Alna planning board

Panel nods chicken business, Crooker blasting

Couple eyes North Old Sheepscot Road lot for home
Tue, 03/16/2021 - 7:00am

    Jade and Davis Archer got Alna planning board’s OK March 9 for a business raising and slaughtering chickens. The 4-0 nod is contingent on the business also getting state approval.

    In that meeting and last month’s, the Archers said they will raise the certified organic chickens on their neighbors’ pasture and other possible sites, and slaughter the chickens at about 8 weeks at the couple’s Echo Farm on Sheepscot Road.

    The board also unanimously passed Crooker Construction’s blasting season. The firm gave the board all it asked for, in detail, members said. And the board heard Christopher Purinton and wife Doris “Twig” Mittasch’s request for a home at 34A North Old Sheepscot Road in the shoreland zone’s limited residential district.

    The couple said they have a purchase and sale agreement on the lot. Chair Jim Amaral noted owners Barry Libman and Susan Pepple’s letter authorizing the prospective buyers to seek a building permit. In the meeting and in notes to the board, Purinton and Mittasch proposed a one or one and a half story home with a 1,200 square foot foundation in the lot’s back, at least 150 feet from the high water line.

    Members recalled a past proposal, possibly a bigger project, on that lot was found unbuildable. “We may have to take just a fresh look altogether,” member Peter Tischbein said. Code Enforcement Officer Tom McKenzie concurred and said the lot is buildable.

    The board’s site visit March 12 would give the couple a better idea if they should pursue the project and the detailed plot plan the board would want, members said.

    Amaral announced alternate member Willard Morgan has resigned. If interested in serving, contact selectmen, Amaral said. Outgoing Second Selectman Doug Baston said March 15, the next selectboard would make the pick.

    The planning board meets next on April 6.