ORONO – The Rhode Island-based developer that last year proposed a 153-unit student housing complex is appealing the planning board’s Nov. 20 decision to deny the site plan application.

The appeal has been filed with the town’s board of appeals and U.S. District Court, according to court documents.

Peregrine Developers has also filed a civil lawsuit against the town in Penobscot County Superior Court alleging that town officials violated the company’s property rights by denying the project. The company is seeking compensation for deprivation of property rights and attorney fees.

Originally proposed for the end of Colburn Drive, the 20.6-acre University Courtyard at Penobscot Commons was planned for 494 beds spread among one-, two- and four-bedroom apartments to be rented by undergraduate and graduate students as well as junior faculty members.

Planning board members denied the application solely because “they believed it constituted a ‘dormitory,'” according to the appeal filed by the developer’s attorneys, Edmond Bearor and Timothy Pease of Rudman and Winchell in Bangor.

While the land use ordinance doesn’t include a definition for dormitory, the ordinance defines a “commercial dormitory” as “premises consisting of more than three rooming units in a building used primarily to house more than three unrelated individuals, with or without cooking facilities.” Commercial dormitories aren’t among the allowed uses in any of the town’s zoning districts.

The interpretation of “commercial dormitory” used by the planning board would include “multifamily dwellings,” according to Bearor and Pease. The ruling would mean that any building with three or more dwelling units – such as an apartment building – is not permissible in any of the town’s zoning districts.

In the court document, the attorneys requested that the court reverse the decision of the planning board because the board’s decision “was made based upon deficient procedures, affected by bias and error of law” and “unsupported by substantial evidence.”

The developers also have requested that the board of appeals hold a hearing to determine whether they have jurisdiction over the planning board’s decision.