LIVERMORE FALLS — Following a public hearing where abutters raised concerns, the Planning Board unanimously approved site plan review applications April 16 for two subdivisions on Moose Hill and Souther roads as all requirements had been met.

Jim Boyle and his son Jared Boyle of Environmental Permitting & Inspection LLC in Gorham purchased the former Parker farm last year. They propose a 13-lot subdivision they named West View on about 93 acres between the two roads where some lots share driveways. The other one, named Farms Edge, is five lots on about 11 acres along Moose Hill Road. The duo plan to sell the lots for buyers to develop.

There are two subdivisions because they are on two sides of a public road, Jim Boyle said during the hearing.

“We did soil tests last fall,” Jim Boyle said “Each lot has a passing soil test on it for septic systems.” Buyers may choose another location for the system so long as a new soil test passes, he said.

Philip Marin lives at 336 Moose Hill Road, about the middle of the West View subdivision. He asked why time wasn’t spent checking to see what was going on in that area. “We are just beyond the city limits, the outskirts,” he said. “The majority of the houses running up Moose Hill Road all own about 4 acres or better. There’s eight farms in that area. The quality of our life is that we all moved in that area to be nice and peaceful. There’s four of us … we ride our horses down the road.”

With the proposed lots on Moose Hill Road there will be more cars, more traffic, Marin said. “The quality of our lifestyle is being flipped instantly,” he noted. “That makes it more dangerous for us.”

Jim Boyle said he had met with Marin several times, didn’t know he had those issues. “The lots are significantly bigger than the minimum that we would be allowed to do,” he noted. “It’s not unusual to have the public not want to see a change in their neighborhood.”

Housing is needed, the subdivisions meet the town’s minimum size requirements, Jim Boyle said.

“I understand the concern with traffic, especially with riding horses, things like that,” Jared Boyle said. “Google maps and things like that are routing people down this route as a shortcut. That’s going to make the biggest difference.”

Rob Salvato asked if the large lot on Souther Road was dividable, if town water was available for it.

It could be divided, and was to be sold as raw land without town water, Jim Boyle answered.

Use of modular and mobile homes was another concern raised.

“We are not proposing a trailer park,” Jim Boyle responded.

Code Enforcement Officer Rick Haas said state law had changed a couple of years ago. “Any lot that can support a stick built home can have a mobile home,” he said.

The disappearance of Maine’s wildlife and the impact more septic systems would have on nearby brooks was shared by Tim Stewart, who lives on Souther Road.

State plumbing code has to be met, proposed septic systems are 300 feet from a stream, Jim Boyle responded. They only have to be 100 feet from a major stream, he noted.

Regarding the Farms Edge subdivision, one resident expressed concern about the amount of water that runs off the hill in the spring and resultant washouts.

The land was for sale, anyone could have bought it, Jared Boyle said.

Jim Boyle said he couldn’t speak with abutters about purchasing parcels prior to the lots being listed for sale.

Jim Boyle said within a few days of the Planning Board’s approval the subdivision would be recorded in the registry, after which within a few weeks they would be put online and go on the market.

Planning Board Secretary Gayle Long said Livermore Falls has a Site Plan Review Ordinance. The application comes to the Planning Board which reviews it and meets with the applicant, she noted. When everything has been completed correctly and the Code Enforcement Officer says everything is compliant, the board reviews it once more, approves and signs the application, she stated.

Haas said if all the boxes on the application have been checked off it has to go through. “We cannot stop it,” he stated. He noted people are moving from southern Maine northward, Livermore Falls is 40 miles from Augusta. People are looking for lots just like some of those at the hearing did, he said. “This will probably just be the beginning,” he added.

“We don’t have to like it,” one lady stated.

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