Topsham Planning Board to review early plan for Sky-Hy Conference Center

Topsham’s Planning Board met June 25 in the Don Russell Room to take an early look at 32 Sky-Hy Drive, the Sky-Hy Conference Center, as the 21-acre parcel entered the town’s pre-application and sketch-plan process. The agenda item, listed as “32 Sky-Hy Pre-App & Sketch Plans,” marked the first formal public step before any complete application moves forward.

That stage matters because Topsham’s Planning Board is the town’s administrative board for reviewing site plan and subdivision applications to make sure they conform with local land-use rules and any state and federal requirements that apply. The town’s sketch-plan checklist says the purpose of that review is to give everyone a clear understanding of the project before a complete application is scheduled.

The property itself is one of Topsham’s more unusual commercial sites. The listing describes it as a 21-acre, 21,844-square-foot building that began life as a 1960s ski lodge and later became a conference center with a commercial kitchen, event spaces, office rooms, living quarters and a chapel. It was built in 1963 and is being offered for sale at $1.195 million. A separate listing flags the parcel as waterfront, underscoring how visible and potentially consequential any new use could be for nearby neighbors and for traffic on and around Sky-Hy Drive.

The site also carries a long local history. NELSAP says Sky-Hy Park in Topsham operated from 1962 through the mid-1970s, starting as a family area opened by Howard and Lois Babbidge. The property was later sold to new owners in the early 1970s, and NELSAP says the second owners tried to draw visitors from nearby military bases and obtained a liquor license.

For Topsham residents, the immediate takeaway is not that redevelopment has been approved, but that the property has now entered the town’s formal review pipeline. The June 25 agenda showed the concept was active enough for a pre-app and sketch discussion, and any larger change at the Sky-Hy site would still have to move through additional planning-board review before a final decision could be made.