Greenville Planning Board approves YES Building for school campus

GREENVILLE — Construction on a municipal facility to serve children and the community on the Greenville Consolidated School Pritham Avenue campus was given the go ahead by the Greenville Planning Board.

The board approved a conditional use permit for the YES (Youth, Education and Sports) Building on Sept. 2. 

The $3.15 million municipal facility will house pre-kindergarten and childcare facilities and a community center

Construction costs will be covered by grants and donations.

Code Enforcement Officer Tim Post has been working with Don Hodapp on the project application.

“All the other information of the 14 elements that are required I have with the exception — and I didn’t ask for it – was a part in the traffic assessment,” Post said. With the building being on campus it will be part of the existing traffic pattern.

“Everything else is there as far as I’m concerned,” Post said.

He has a list of about 20 abutters, but the planning board agreed that it is not necessary to send out notification letters.

“We’ve spent a very productive amount of months working on the construction and design and coordinating with the superintendent of school on the location and the intended use to make sure we’re able to maximize the budget from the grant that’s been received,” Benchmark Construction of Westbrook President Jason Jentrasco said. 

The company will comply with Greenville’s noise ordinance during work, will have a clean site and have an established construction entrance. A full-time representative of Benchmark Construction will be on the property.

“We are just happy to be at this stage tonight and thank you for taking the time to consider it,” Jentrasco said. 

A buffer period for no deliveries would be in place, such as up until 9 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m. when students are being dropped off and picked up. The site superintendent would oversee this.

The YES Building would be partially where Nickerson Elementary once stood. 

“It’s actually forward to that some,” he said. “We’re doing that to maximize parking.”

Moving the footprint forward avoids having to excavate the still remaining foundation to save money.

“It’s been a pleasure working on this project, I know it’s going to make a big impact on the town and everyone who’s using it,” Architect Paul Lewandowski of fig.19 of Portland said. “That’s important to us as designers that people will be able to use the space.”

Fencing could be up in early October and materials could be mobilized at this time,  Jentrasco said.

“There is no town money in this building, it’s all been through grants and fundraising,” Greenville Town Manager Mike Roy said.

In other business, Post took measurements on six lots for Beech Street that could have setbacks adjusted during an a special town meeting at  6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16 prior to the next regular Select Board Meeting. He also wrote the wording for the articles. 

The articles, if approved, would allow for some conditional businesses in a portion of the downtown and adjust the setback on the water side of Beech Street.

The first would change the ordinance for properties in Downtown District 2 from non-use to conditional use for businesses that want to be in town rather than outside of the district.

Post had received inquiries from a couple about opening a car wash in Downtown District 2. The easiest way to do this would be to change the land use table, which currently states there is no conditional use. The adjustment would give the Planning Board authorization to approve requests or not.

Setback rules for Beech Street properties along the stream would be adjusted rather than having the zoning changed. The setback from the water would go to 75 feet from 100 feet, enabling easier construction on something such as a garage.