FARMINGTON — Several applications to change the use of sites were unanimously granted recently by the Planning Board. They included applications for construction of a self-storage unit, a Maine Department of Transportation office space and the potential conversion of office space to apartment space.
Jon Pound and Glen Pound sought approval to build a 32- by 210-foot structure to house J & G Self-Storage with part of it used for storage of wood pellets at 249 Farmington Falls Road, the former site of Nickerson Buick Olds.
A Fairbanks Road DOT building near the Fairbanks Bridge will be removed and a 24- by 32-foot building constructed, Robert Holbrook, operations manager, told the board. The new building will provide more room for office space and crew quarters than the existing 14- by 24-foot structure. The new building will be heated but have no water or restrooms, he said. The project will begin in the spring with no construction planned over the winter.
Contractor and Planning Board member Craig Jordan excused himself from the board in order to speak for Masonic Block owner Kelly Kading’s request to potentially turn third-floor office space into three two-bedroom apartments. The block is at 155 Main St. in downtown Farmington.
The previous business tenant has left, and although Kading intends to try to continue renting the space for office space, he wanted to be prepared to turn it into the only other good use for it, Jordan said.
He has hired an architect and received State Fire Marshal approval, Jordan said.
In other business, the board approved the applications for James Meader to harvest and mine 120,000 cubic yards of loam, sand and gravel on less than five acres of land off Route 41 in Farmington Falls. The land is behind the property formerly known as Goings Electric.
The board also extended a previously granted application for Coastal Enterprises Inc., which plans to continue its project, called Western Glen Subdivision, on the Wilton Road.
The application for a housing unit on the property next to Healthquest Chiropractic was approved in 2007 and work began, Tom Donahue from Coastal Enterprises said. Then, the economy slowed and so did the work. They have already invested $350,000 in site work and plan to restart the work, he said, while asking the board to extend the original plan.
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