Architect Henry Hess presents a preliminary site plan for a new, 16,000 square-foot MaineHealth building that would replace both existing MaineHealth facilities in Waldoboro during the Waldoboro Planning Board meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18. The site plan also features room for a potential town building and walking trails by the Medomak River, Hess said. (Molly Rains photo)
The Waldoboro Planning Board heard a pre-application building proposal from MaineHealth for a medical office building at 126 Depot St. during its meeting on Thursday, Jan. 18.
As presented, the site plan includes a 16,000 square-foot building and a parcel of land allocated for the town to use at its discretion, with potential for use as a community center, according to architect Henry Hess, of the South Portland engineering firm Sebago Technics, who represented the project at the meeting..
The new MaineHealth building would be constructed on the site of the former Fieldcrest Manor Retirement and Nursing Home on Depot Street. Preliminary plans suggest that the building would be one story tall and accompanied by 130 parking spaces in a terraced parking lot alongside the building.
The building would house medical offices and be used for primary care rather than emergencies, Hess said.
Waldoboro resident Conrad Winslow said the proposed development presents “a really powerful chance to shape Waldoboro’s future.”
The development’s location next to a train station and within close proximity to both Waldoboro village and Route 1 make it ideal for multimodal access by pedestrians, bikers, and drivers alike, Winslow said.
One point of discussion concerned the paved drive connecting the building and Depot Street. As planned, the drive follows the southern boundary of the property along a gentle curve.
Planning board member Eric Stark wondered if the headlights of cars exiting the property in the winter would be a nuisance for neighbors, and whether moving the drive to the north side of the property would lessen that possibility.
Moving the drive to the property’s north side would create “a de facto street,” linking Depot Street and the train station with the area on the property identified by Hess as a potential location for hiking trails, Winslow said. The property is bordered to the west by the Medomak River, making it a possible location for a river walk, Winslow said.
Situating the drive to the south of the property allows for its grade to be slightly less steep by incorporating a curve, Hess noted.
The parcel of land allocated to the town of Waldoboro is located on the eastern portion of the preliminary site plan nearer to Depot Street. An additional bank of parking spaces was also included in the site plan, Hess said, to accommodate a potential town building on the site.
While discussions of a potential community center have been ongoing since at least 2020, said Town Planner Max Johnstone, Waldoboro not yet been able to locate a suitable parcel of land for the project.
While $1 million in federal funding was earmarked for site work on a Waldoboro community building project in 2022, Johnstone said, the town must secure a contract with United States Department of Housing and Urban Development by 2025 in order to access that money.
Now that a potential site has been located, he said, the town will initiate further discussions and forums with townspeople to determine if the public is still interested in pursuing a community center – and, if they are, what the nature of the center should be.
“If residents want to be engaged and be part of the community building topic, then something as simple as an email to my office … goes a long way to help show what people are thinking,” Johnstone said in an email on Jan. 23.
For now, discussion of the 126 Depot St, project will be limited to the MaineHealth project on the site. MaineHealth and Sebago Technics must now submit a formal application before the planning board in order to move forward with the project.
Hess said that he hoped the project could be underway by this fall, although he noted that significant abatement and demolition will be necessary at the site of the former nursing home.
The next meeting of the Waldoboro Planning Board will be held in the Waldoboro municipal building at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22. For more information, call 832-5369 or go to waldoboromaine.org.
