When the Edgecomb planning board meets Thursday, Feb. 7, it will be asked to review and approve the site plan for a Midcoast Gateway Visitor Information Center and market/café on Route 1.

Scott Larson and Bruce Harris, partners in Water’s Edge Development, LLC, got the 5,000 square foot retail space near the Sheepscot Harbor Village and Resort in October 2018. They surveyed residents and guests staying at the resort and asked what type of service would be most appreciated. According to Larson, “A food outlet was among the things that were requested the most often.”

Combined with this was Larson’s vision to encourage those traveling on Route 1 to turn onto Route 27. “We are trying to get people driving north to come to the Midcoast. We want to promote the surrounding towns like Edgecomb, Newcastle and others.”

“All of this is subject to Edgecomb planning board approval,” he said in a phone interview with the Boothbay Register.

What will come before the planning board Thursday evening is the site plan for the storefront building that would be divided into two spaces. About a third of the space, on the right section of the building, would become the Midcoast Gateway Visitor Information Center.

The remaining two thirds of the space, on the left, will be a market-café. “The market-café would offer coffee, baked goods, pizza, sandwiches, soups and other provisions,” Larson explained.

The three associations that make up the resort include 70-80 condominiums, some occupied year-round, some seasonally and some as rentals.

“Water’s Edge Development is the landlord seeking to make some improvements to the building,” Larson said. He and Harris believe they have tentatively found a tenant for the Visitor Information Center and will be looking for owner-operators that would be complementary to the resort operations in the market-café section.

If the planning board approves the proposed site plan, they hope to have the visitor center and market-café open by the beginning of the season.