MECHANIC FALLS – The Planning Board put a proposed self-storage facility temporarily on hold Monday night pending a state permit and answers to several questions.
An application by Mark Chase for a special exemption permit to build a self-storage facility and a garage for automotive repairs at a 15-acre site on Route 121 near the Oxford town line was tabled.
Several issues were in question when the board decided to delay approval of the application. One was a recommendation by Town Manager Dana Lee for Chase to obtain a permit from the Maine Department of Transportation for an entrance and exit to Route 121.
Other unanswered questions included whether state law would require a restroom in the garage and the adequacy of the septic system.
The board also discussed conditions that renters of storage units be required to sign rental agreements stating that there would be no hazardous materials stored in the units and that no junk cars or extra auto parts be stored outside.
The Planning Board will visit the site prior to making a final decision.
Chase said he plans to build the storage facility in four phases beginning with a 24-by-120-foot building with self-storage units. Phases three and four, which call for two additional buildings housing self-storage units, would be built within a few years only if the initial storage facility is successful. There would be space for outdoor storage of automobiles, recreational vehicles and boats.
The initial storage building would be about 2,800 square feet, well under the 5,000 square feet that would make it a major, rather than a minor, development. The four phases would put the total project above 5,000 square feet.
“You can do whatever you want today as a minor (development), but as soon as you breach 5,000 square feet, you get into major,” said Planning Board Chairman James Depalma.
After more than an hour of discussion it was decided that the board could not approve the application even with the condition that an MDOT permit be obtained. “There are enough parts and pieces lacking that I’m not comfortable approving this. I don’t want to hold him (Chase) up, but I’m not comfortable moving forward with this,” Depalma said.
Chase said he has owned the property since 1983. It was formerly used as a flea market and is the site where the school buses from Mechanic Falls and Oxford turn around on Route 121. The entrance is 400 feet from the town line.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
