Staff Writer

 When Bernie Saulnier looks at Old Orchard Beach, he sees a great place to both build and live.

The developer has proposed replacing Jeremiah’s Cottages on Saco Avenue with 53 three-season cottages in an area considered a gateway to Old Orchard Beach. The plan to create Summer Winds is now before the planning board and a model home stands next to the 53 cottages that have hosted summer visitors for decades.

If approved by the Planning Board, the $6 million project would create a three-season resort with clubhouse and pool. Saulnier estimates the project could add $100,000 each year to the town’s tax base.

The one-bedroom condominium cottages will be 800 square feet, including a small porch and 4-foot foundation. Jeremiah’s Cottages currently has 53 cottages, including nine units that are rented year-round.

Saulnier, who has vacationed in the area for nearly 30 years, said he sees a lot of development in the Wells and Kennebunk area that is attracting tourists. He feels people often think of those areas before Old Orchard Beach.

“It’s Old Orchard Beach’s time. Their time is coming. It’s a hidden gem,” he said.

Saulnier said he his cottages will start at $159,000, which includes high-end amenities such as granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and hardwood floors. He said buyers who have expressed interest seem to be retirees or people who want to upgrade from vacation homes in trailer parks.

Saulnier said he thinks the project will improve an area that most visitors to Old Orchard Beach pass through on their way to town.

“That’s the main road coming into Old Orchard Beach and it’s an eyesore now,” he said. “It will look fabulous when it’s done.”

If the planning board approves his plan, Saulnier expects to close on the property after this summer season and begin work Oct. 1 to ensure cottages are ready for the 2012 summer season.

Town Planner Jeffery Hinderliter said the project currently is under preliminary review and will be discussed by the Planning Board at a July 7 workshop and July 14 regular meeting. He said the project is the largest proposed development in the town’s recent history.

“Fifty-three cottages is a pretty substantial development in Old Orchard Beach,” he said. “It’s a different concept in terms of what they’re looking to do.”

Hinderliter said most development projects in town are to build year-round condos or hotels and motels. A seasonal neighborhood will use fewer city services than year-round properties because children do not attend school in town.

Hinderliter said he sees Summer Winds as a positive proposal.

“It’s new residential development in the town. It’s an investment in the community. It’s great to have a developer who is willing to take the risk in these challenging times,” he said. “They’re also developing existing land that has been already been developing. It’s not contributing to any sort of sprawl.”

Hinderliter said he thinks the project’s position in a high-traffic area could also benefit the town.

“It could set a standard for Old Orchard Beach for developers to meet,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of potential here if it’s done right.”

Town Council Chairman Bob Quinn said he thinks the project will be a “great improvement” to the “Halfway” section of town, named for its location halfway between Saco and Old Orchard Beach. He grew up in a house next to where his grandfather and father began building the cabins in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Long before  they were known as Jeremiah’s Cottages, the 13 cottages were built near the Quinn family house and barn, Quinn said. The cabins – numbered 1 through 12a because no one would rent number 13 – had an outhouse and shower behind them, he said. His father ran a gas station on the property in the early 1930s.

Quinn said his family ran the cottages through the Great Depression but sold them during World War II for $7,500. The cottages were known as Leo’s Cabins in the 1940s then were called Paul’s Cabins for decades, he said. The name was changed to Jeremiah’s Cottages in the past decade.

The Old Orchard Beach Planning Board on June 9 held a public hearing on the project. Two neighbors to the project spoke about flooding issues in the area, which Saulnier said would be addressed by engineering on the property.

Project Manager Bill Thompson said the project “is basically a rebuild” of the 53 cottages currently on the 6.5-acre parcel at 180 Saco Ave.

“We believe it’s a real dress up for that property,” he said.

Buyers will choose from two styles of homes and four or five pastel colors for cottages that will be laid out in pods of five, Thompson said. He said engineering of the site will address storm water runoff. The site was never engineered before, he said.

Michael Urbanski, who lives near the project at the corner of Saco and Hobson avenues, said he is “very concerned” about the “ill-advised” project. He said Saulnier should not have been allowed to put a model home at the site to market the project.

Urbanski said he feels the new cottages will be “crammed and jammed” onto the site with virtually no open space.

“It is an extreme makeover of the area,” he said. “It must be a joke when the project manager said this is just an upgrade. It’s an eyesore. It’s hideous. It’s a monstrosity without any preservation of open space.”

Saulnier said a section of the site will be left as open space that could be used for walking, recreation or picnics.

Urbanski said there have long been flooding issues in the area and further development puts unnecessary strain on the area. He also raised concerns about increased traffic and the placement of a trash compactor next to his property line.

Urbanski said the project will change the area dramatically and should be “whittled down to a more manageable size.”

“I just don’t see it as being a pretty place,” he said. “I see it as an eyesore.”

Arthur Warren, who lives near Jeremiah’s Cottages on Saco Avenue, said he is enthusiastic about the project. He did, however, express concern about flooding issues. He said additional development in the area has increased flooding in his basement in recent years.

Warren said he hoped project engineering and the addition of storm drains would help with the issue.

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.