PARIS — A public hearing concerning the proposed construction of a Family Dollar store on Main Street scheduled for Tuesday night has been postponed at the property developer’s request.
Tuesday’s Planning Board meeting was cancelled, and a new public hearing date has not been set.
Hunt Acquisitions, a Tampa Fla.-based real estate company, is proposing to build a stand-alone Family Dollar location on a residential lot at 103 Main St., owned by Koriene Low of Minot.
The property sits between Maurice Restaurant and the McLaughlin Garden and Homestead, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
At its meeting Aug. 13, the Planning Board gave conditional approval to the plan and scheduled a public hearing for Aug. 27.
There is strong opposition to the proposal, especially from environmental and historical conservationists from the wider Oxford Hills community. A large group of opponents were expected to attend the meeting to voice their concerns about the project.
Town Manager Amy Bernard, on Tuesday afternoon, said she was contacted by a representative from Hunt Acquisitions at around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday to request the postponement.
The company felt it was not fully prepared and wanted more time to get ready to present its plan to the public, Bernard said.
“This isn’t out of the norm, it happens, I wish they had given us a little more notice, but we’re willing to work with them,” Bernard said.
Hunt Acquisitions did not give the town a time line of when it would be prepared to bring the proposal to a public hearing, Bernard said.
The approval of the site plan review for the project is conditional on the submission of permits from the Maine Department of Transportation and Department of Environmental Protection, said Planning Board Chairman Russ Case, on Tuesday.
The company is proposing to build an 8,320 square-foot retail store and a 25-car parking lot at the location, one of the few non-commerical properties remaining on the strip.
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