The Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre at 201 Waterville Road during the 2021 Maine International Film Festival. The Skowhegan Planning Board approved plans Tuesday night for a mobile home and recreational vehicle park at the site of the former drive-in, which closed in September 2023. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

SKOWHEGAN — The site of the former Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre has approval to become a new mobile home park.

A&L Properties Inc., which is buying the lot at 201 Waterville Road, on U.S. Route 201, received the green light Tuesday night from the Skowhegan Planning Board.

The approved plans include 36 lots for mobile homes and six lots for recreational vehicles at the approximately 11-acre site.

The Planning Board approved the project unanimously, following a after a brief public hearing.

The proposed development still needs a stormwater permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, according to Randy Butler of Dirigo Engineering in Fairfield, who represented A&L Properties at the meeting.

“We’re required as part of this project to go through DEP because of the increase in impervious area,” Butler said. “We’ll have a number of features on site to help contain that.”

Stormwater management plans include a wet pond near where the former movie projection screen is installed and soil filters, Butler said. The design would send runoff into a culvert crossing the Waterville Road, which is where water now travels.

In addition to questions about stormwater runoff, Butler fielded a handful of questions from members of the community during the 12-minute public hearing, including whether he expects the new development to have an impact on traffic.

Butler said there are no planned changes to traffic design on Waterville Road.

The Maine Department of Transportation would be responsible for addressing any impacts, according to Bryan Belliveau, Skowhegan’s code enforcement officer and recently appointed director of economic and community development.

The site has municipal water and sewer connections, Butler said. The Maine Water Co. wrote in a letter that the expected needs of the new development are within the capacity of its system.

Planning Board members had no major questions about the project at Tuesday night’s meeting. The town’s Staff Review Committee previously recommended that plans include a dry hydrant near the wet pond, which Butler said has since been added to the plans.

“From what we have seen, they’re going out of their way and doing a good job to deal with any additional impact that would be created by this project,” board Chairman Steve Conley told the few residents at the meeting. “In fact, you might find out that the conditions you have today may be a lot a better when this project is done.”

A&L Properties first brought the proposal to the board in July for a pre-application review. Slightly updated plans were presented at another pre-application review Jan. 21.

The Skowhegan Drive-In Theatre closed in September 2023 after 70 years in business. Its previous owner, Don Brown, said at the time that the theater was being sold for $300,000 to Harvey Austin of Skowhegan.

Austin, a member of the Skowhegan Planning Board, said in July that the reported deal did not work out, but his daughter and son-in-law are planning to buy the property as A&L Properties. Austin has recused himself from all Planning Board discussions and votes related to the subdivision proposal.

Aaron Crocker, Austin’s son-in-law, is listed as the contact person on a purchase and sale agreement on file with the town with A&L Properties’ application.

The sale price for the real estate was redacted on the purchase and sale agreement on file with the town. An online listing from Rizzo Mattson Realtors of Augusta shows a listing price of $319,000 and as of Wednesday morning listed the status as “Active Under Contract.”

A search of the Somerset County Registry of Deeds’ online database produced no deed for A&L Properties for the lot. The town’s planning office also had no deed on file with the subdivision application.