DOVER-FOXCROFT – The board of directors of a Belmont-based manufacturer of chemical and protective garments for the military gave its OK Tuesday for the opening of a plant in Dover-Foxcroft.

Up to 70 new jobs will be available with the opening later this spring of a Creative Apparel plant in the Brown’s Mills building. The company plans to lease 6,000 square feet in the former tannery.

George Rybarczyk, a partner in the business, confirmed Tuesday by telephone that his board of directors earlier in the day had approved Dover-Foxcroft as the location for its expansion plans.

“We’re excited about it; it should be really good for us and for the area,” Rybarczyk said.

Piscataquis County officials, who have been working to bring new jobs to the area in an effort to stop the population drain, were ecstatic with the news.

“We’re overjoyed with this news and excited of the prospect of helping them make this a profitable expansion,” Mark Scarano, business development director for the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, said Tuesday.

“This is the second victory the county has had in the space of one year, the first being JSI Store Fixtures [located in the former Dexter Shoe plant in Milo],” the economic development official said. “We plan on having more victories in the near future.”

Scarano said the council assisted Creative Apparel in efforts to attract workers by urging potential employees to apply for the stitching jobs that the company would bring.

He said the council conducted a meeting between state and local officials in an effort to provide attractive incentive programs. The council also is writing a community development infrastructure grant for Dover-Foxcroft to construct a new building in the Pine Crest Development Park for the business.

“We’re pleased that they selected this area and look forward in trying to work out a lease arrangement that’s beneficial to all parties,” Robin Merrill, chairman of the Dover-Foxcroft Board of Selectmen, said Tuesday.

Creative Apparel officials made it no secret last month that they were scouting out locations in Dover-Foxcroft, Howland and Milo for the company’s expansion. The company also collected applications from experienced stitchers in these areas to determine the available labor force.

About 50 applications were received in the Dover-Foxcroft area, according to Rybarczyk.

The company employs about 275 people at its plants in Harmony, Indian Township and Eastport. Co-owners of the business are Rybarczyk’s wife, Sharon Rybarczyk, and the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

Rybarczyk said earlier this month that the Piscataquis County region interested him because of the work ethic of the local people. He said the Harmony plant, which is on the fringe of Piscataquis County, is the company’s highest-producing facility.

The garments will be cut elsewhere and sewn at the Dover-Foxcroft plant. Equipment for the plant is being ordered, he said.