The town’s Planning Board had the authority to require a specific access in a developer’s subdivision plan off Route 4 before it would approve the application, the highest court in Maine ruled earlier this month.
Mick Land Development Inc. of Rollinsford, N.H., wanted to use a right-of-way that went through the adjacent Meadow Pond Estates out to Harvey Road as the primary access to the proposed 35-lot Samville Estates subdivision. The secondary emergency access would be through Industry Drive, a private road Mick owns located over the town line in Berwick.
The Planning Board held a site walk in May 2023 and residents of Meadow Pond Estates, attending a public hearing the same day, objected to the access plan. The additional traffic through what is now a dead end development with a curvy road would create a public safety issue, residents said.
The board said it would approve the subdivision plan if the primary access went through Industry Drive onto Route 4 and the secondary access through Meadow Pond Road was for emergencies only.
Mick filed a lawsuit against the Town in Superior Court, saying the Planning Board didn’t have authority to make that requirement because their application met all the rules of the local subdivision ordinance and the decision was thereby unfair.
The Maine high court reviews decisions made by lower courts for proper use of laws, but it doesn’t rule on lower court decisions or the decision made by the Planning Board, only on whether town ordinances were followed.
The state Supreme Court decided the board acted lawfully when it added the requirement for emergency-only access through Meadow Pond Estates because South Berwick’s ordinances require the board to consider any part of a plan that might create unsafe conditions on public roads.
No new application for development of the 174-acre parcel owned by Mick has come before the Planning Board.
