BAR HARBOR – The planning board grappled with a number of legal opinions regarding a proposed subdivision on the Sand Point Road at a public hearing on the project April 16.

The board is set to begin deliberations on the proposal at its May 7 meeting, after closing the public hearing last week.

Brian Shaw’s proposed seven-lot subdivision has drawn criticism from several neighbors, who say that the development will make flooding problems they already experiencing worse, and that soils on the property are too poor to handle any more wastewater.

An attorney hired by two of those neighbors, Mr. Shaw’s attorney, and the town’s attorney, have all submitted opinions on the subdivision proposal in the past several weeks. An outside engineering firm also has weighed in on the wastewater, drinking water, and stormwater management plans proposed by Mr. Shaw’s own engineering firm.

Clifford Goodall, the attorney retained by the neighbors, concluded in an April 7 letter to the planning board that two of the subdivision’s seven lots featured such poor soil that they cannot handle any kind of septic systems and must be denied. The two lots Mr. Goodall recommends eliminating from the plan are on the Sand Point Road, directly across from land owned by the two families that retained Mr. Goodall’s services.

Alison King, representing Mr. Shaw, and Amanda Meader, representing the town, both submitted opinions to the planning board that the standards used in the land use ordinance for judging soil suitability are obsolete and out of date, and that if more modern standards were used, the lots could be developed.

Based on town attorney Amanda Meader’s suggestion, Mr. Shaw requested a modification of standards that would allow the planning board to use more up-to-date standards when reviewing the subdivision proposal, which would theoretically allow them to approve all seven lots.

The modification of standards is one of the items that the planning board members will have to deliberate on when they meet next.

Mr. Shaw’s engineer, Greg Johnston, has stated previously that engineering techniques can be used to overcome poor soils on the site. At the March 19 public hearing on the project, he said that all homeowners will be required to install pretreatment systems for their household waste, which will greatly reduce the amount of nitrates entering the ground. He also said that all of the stormwater flowing off the property will be filtered.

A peer review of Mr. Johnston’s plans, completed by Ransom Engineering of Portland, concluded that with those safeguards in place, the subdivision could be developed as proposed without causing undue groundwater pollution.

Mr. Goodall maintains in an April 10 opinion that the planning board has no authority to modify the standards of a land use ordinance, and that only the board of appeals may do so.