The site a proposed development by Mammie’s Dreams LLC on Evergreen Drive in Waterville that could bring 12 condominium units to the undeveloped sloping site. Neighbors say they have concerns about runoff, the possibility of blasting and heavier traffic on the narrow street. Amy Calder/Morning Sentinel file

WATERVILLE — The city is expected to see 40 new housing units as part of plans for two developments approved Tuesday by the Waterville Planning Board.

The projects include Mammie’s Dreams LLC, which is expected to have 12 two-story condominiums on Evergreen Drive, and 28 apartments in five buildings on Washington Street, part of the 15 Washington LLC complex.

Plans call for the Mammie’s Dreams LLC condominiums to be offered for purchase and the 15 Washington LLC units to be rentals.

Evergreen Drive residents expressed concerns about drainage and increased traffic in the quiet neighborhood, where older people and children often walk. They also said they were worried about excavation work on the hill where the condominiums are to be built.

Officials said the excavation would require removal of about 2,000 truckloads and tons of dirt, rocks and other materials from the site.

Neighbors of the site said they are worried about drainage from the property because rainwater now pools down the road.

Motorists regularly park on both sides of 24-foot-wide Evergreen Drive, making it so narrow that some neighbors said they fear emergency vehicles would not be able to pass through. Also, the driveway into the condominium development is not expected to include a turnaround, so construction trucks and emergency vehicles will have to back out onto Evergreen Drive.

Many of the residents are older and retired, they said, and the project, which might require blasting, could cause significant disruption and safety issues, they said.

Planning Board member Tom Nale said he drove to the site earlier Tuesday in a small car and could barely make it through. He said he could not imagine how a fire or rescue truck would fare.

“I’m not going to give my blessings for anything that’s going to compromise the safety of the people in this city,” Nale said.

Jeff Allen, an engineer representing the project, said Nale had a valid concern, but Waterville Fire Department officials said that according to protocol, a road can be 150 feet long without requiring a turnaround.

“That’s the best I can do,” Allen said.

“I don’t think it is,” Nale said.

Fire Chief Jason Frost confirmed a road can be up to 150 feet long before a turnaround must be added. He said Evergreen Drive is wider than many of the streets to which the Fire Department responds in Waterville.

Planning Board member Scott Beale estimated three or four trucks per day would be hauling the excavated materials out of the site. He said he thought that a manageable number, but acknowledged it would “be a pain.”

“It sounds like a nightmare to me,” resident Deb Cunningham, who expressed many concerns about the project, said.

She said she has lived on Evergreen Drive for a few months.

“I was advised not to buy in Waterville,” she said, “and I regret my decision.”

Eric Dumond, the president of the Ridgewood West Condominium Association, expressed anger about the project, saying his biggest worries are about safety and the environmental health of the area.

“It’s Mammie’s nightmare,” he said.

Nale told those who spoke Tuesday that they did so with conviction, courage and good faith, and while Nale and others empathize with them, the board does not have the authority to nix the development because board members must follow city ordinance guidelines when considering the project.

The board voted 4-1 to approve the project, with Nale the lone dissenter. A condition proposed by Board Chair Samantha Burdick was that the ditch along the edge of the road be regraded and made deeper and wider prior to excavation of the hillside, with approval from City Engineer Andy McPherson. Board member David Johnson seconded her motion.

Beale asked that the developer be required to assign a project manager to be a primary point of contact with the community, and hold meetings with the community to discuss updates and concerns throughout construction.

The board approved the first phase of the 15 Washington LLC development on Washington Street by a 4-0 vote, with an abstention by Nale, who said he was recusing himself because of his relationship with the developer, John Jabar Jr. Jabar and his son, John Jabar III, were present, as was their engineer, Boyd Snowden.

Residents said they thought the development plans were much better than those that had been submitted previously, but at least one resident said she thought the project would still cause increased traffic in the area.

Beale proposed the plan be amended to say the developer will provide a 6-foot-tall fence along the southern edge of the development to help obscure headlights from shining onto neighbors’ properties.

As part of the plan, Jabar is also expected to plant a row of arborvitae along the north and east edge of the property to screen the parking lot from abutters.