WATERVILLE — The Planning Board on Monday voted unanimously to approve final plans for housing projects on Western and Chase avenues, as well as a plan to build three new athletic fields at Colby College.

Merici Woods LP plans to convert the former Mount Merici convent at 172 Western Ave. into 28 apartments for low-income seniors.

A new entrance to the building will be off Chase Avenue.

Some neighbors expressed concern that motorists would use the Western Avenue entrance to get to the apartment building, but Sean Thies, project manager and project engineer for the developer, CES Inc. of Brewer said the Western Avenue entrance will be for emergencies only, and the majority of people slated to live in the building do not drive.

“You’re talking minimal, minimal traffic here,” Thies said. “Most of these people don’t have vehicles.”

Meanwhile, Waterville Redevelopment Co. III plans to build 55 one- and two-bedroom apartments in the former Seton Hospital at 30 Chase Ave.

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Developer Tom Siegel of REM Property Consultants of Topsham said the building is about 150,000 square feet and the apartments will be built on floors two through seven. The first floor is 23,000 square feet and will be redeveloped for rental office space, and the lower level is 35,000 square feet of warehouse storage space, Siegel said.

The one-bedroom units would be 600 to 650 square feet and the two-bedroom units would be 830 to 1,500 square feet, with some at 1,000 square feet, according to Siegel. He said there is a penthouse with a mezzanine that will become three two-story townhouse apartments with windows all around, and a single one-story townhouse.

The building will be redeveloped to historic standards, according to Siegel.

Scott Strynar of Mohr & Serendin Landscape Architects of Portland presented final plans for the three new athletic fields behind the Harold Alfond Athletic Center on Campus Drive at Colby College on Mayflower Hill.

He said he actually was presenting two site plans, as the project involves Colby-owned property on Marston Road that will be used for fill to be taken out of the land behind the athletic center to make way for the fields. Around 30,000 yards of ledge and soil is expected to be removed from the property.

The fields will be built on about 19 acres. Two of the athletic fields will be grass and one will be artificial turf, according to Stynar.

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“There are two wetlands on the site,” he said. “We’re maintaining buffers all around them. We are not disturbing any wetlands with this project.”

Amy Calder — 861-9247

acalder@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @AmyCalder17


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