Damariscotta’s Planning Board gave the OK for three projects to move forward, although two of them still have some work to do before the board will consider their applications.

A new professional building on the Miles Hospital campus was given the green light to begin. The building will replace the women’s health building, and doctors from several other smaller buildings will also be housed there. In the interim, the two practices remaining in the women’s health building will temporarily relocate to Boothbay Harbor, and will return when the building is complete.

CEO James Donovan said the new building will be three stories tall, but will be built into the existing hillside, so it won’t appear as tall from outside the campus. The construction should last 12 months. Questions from residents and board members arose about the installation of sidewalks along Miles Road, a public thoroughfare through the Miles Campus. Although it is not part of this project, Donovan said that he would welcome working with Damariscotta to include sidewalks as part of a public-private partnership. LincolnHealth is Damariscotta’s largest nonprofit and largest employer, and pays no property tax on the Miles campus.

Donovan said the funding for the project, estimated to be $13.7 million, will come from several sources, including a $4 million capital campaign currently underway, grants and capital funds. The project will yield 489 parking spaces, 19 more than required for a project of this size, according to Peter Beegle of Land’s Plan. Another concern raised was whether flooding could be a potential issue. Beegle said that the elevation of 24.5 feet is 14.5 feet above the 10-foot flood stage from the Damariscotta River, which fronts the project.

Planning Board member Bruce Garren recused himself since he is a hospital trustee, but with the one abstention, the project passed unanimously.

John Mann, representing Coastal Capital Realty, appeared to get preliminary approval for a complete application for his subdivision on Heater Road. The board had previously asked for several items, all of which had been provided, except for a road association agreement with neighbors on Heater Road. He was given preliminary application approval, but told to bring in the documentation at the next meeting.

Stepping Stones, a low-income housing organization, appeared to seek preliminary approval for its six-residence project at the site of Blue Haven, on Hodgdon and Pleasant streets. It had recently changed its request from three two-story buildings and a cottage to six small single-family houses, in part to address abutters’ concerns. Each building is about 750 square feet, has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen and living room. Hammond Lumber is assisting in designing the houses, and may assist with some of the building materials’ costs as well.

Damariscotta resident Dick Mayer spoke at the public hearing and said that in his opinion, the town attorney was incorrect in assigning a grandfathered use to the property. Mayer advised the board to consider the ramifications of its decision carefully. “If you allow Stepping Stones to do this, you’ll have to allow other agencies to do it too,” he said. “You’ll be making case law that won’t be able to be undone.” Mayer, who had not been present at any of the previous meetings about Stepping Stones, now going into its fifth month, acknowledged that he didn’t know much about the situation, and asked for clarification on issues about whether a site plan even applied in this case, or whether “grandfathering” appears in the site plan ordinance. Town Planner Anthony Dater referred him to the appropriate sections of the ordinance.

Dave Chattis of 10 Pleasant Street warned that the upcoming court battles could be costly to the town. “The burden of proof (that the buildings at the former Blue Haven site have been used as residences) will be on you, not us,” he said. “These are tax-free properties, and Stepping Stones has seven other acres that they’re planning to develop in town, too.”

Chattis also asked about storm water runoff. His property lies across the street, and he has perennial problems with flooding, but as the board deliberated, members concluded much of the runoff came from elsewhere. “Dave’s just in a gully,” Chairman Jonathan Eaton said. “He’s got water coming from all over the place, the cemetery, the hill. That’s a municipal problem, and at some point, the town will have to take care of it. I don’t think it’s the problem of this applicant.”

Even so, he asked Marilee Harris to contact the Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District to have a look and recommend changes that might stem some of the problem. Harris was also asked to present a landscape plan, showing where fences would be built and what sort of landscaping the agency would add to provide screening for abutters. Finally, she was asked to demonstrate where the signage would go and to obtain a permit for the sign that would replace the Blue Haven sign.

Jessica Sirois, an abutter who also has a professional office near the development, still questioned whether there was a change of use in the property. She said she was appealing the grandfathering decision, and said she was concerned about the residents. “When we tried to contact Marilee Harris numerous times, she was unavailable,” she said. Sirois said a dog that lived on the premises escaped from the house and knocked down an elderly lady and broke her arm.

Sirois was also worried about noise from the children who might live on the property, worried whether ambulances could get into the site, although the fire department had reviewed the plan and cleared it for fire engines, and echoed the sentiment of Chattis, who was concerned about the amount of public services a low-income population would use in a development that was nonprofit and untaxed.

The application was deemed complete except for the landscape plan, the signage location, and the runoff question, and to update a letter with a narrative explaining how other issues, including financial issues, will be addressed.