SCARBOROUGH – Expressing multiple reservations about a proposed $32.5 million Maine Army National Guard project on the south end of U.S. Route 1, on the border with Saco, the Scarborough Planning Board denied preliminary site plan approval Monday.

Instead, the board requested a site walk, which is yet to be scheduled, and also asked for input from the town’s Conservation Commission. In addition, the Planning Board asked the applicants to provide photo simulations of how the National Guard would provide sufficient buffering for an abutting residential lot.

The project, which includes a new $17.5 million readiness center and a new $15 million maintenance garage, requires contract zone approval. Monday’s meeting with the Planning Board was one of the first steps required under the town’s contract zone process.

However, it’s the Town Council that will ultimately decide whether to approve the contract zone, which is a joint application from the Maine Army National Guard and the University of New England.

And, while members of the Planning Board acknowledged it is not within their charge or province to dictate to the Town Council, the board’s recommendation does carry weight with the governing body, which had many questions of its own when the proposal was first discussed in a workshop session in September.

Also, under Scarborough’s contract zoning rules, the project cannot move forward to Town Council review until after the Planning Board has provided preliminary approval. Spokesmen for the applicants did not respond to a request for comment regarding the Planning Board’s action before the Current’s deadline.

Overall, the board simply had too many reservations about the proposal and how it would change the southern end of town from a rural, residential area into one hosting a fairly intense military installation, said Jay Chace, the town’s senior planner, in summing up Monday’s meeting.

In order for the project to receive ultimate approval, the National Guard must show its proposal is consistent with current and permitted uses within the applicable zone, that the project is consistent with Scarborough’s Comprehensive Plan and that the project will have a significant public benefit.

Part of the public benefit would include the Maine Army National Guard putting 3.5 acres of its property, which abuts land already owned by the state as a wildlife management area, into a conservation easement to be held by the Scarborough Land Trust.

And, though Bill Bola, the vice president for operations at the University of New England, described the proposed National Guard project as a win for all the entities involved, the Planning Board was not satisfied that the project provides enough of a public benefit to move forward at this point.

The goal of the contract zone is for the new National Guard buildings in Scarborough to replace the aging Stevens Avenue Armory in Portland, which was built 73 years ago, according to John Blais, senior planner with the National Guard.

Under the proposal, the Maine Army National Guard and the University of New England would swap the Stevens Avenue property with land now owned by the college in Scarborough and Saco.

The college has a campus in Portland that is adjacent to the Stevens Avenue Armory and would like to add that parcel to its holdings, Bola said.

In exchange for 38 acres of undeveloped land – 24.6 in Scarborough and 12 in Saco – the college would acquire the 9-acre Stevens Avenue Armory site.

Bola argued that the land swap would benefit both organizations, particularly since Blais said the current armory is no longer in compliance with Department of Defense guidelines for National Guard facilities.

The University of New England’s desire to acquire the Stevens Avenue Armory is the impetus behind the proposal to move the National Guard to Scarborough, according to Bola, who said such an idea has been under discussion for several years.

He said a move to Scarborough would satisfy the National Guard’s need to relocate and modernize its facilities and said acquiring the Stevens Avenue Armory is in the “strategic best interests” of the University of New England, making the whole Portland campus “more usable and accessible.”

If the Scarborough Town Council ends up approving the contract zone, Blais said ground would not likely be broken until spring 2019. The first phase would include construction of a new 50,000-square-foot readiness center.

The second phase of the project would consist of a 29,000-square-foot vehicle and equipment maintenance facility, but Blais doesn’t yet know what the timing would be on constructing the maintenance shop.

Following Monday’s Planning Board meeting, Town Manager Tom Hall said he would not expect the proposed contract zone to formally reach the Town Council until sometime in December.

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