Industrial park concrete plant permit approved

GREENVILLE — The Greenville Planning Board gave approval to a permit for Owen J. Folsom, Inc. for a concrete business at the industrial park during a March 18 meeting. The business has four other locations in three counties.

“To the best of my knowledge it’s complete,” Code Enforcement Officer Tim Post said about the application, saying there have been no responses from abutters.

“I think it’s a quality project in the right location,” he said.

Joining the meeting over Zoom, Jason Folsom of Owen J. Folsom, Inc. said, “Typical hours would be like 6:30 to 5 but sometimes we may be starting early. If you want concrete at a job site at 7 o’clock we might be starting at 5 or 5:30 to be able to be there.”

He said usually the concrete plant would be open a half day every other Saturday for weekend homeowner projects.

The business would be lighted for employee safety and visibility with trucks and loaders in operation.“A lot of that can be shut off when we’re not operating,” Folsom said.

With Greenville being a Dark Sky Community, “We are concerned about lighting that projects upward and not downward,” Planning Board Chair John Contreni said.

“As you move forward I would just ask that you make sure your lighting conforms to Greenville’s outdoor lighting ordinance,” he said.

The plant lights would shine downward into work zones, Folsom said.

“Anything we want to do will comply to standards, we want to be a good neighbor,” he said.

“Thank you very much, we’re very excited to join the community,” Folsom said in conclusion.

In other business, Post said he has been working to update town documents including the online version of the land use ordinance. 

“That’s current as of March 5,” he said.

The code enforcement officer said a planned presentation on the Northern Forest Center Spruce Street subdivision will be on the agenda for the Wednesday, April 1 planning board meeting instead of taking place during the March 18 session.

The Northern Forest Center purchased 5 acres of land downtown off Spruce Street and plans to build housing to serve the local workforce. The housing project plan seeks to develop nearly 30 units that incorporate a mix of multi-family buildings, duplexes and single-family homes to be built over three years. The Northern Forest Center Center hopes to use the project to demonstrate the environmental and economic benefits of utilizing mass timber construction. The project has an estimated $11.5 million cost.

The Spruce Street development will be the Northern Forest Center’s sixth housing project and the first to be built from the ground up. The project will focus on providing housing for the middle-income, year-round workforce and building the sustainability of the Moosehead Lake region’s year-round economy. Greenville’s high rate of second homes and absentee homeowners has left few options for locals or people trying to move to the community, raising concerns about maintaining school enrollment, civic participation and vital services. 

The Northern Forest Center uses a mix of funding sources to achieve its goal of creating high quality housing that can be rented or sold at rates that median-income earners can afford. Sources include the Northern Forest Fund — which integrates private impact investments, donations and grants from public sources — and grants and donations specifically for this project.

The Northern Forest Center is an innovation and investment partner serving the Northern Forest of northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. In 2017 programming expanded to include redeveloping underused properties to enable young professionals and families to find homes and contribute.