POLAND – Despite concerns of potential traffic problems by several neighbors on Bailey Hill Road, the Planning Board approved a formal site plan for the first phase of the expansion of Poland Spring Academy Tuesday night.

The private school that takes K-12 students is planning to move from leased space at Poland Spring Health Institute to a 140-acre site near Harris Hill Road that the school recently purchased. It is part of a multi-phased development that is likely to include several buildings over a period of several years. The school would open at the new site with three modular classroom structures and one for offices. The academy cannot exceed 90 students in the first phase of the development and would have to seek Maine Department of Transportation approval to exceed 108 students in the second phase, due to more traffic. Eventual plans are to accommodate 300 students. There are no current plans to house students at the site.

Several people who live on or near Bailey Hill Road expressed concerns about traffic safety with parents dropping off their children at the school. The academy owns one 15-passenger van and does not plan to purchase any buses. Students would be dropped off and picked up by parents.

Gaylen Kilgore, an abutting property owner, asked engineer Rick Jones, who represented the academy, about potential interference with a brook that flows through both properties.

Jones responded that the first phase of the development would not cross the brook. It is possible that future phases of development could cross the brook, he said. “We cannot decrease the water flow leaving the site from what it was before the project,” Jones said.

A future second phase of development would include ball fields. A 10,000-gallon water tank and a fire hydrant would be required at that time. Planning Board Chairman Larry Moreau said all future expansions at the academy would have to come before the Planning Board.

Jones said the school hopes to open at the new site in September.

In other business, the board approved a new farm market on Route 11. Megquire Hill Farm owner Peter Bolduc said he expects to open Harvest Hill Farm Market in about two weeks.

The new farm market will be housed in a nearly 800-square-foot building. Bolduc said he hopes to move into a larger building later.

Bolduc said the new market would include a lobster tank.