Neighbors object to plans for Taylor Hospital

A subsidiary of Eastern Maine Healthcare moved one step closer to converting the former Taylor Hospital into a psychiatric hospital Monday night when the Bangor Planning Board agreed to a proposed zone change.

Four neighbors of the proposed hospital attended the meeting to register their opposition. The City Council must approve the zone change. And the applicant must return before the Planning Board for approval of the site plan, which will provide details on where the buildings will be located and show screening, roads, drainage and other related issues.

Acadia Hospital, part of the Eastern Maine Healthcare family, plans to use the existing building and add to the campus. The design calls for a 105-bed hospital providing acute psychiatric care for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly, and a clinic for the chemically dependent, said Dennis King, president of Acadia and a vice president of Eastern Maine Healthcare.

“I own property abutting this project and I’m scared as hell,” said Herbert Reed, adding that he worried about drug addicts roaming the neighborhood. “It’s really scary having this around. If it were in your back yard, how would you feel?”

Another neighbor, Constance Grenier, who lives across Stillwater Avenue from Reed and from the project, said she was upset with the notification she had received from Acadia about the project.

The first letters were mailed to 139 people in early June, and Grenier said that at the time she thought it was great that the facility would be used. The second letter came in early August. Grenier said when she discovered the scope of what was really planned, she felt almost misled.

P. Andrew Hamilton, attorney for the hospital, said that his clients knew in early June that they wanted to make the changes but needed time to determine how to make the changes, hence the difference in the two letters.

Earlier in the meeting, the Planning Board approved a special exception requested by Grossman’s Lumber. Also approved was a site plan submitted by the firm, which proposes to move down the street to the site once occupied by Diamond Lumber.

The existing retail building will be enlarged and the shed demolished and replaced with one 80 by 300 feet. And the lumber yard will have drive-through service with a cashier’s kiosk, said Brian Ames, of Ames Corp., consulting engineers on the project.

The only objections came from Sheldon Hartstone, who developed the adjacent site, home to Days Inn and the Ground Round, and from the manager of the Days Inn, Frank Cande.

Cande said he was worried about noise and traffic that could disturb guests at the motel.

The applicant agreed to change the fencing and screening to provide a better buffer. In the end, the plans received the unanimous approval of the board.