FARMINGTON — The Planning Board on Monday approved a site review application with conditions for the University of Maine at Farmington’s proposed central heating plant.

Its approval came after a motion to construct an internal emission stack, Code Enforcement Officer Steve Kaiser said Tuesday. The project was designed with an external 50-foot stack rising from the ground to several feet above the building.

Project Manager Thomas Perkins, from Dirigo Architectural Engineering, estimated a potential cost of $50,000 to $100,000 to relocate the stack, Kaiser said. The board considered the amount to be a more minor cost in light of the $10 million project, which expects an energy-savings payback within 10 years, he said.

The board also set conditions regarding the truck route and delivery times, he said.

Deliveries will be made between the hours of 9 and 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday when children at nearby Mallett School would be in school, he said. Delivery trucks will travel from Front Street up Broadway to Perham Street with a turn to Quebec Street to the proposed site, he said.

Prior to the meeting, the board, university officials and some community members gathered at the UMF parking lot to see the property and to watch a truck test run. They wanted to see if an 18-wheeler could negotiate sharp corners and the narrow roads to the site.

“It passed with flying colors,” Planning Board Chairman Clayton King said of the turn from Perham Street to Quebec Street.

The turn from Middle Street to Quebec Street was not one that driver Scott Currier from Cousineau Inc. felt he could make but there was no problem making the Perham Street corner with the nearly 60-foot truck, Currier said.

The University expects 11 truck deliveries of wood chips per week during peak winter months.  

The board agreed the test settled the issue, Kaiser said.

Concerns about the Farmington Village Corp. turning the plan down twice were raised during the meeting but the town and water corporation are mutually exclusive, Kaiser said. The proposed area is within the village corporation.

The applicant is entitled to make an appeal for a variance to the corporation but that is not an issue for the town to get into, he said.

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