WATERVILLE — Developer Kevin Mattson plans to build a 14-lot subdivision off Lincoln Street in Waterville, where he would build the houses and sell them at market-rate prices.
Mattson, a partner in Dirigo Capital Advisors, which redeveloped the former MaineGeneral hospital in Augusta into offices several years ago, plans to build the 1,800- to 2,600-square-foot houses on half-acre lots, with public water, sewer and electricity all underground.
The site is actually on Doctor’s Office Drive, a road that connects Lincoln Street to Kennedy Memorial Drive, but there is no existing right-of-way to allow traffic to go through to KMD. Doctor’s Office Drive is not a city street.
The Waterville Planning Board approved the subdivision, to be called Seton Woods, on June 7. Waterville Redevelopment Company IV LLC presented plans the board reviewed under the subdivision ordinance.
The development will be just west of the former Seton Hospital, which Mattson bought in 2013 and plans to turn into 68 apartments. The 150,000-square-foot building was formerly part of MaineGeneral Medical Center. That building is on Chase Avenue, which turns into Lincoln Street.
In March, Mattson and Steve Roberge of SJR Engineering Inc. of Monmouth presented an informal preapplication for Seton Woods, which will be west of the former hospital.
Mattson said at that meeting there is a limited inventory of single-family houses in Maine. He said houses in Seton Woods would sell for $375,000 to $425,000, while the same houses in other places, such as Biddeford or Saco, would run about $675,000.
Mattson said he planned to build a model home in the near future and then take orders for the other 13 houses.
John Fortier, a former member of the Planning Board and City Council, said he has long thought the property has been “underutilized and underdeveloped.”
“So, I’m happy to see some progress in that manner,” he said.
Some residents of Lincoln Woods, a housing development west of the site, said they worried about noise and possible removal of trees separating Lincoln Woods and Seton Woods as part of the development. Rob Schmitt said buffers are important to people living at Lincoln Woods.
Those who buy the house lots would have the option of doing as they want on their property, but Mattson said he thought those buying houses would want to have a buffer and he did not expect them to be noisy.
“Single-family homes, particularly if not too densely put together, tend to be quiet,” he said.
As part of the plans, Doctor’s Office Drive will be paved and curbed. The 958-foot road will discontinue at the end of the development, where vehicles can turn around.
Mattson said there are no plans to continue the road to Kennedy Memorial Drive. Years ago, motorists used the road to go to and from the doctor’s office complex off KMD.
Roberge said there was a beaver dam along the rear part of the road and the beavers were trapped and taken away to another location.
“This was all done as humanely as possible,” he said.
There is no plan to rezone the property, which is in a low-density residential area, he said.
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