Hancock Street and Rumford Avenue.

The board voted 3-0 to approve the final application after a public hearing Aug. 3.

Laura Reading, director of affordable housing with Developers Collaborative of Portland, said the complex will have 33 one-bedroom apartments, an elevator, a community room, a kitchenette, a laundry room and a trash room. It will be within half a mile of parks and recreational facilities. Included in the plans are 30 parking spaces, with at least four designated for handicap access.

Reading said the units will be available to heads of household who are at least 55 years old and whose annual income is $30,000 for a one-person household or $34,000 for a two-person household. Maximum rents at this time are $806 per month, including all utilities.

Planning Board Chairman Ken MacFawn said, “I think this is going to (be) a very good opportunity for people who need senior housing. We don’t really have that available to us in great quantities.”

Laura Phipps of 118 Somerset St., an abutter to the development, told the board she’s concerned about the retaining wall that abutts her property. She also presented a letter to MacFawn on behalf of another abutter, Rachel DeTillis of 104 Somerset St.

“With such a large construction project taking place right behind single-family homes … please consider how you can keep some of the historic charm of the area,” DeTillis wrote.

She also asked developers to consider putting in “a tasteful retaining wall for our homes. I understand there is a small one at present, but it may not be sufficient once heavy equipment has to do major digging for the foundations, etc.”

In response, MacFawn said, “It all has merit, yes. But for someone to make a comment that this project will be responsible for putting in a completely new retaining wall that is tasteful to them and absorbing the cost in the project itself. … What (developers) are talking about is sufficient at this point of time. It’s not the Planning Board’s position to tell them that they have to build a new wall.”

Project engineer Steven Bushey, senior associate for Gorrill Palmer consulting engineers of South Portland, said his assessment of the retaining wall is that it is acceptable as it stands. He said the 175-foot wall is entirely on the housing project site, which is less than a half acre.

“We’re not going to do anything with it, other than we may improve it some because it is an old stonewall,” Bushey said. “We will be looking at putting in a line of new trees, buffer trees principally, so they be evergreens.”

He said occupancy is expected between June and August 2024.

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