RUMFORD – Within a few years, Rumford could see the largest development ever built in the town.
On Monday night, the process started with a public informational meeting as required by the Department of Environmental Protection. Nearly 60 residents turned out.
Lem Cissel, owner of Cissel Enterprises LLC, is proposing a 300-unit housing project on 450 acres off the Isthmus Road in the shadow of Black Mountain. The project has been named Scotty Brook at Black Mountain.
Bob Berry, an engineer with Main-Land Development Consultants, Livermore Falls, presented a conceptual plan with 104 single-family house lots, 145 condominium units and 51 clustered housing units. The primary concern of the DEP, he said, was storm-water runoff into Scotty Brook which has a thriving rainbow trout population.
The meeting was primarily meant to introduce the project to townspeople. Residents will have further opportunities to voice concerns and ask questions as the Planning Board reviews the plan under the site plan review ordinance and the subdivision ordinance.
Berry said the project will likely make its first appearance before the Planning Board on Feb. 1.
In answer to a number of questions, he said the units would likely be a combination of seasonal and year-round homes. Municipal sewer lines would serve the project, while individual or shared wells would provide water.
Dennis Breton, a Planning Board member, disputed Berry’s statement that the project would provide a larger tax base for the town and a boon for the town.
“Towns that have experienced such development see their taxes go up,” said Breton.
Berry said one of Maine’s existing Interconnected Trail System snowmobile trails now cutting across the property would have to be rerouted.
The main access to the proposed complex would come off of Isthmus Road and Swain Hill. The first home would be 400 feet in from the road. All the roads in the project would be built to town standards of 24-feet wide and be paved.
He also said that a homeowners’ association may maintain the roads. It could also govern the architecture of the homes. A homeowners’ association agreement will be presented to the Planning Board along with all other specifications.
“My client intends to make this very nice. There may be deed covenants on the subdivisions,” said Berry.
Some of the cluster and condominium homes may be built by Cissel, while others and the single-family homes may be built by other developers or by individual homeowners.
In a later phase of the project, a golf course, tennis courts and community center may be built.
Berry said DEP approval takes about six months, the amount of time he believes will be needed for subdivision and site plan review by the Planning Board. Construction may begin by autumn on the first section of road and a few of the homes.
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