Maine Meat's big project with restaurant, Kittery pot shop both approved: What to expect

KITTERY, Maine — Maine Meat has been granted the permits it needs to relocate and expand, adding a restaurant and bar. It's a project that's being hailed as key to the continued growth of the Foreside area downtown.

Separately, a retail marijuana business on the Kittery traffic circle has been approved, too.

The Kittery Planning Board approved both projects after a final review April 11.

Maine Meat adding restaurant, taking over Best Automotive building

Maine Meat, co-owned by Shannon Hill and Jarrod Spangler, will take over and renovate the Best Automotive repair shop building at 2 Rogers Road. The existing building will be transformed into Maine Meat's new butcher shop, while a 2,076-square-foot addition will house a new 45-seat restaurant and bar.

Hill and Spangler will eventually close Maine Meat's original 7 Wallingford Square location to move the business into its new home.

The proposal received vocal and written support from numerous community members, including restaurateur Michael Landgarten, Hill and Spangler’s former landlord at 7 Wallingford Square.

“Many towns have had economic revivals. Because of businesses like Maine Meat, Kittery has an economic revival with a soul. And now Maine Meat is ready to expand and grow,” Landgarten, the founder and former owner of Lil’s Cafe and other Kittery restaurants, wrote to the Kittery Planning Board. “They have wisely and fortunately for us set their sights on a critical corner in the Foreside neighborhood. Standing at the intersection of multiple well-traveled streets their meat shop and new restaurant will, once complete, serve as a hub that connects now disparate parts of downtown.

“It will make Walgreens, Tributary and Blue Mermaid feel closer to The Rice Public Library, Lil’s, et al," Landgarten added. "Suddenly Traip Academy won’t feel so isolated. This will enliven that corner similar to the way the development of 7 Wallingford Square woke up the downtown. And it will do so with already established and admired local business owners at the helm making the evolution of the downtown feel organic and natural, which is rare nowadays.”

Best Automotive, owned by Cissy Furbish, has remained open at 2 Rogers Road for now.

Marijuana shop coming to Kittery traffic circle after all

Mitch Delaney, owner of the medical marijuana shop Indico, will convert a nearby State Road parcel that is currently home La Casita restaurant and a single-family housing unit into a recreational cannabis shop.

The 181-185 State Road site at the town traffic circle is planned to be demolished to make way for a new, 2,000-square-foot, adult-use marijuana shop, the third one approved in Kittery.

“The new business would be sited in roughly the same location as the existing restaurant, and one curb-cut would be removed,” project records state. “The applicant proposes a one-way entrance off the traffic circle, and a one-way exit onto the spur road between the traffic circle and highway on-ramp. Parking is met in excess of the minimum requirements, and the applicant proposes sidewalks internally and along the frontage of the entire lot. The proposed development would connect to existing Town water, sewer, and electric utilities.”

Delaney was selected at random in a fall 2021 lottery held by the town to determine the ranking order of who could apply for a retail marijuana business license. The board’s final approval Thursday caps off a multi-year effort for Delaney to bring his business model to the traffic circle, a short distance from Indico’s 120 State Road storefront.

During the sketch review of the proposal in late 2022, previous Planning Board members denied the plan, citing concerns over traffic the shop could bring to the roundabout and potential problems for emergency vehicles passing through. The plan was denied before Delaney and his team could offer the results of a traffic study, leading to Delaney filing an appeal in York County Superior Court.

The town later deemed the board to have erred in its rejection of Delaney’s proposal and agreed for him to resubmit the plan for review.

The 181-185 State Road properties are both owned by Penn Concessions LLC, the registered agent for which is York attorney David Ballou, according to town property records and state business filings.

Mike Sudak of Attar Engineering represented both applicants at the evening meeting.