RUMFORD — The Planning Board voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a housing project at 1380 Route 2 in Rumford Center village by Topsham-based 3i Housing of Maine.

Following 90 minutes of discussion with 40 people attending, Chairman Travis Palmer, Matthew Chapdelaine, Eric Dowd, Jacob Poulin and Derek Taber favored the proposal.

Paul Linet, founder and president of 3i Housing of Maine, said the company is creating an “old-fashioned” New England-style neighborhood with 37 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom single-family homes, a few two-story duplexes, and two apartment buildings with 16 units. They would be situated on about 5.5 acres of a 40-acre parcel.

The Planning Board also voted 6-0 to accept the application for the Three Peaks housing project at 16 Andover Road. A public hearing on the proposal is set for Oct. 1 at 5:30 p.m. in the Rumford Falls Auditorium. The regular Planning Board meeting will follow to discuss and vote on the complete project.

William and Justin Glad propose to develop 23 single-family detached homes. They will be stick-built and cost around $300,000 each.

Prior to voting on the project by 3i Housing of Maine, Palmer stressed the importance of establishing the status of the town’s comprehensive plan.

“When I’m looking at the comprehensive plan (last updated in 2013), I see a lot of confliction,” Palmer said. “I see a lot of things that contradict each other in the comprehensive plan. We’ve stated, as a board, for years now that this comprehensive plan needs to be revitalized in a way that reflects out community interests.”

Palmer said requests for proposals to develop a new comprehensive plan have been sent.

“One of the things I would like to consider in the comprehensive plan, and I do want this to go on record, is that we designate the Rumford Center area as a critical rural area, and that would help in terms of navigating ordinances, in terms of navigating a comprehensive plan, in terms of what developments could take place where,” he said.

Palmer said one of the challenges of the Planning Board is that “there is no zoning.”

“As I’ve said numerous times before, as a Planning Board, it is our sole duty and responsibility to ensure things are up to ordinance and meet the comprehensive plan,” Palmer said.

Dowd asked, “Do you think we should hold off on a vote until a new comprehensive plan is crafted?”

“In my opinion,” Palmer said, “the developers had this site in mind and the intention of developing the site with our current ordinances and comprehensive plan in mind. It would be an unfair nature and spirit to reject this project simply on that premise.”

Following the vote, Palmer said it was not necessarily the final decision because there is the option of going to the Board of Appeals, adding that the appeal must be made within 10 days.