March 28, 2024
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Shopping center firm to bring plans to panel

ELLSWORTH – Next month, developers with plans for a 500,000-square-foot, 26-store shopping center in the Route 1-Route 3 triangle will be back before the city’s planning board.

When they leave on Dec. 13, W/S Development Associates of Chestnut Hill, Mass., hopes to have final subdivision approval, the last step before the project becomes a reality.

“We expect to have everything in place for the December meeting, and when we leave, we hope to have good news,” project manager Jeff Curley of W/S said Friday.

The project would bring 15 buildings housing 26 new stores to Ellsworth, including a 200,000-square-foot anchor store that is widely considered to be a Wal-Mart Supercenter, although it hasn’t been acknowledged publicly.

The development also will include several million dollars worth of road improvements that will change the dynamic of an area that some feel already is plagued by traffic.

At a public hearing this week, a traffic engineer representing the developer presented the board and the public with an updated traffic model. As has been the case since the beginning, the expected increase in traffic was the biggest complaint among Ellsworth residents.

Some people, including planning board members, question the validity of the traffic model prepared by Mike Waugh, an engineer with James W. Sewall Co. in Old Town.

City planner Michele Gagnon, however, stressed that the city is working on additional traffic mitigation peripheral to the project.

The model doesn’t include additional traffic created by development unrelated to the W/S project, including the construction of a Lowe’s home improvement retail store across Route 3.

Waugh indicated that other developers will have to use his model when preparing their own traffic plan and W/S shouldn’t be responsible for further traffic problems created by future development.

Ellsworth City Council Chairman Gary Fortier, sensing the public discord at the onset of the meeting, spoke about how long this particular project has been in the works and what it will mean to the city.

“The city will always be a service center for this region,” Fortier said. “We’ve worked hard to pursue this development because this is going to benefit Ellsworth.”

Curley said W/S has started attracting tenants for the 26 retail spaces but he didn’t identify any possibilities.

“None officially have signed up, but many have expressed interest,” he said.

Curley said the public dissension is par for the course.

“This [project] certainly is different because of the traffic piece, but we want to be able to answer all the questions people have, so we don’t mind [public comments].”


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