Forum addresses concerns on proposed Greenville Grove subdivision

GREENVILLE — In July the Greenville Planning Board heard a proposal concerning nearly 60 acres of land in Greenville Junction off North Green Street, on the peninsula going into Moosehead Lake on the eastern shore of the West Cove, to be developed into 15 lots making up the Greenville Grove Subdivision.

In early August the planning board conducted a site visit with developer Rodney Folsom Jr., broker/owner of the Folsom Realty Group. On Sept. 3 a public forum was held.

“It’s about 58 acres and Rodney is proposing 15 lots, ”Planning Board Chair John Contreni told the Greenville Select Board during a Sept. 4 meeting. Contreni said he believes there were about 20 attendees at the forum and they came with a lot of questions.

“Rodney answered them quite frankly and quite explicitly and I think he won over the crowd,” Contreni said.

“That’s step four in the planning board’s process of evaluating subdivisions,” he said about the 7-step process.. “The next step is for the planning board to vote on the preliminary plan and he doesn’t have that ready yet. He is waiting on a surveyor and a couple of other things.”

“It was a good meeting and kudos to Ron (Sarol), our code enforcement officer, for addressing many questions beforehand,” Contreni said. Sarol sent out 75 abutter letters prior to the forum.

“We were expecting more people but I think it was a smaller group because Ron had already alleviated many concerns,” Contreni said.

Town Clerk Tammy Firman said dozens of calls were made to the town office on the proposed Greenville Grove Subdivision and she said Sarol handled these. “Ron was a real trooper,” she said.

During a July 17 planning board meeting Folsom Jr. said some abutters are interested in purchasing land from him to provide extra space for privacy around their existing properties and won’t ultimately be part of the Greenville Grove Subdivision. He mentioned a figure of 15 lots in the area, with acreage sizes to vary.

“It’s nice private land in town, I plan on keeping roughly 12 acres myself to build our primary residence there,” Folsom Jr. said.

In other business, Town Manager Mike Roy said he continues to work with FEMA on getting assistance for roads damaged by a storm on Dec. 18, 2023.

“Funding for the repairs and mitigation sounds very positive, it sounds like we will get some funding,” he said. “The unknown is the speed of the reimbursements.”

“As much as I want to put everything out to bid right now I am very skeptical and cautious about doing that because of the speed of the reimbursement, I don’t know that,” Roy said. “So what we decided to do is to do two roads now, they’re up for bid. Basically Shoals Road for ditching and the gravels and we will take care of the grading of it and Higgins Road for the gravels and we will take care of the grading for that as well.”

On the town’s Facebook page bids are being sought for work on the Shoals and Higgins roads and are due by Sept. 13.

“I want to start small, do those roads and then see how quickly we get a reimbursement from FEMA,” Roy said. He said the agency will cover 75 percent of the costs through reimbursements with the town responsible for the other 25 percent.

“That’s another reason why I’m very, very, cautious of how we do this,” the town manager said.

“I’m hoping we can get some very acceptable bids for the ditching and the surface gravels and actually some shoulder work being done as well that FEMA’s going to cover,” he said.

Roy said an area at the Greenville Municipal Airport is being cleared. “It’s opening up a whole big area, probably for four or five hangars,” he said.

“We currently have 19 people on the hangar list,” Roy said. “We cannot clear land fast enough and get this thing approved and permits and all that for them.”

He said hangars provide revenue for the town and help make the airport closer to being self-sustaining. Permits take several months for approval.

The town manager said the 20-25 aircraft have already landed at the airport several days prior to the 50th annual International Seaplane Fly-In. Another dozen-plus are parked on the waterfront.

When asked, Roy said the town’s emergency services are ready for the influx of thousands of visitors coming by air and by land. “We’re ready to go, our trash contractor is ready to go,” he said.

The Shaw Public Library has a new director, Jessica Folsom who Roy said was hired the week prior. He said Folsom is originally from Greenville and is now back after about 20 years away.

“Our committee of five decided that she is a good fit for the library and she has started already,” he said.

The town manager said sidewalk work on Pritham Avenue is finished, “The sidewalks going up Lily Bay Road to Foss Street are all completed, that started at the library, Pleasant Street, so those are done.”

Previously Roy mentioned the Maine Department of Transportation gives money to towns through its local road assistance program. For the last five years funds coming into Greenville have been banked and now these will be used to pave sidewalks from Pleasant Street to Foss Street and up to Lily Bay Road and from Oliver Road down to Greenville Junction.

The town manager reached out to several paving companies, with bids of $70,065 and $111,000 coming in and the lower bidder being awarded the work.