NEW SHARON — The state has received an application for a traffic permit for a proposed 4,800-square-foot convenience store, including six fuel positions and a Dunkin’ Donuts and drive-through window to be built off Route 2.
Annie Manley of Sidney, owner of Annie’s Variety in that town, is proposing the project. She would call the New Sharon store Annie’s Variety, too, she said Tuesday.
The site is 74 acres, not including two connecting house lots on Route 27.
She hopes to start work in the spring and complete it by the end of August or first week of September.
It will create approximately 35 jobs and tax revenue for the town, Manley said.
She chose New Sharon because she likes small towns and the property is there. Sidney also is a small town, she said.
Large trucks will be able to come in and fuel up. She plans to have a shower in the convenience store for truck drivers. There will be a deli, sandwiches and pizza, and she hopes to put in equipment to make frozen yogurt.
No formal application has been submitted to the town on the project, proposed to be located east of the intersection of Route 27, also known as Mile Hill Road, New Sharon Code Enforcement Officer Jim Fleming said.
A traffic permit is needed first, he said.
The project is forecast to generate 282 a.m. and 227 p.m. peak-hour trip ends during a weekday. The peak hour is the time of day when the traffic is higher than other times during the day. A trip end is defined as one trip into or out of the site, state traffic engineer Dennis Emidy said. Therefore, a round trip is two trips, he said.
The Maine Department of Transportation received the traffic permit application on Thursday, he said.
He has 14 days to determine the completeness of certain sections. Once the application is determined to be complete, a scoping meeting shall be held within 30 days, he said.
The traffic permit application was submitted by Sidney Realty LLC of Sidney, which Manley is associated with.
If a traffic permit is approved and the project moves forward, then a site review application for the project would need to be filed with the New Sharon Planning Board, Fleming said.
The board already had an informal meeting with project representatives late last year, Planning Commission Chairman Jim Mann said. It is the first step in the process.
No specific details were given except that a convenience store would be proposed. The representatives were given the town ordinances that apply to the proposed project.
The board received a brief synopsis of what the project would entail, Fleming said.
The traffic permit application is available for review at both the DOT Region 3 Office on Route 2 in Dixfield and the New Sharon Town Office.
When the Planning Board receives the site plan review application, they will review it and have an initial meeting with project representatives, Fleming said. The board will then issue a time line to be followed.
Once the board determines the application is complete, they will make a decision on it, he said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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