March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

DOT presents proposal for Sears Island port > Searsport officials hear industrial-conservation plan

SEARSPORT — The Maine Department of Transportation unveiled for Searsport officials last Monday night a combined industrial-conservation plan for Sears Island to get the stalled cargo port moving again while placating the environmental agencies holding the project at bay.

At a joint meeting of the selectmen and Planning Board, Janet Myers, project manager for the DOT, said the state is proposing that about one-third of the 900-acre island be used for a dry-cargo terminal and industrial park, with the remaining two-thirds set aside in its natural state.

The proposal, Myers said, is designed to mitigate the environmental impact of the industrial development to the satisfaction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA, which has veto power over the port project, contends that the project would cause unacceptable harm to the undeveloped island and is pushing for consideration of alternate sites on the midcoast mainland.

A dry-cargo container port for Sears Island was proposed by the state in 1979. Maine voters approved $14 million in bond issues in 1983 and 1984 for the project.

The Sierra Club raised objections to the port as construction began in 1985, saying the environmental studies performed were inadequate. With a causeway to the island completed and some land preparation and dredging done, a court order brought work to a halt in 1989 while the club’s legal challenges were settled.

Although the legal issues have been decided in the state’s favor, the injunction remains in effect while a supplementary environmental study on previously unidentified wetlands is completed. When that study is finished this summer, new construction permits must be obtained from the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, if the EPA approves.

Although an industrial park is not part of the state’s original plan, Myers said it is included in the proposal because the eventual construction of such a facility has been forecast as a secondary impact of the port.

Myers said not all of the 335 acres earmarked for development would actually be developed. The cargo terminal and industrial park each would use about 100 acres, with the rest of the land providing siting flexibility so the development could avoid wetlands and ecologically significant forests.

Preserving the remaining 606 acres from development, Myers said, “is a proposal we hope will mitigate the environmental impacts by protecting the most significant wetlands and habitat. Our management plan on what to do with the 606 preserved acres may also include upgrading the existing wildlife habitat while allowing some passive recreation such as hiking and bird watching.”

With the entire island now zoned for industrial use, Searsport receives about $250,000 a year in property taxes from the island’s owner, Bangor Investment Corp. The removal of two-thirds of the island from the industrial tax list would severely reduce tax income from the land, Myers said, at least until port and industrial park development brings increased tax revenue from buildings and equipment. Myers estimated that taxes on port equipment eventually could total $200,000 or more, with the taxes from a fully developed industrial park ranging from $246,000 to $391,000, depending on the number of lots created.

Myers said the DOT suggests that the preserved land be held by a state agency or non-profit organization. The department has no preference as to who owns the industrial park.

Tax Assessor Howard Rubin presented the boards with five possible scenarios on the island’s tax-paying future, from the unlikely possibility that the port would be developed and the entire island remain industrial, to the worst-case scenario of the port and industrial park paying about $200,000, with the preserved land contributing less than $1,500 in tree-growth taxes.

Although her company does not relish the prospect of seeing most of its island off-limits for development, Rosemary Hurd said that Bangor Investment Corp. continues to stand behind the port project. “BIC is as committed to the port as we were on day one, and we will continue to cooperate with the state to get it off the ground. Right now, we have no revenue to cover the taxes. We tried a limited forest-management plan, but the EPA stonewalled even that.”

Hurd said BIC realizes there is no hope that the non-industrial part of the island can be put to other uses, such as subdivision development. “We are looking at the impaired development potential of the island, but the only way to bring this to a close is to put our weight behind the DOT and assist them in any way possible.”

With the EPA’s approval of the cargo terminal far from certain, Mayers and Hurd both said there is the devastating possibilty that the agency could deny the project and demand that the causeway be removed. “A residential subdivision accessible only at low tide would be of limited value,” Hurd said.

Myers said that a worse than worst-case scenario has been discussed in meetings with the EPA. “There is the suggestion that they could demand the removal of the causeway on the grounds that the permit that allowed it was flawed. We see the terminal and the causeway as two separate issues, but one that has the potential for litigation.”

The town boards engaged in a discussion on the merits of the terminal project itself, with Planning Board member Randolph Dominic saying he was not convinced a cargo port is in the long-term best interests of Searsport.

Planning Board Chairman Bruce Probert reminded Dominic that Searsport voters have backed the project in the past, and board member Valerie Murphy said the cargo terminal is a modernization of Searsport’s historic seafaring legacy. Selectman Stetson Hills said the MainePort Council, which formed in the early 1980s to drum up support for the bond issues, is rejuvenating itself to meet the Sierra Club head-on.


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