ENFIELD — Officials will require developers of the largest housing development ever proposed in town to dig a new well or add capacity to the existing water system.

The town’s current wells have the ability to support the nearly 300-unit development known as Laramie Farms, but nothing more, Enfield Department of Public Works Director Jim Taylor said during a Planning Board meeting earlier this month.

“But what it comes down to is, ‘Do we want to use all of the capacity on one project?’ ” Taylor said.

Taylor noted that he has fielded many questions from residents about the water system’s capacity to serve the mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments and townhouses that would be built between Route 4 and Maple Street.

The town’s water supply comes from three primary wells.

A fourth well — known as the McConnell Well — is used for backup. The McConnell Well is not used for drinking water because it has uranium levels that exceed state limits and the town currently relies on it primarily during emergencies, such as when there is a fire or water main break, Taylor said.

The town has proposed two options for providing water to Laramie Farms:

• The developers find a viable water source, a well, on the roughly 77-acre property that can be connected to the town’s water system;
• Or the developers could pay to improve the water coming from the McConnell Well.

“We don’t want to shift any burden onto the ratepayers for the water system. We want to make sure we have good quality water and enough of it,” Enfield Town Manager Ed Morris said during the Planning Board meeting.

Morris expressed a preference for the first option.

“I would like to see water come from their property if they could find some,” Morris said during the meeting. He added that the developers improving McConnell Well to make the water quality better was “a good second option.”

The developers would cooperate and continue to work with the town on a plan for finding water for the site, said Karl Dubay, a civil engineer representing developers John Dibitteto, of Maple Street-Enfield Acquisition LLC, based in Bradford, Mass., and Stephen Doherty, of DC Development and Construction, based in Sandown, N.H.

“We agree and support,” what was outlined in the memo, Dubay said during the meeting. “Those expectations are what we would expect.”

The town’s proposal appealed to Planning Board member Tim Jennings, who has previously raised concerns about water capacity for Laramie Farms.

“It’s the exact kind of plan I was hoping to see was going to happen, so I’m satisfied that this issue is being addressed as it should,” said Jennings, who previously served as Enfield’s public works director.

The developers and town officials are working with a third-party engineer to conduct a water capacity study on the property. Jennings spoke in support of the water capacity study and the data it could provide to the town.

“That’s going to answer just a ton of questions and it’ll put us all on the right footing to go forward,” he said.

Ultimately, it will be up to the Selectboard — acting in its capacity as the town’s water commission — to decide if the plan the developers come up with for water use is sufficient, Planning Board Chairman David Fracht said during the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the Planning Board unanimously voted to end Laramie Farms’ design review stage, which began in August.

Next, the developers will submit a final application, where they will present all final details for the project to the Planning Board, which will then evaluate and vote on it.

The developers have already received two variances from the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment:

• One will allow the buildings to be twice the height of the town’s 35-foot limit;
• Another that allows the development to have more than one structure per primary lot.

They also received a special exception that will allow them to cross wetlands to build an access road.

The developers also still needs an approval from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation, because the main entrance for Laramie Farms will be on Route 4, which is a state roadway.