EAST MACHIAS – After a six-week delay, a $4.2 million salmon weir on the East Machias River appears to be back on track after Tuesday night’s meeting of the town planning board.

Planning board Chairman Bruce Molleur told an audience of 15 people, including staff from the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission, that the commission had met the requirements for a town permit.

The board will make a final decision, pending consultation with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the town attorney, Molleur said.

If the planning board approves the permit, it will bring an end to weeks of uncertainty about whether the state would have to go to court to carry out one of the most critical components of the Maine Atlantic Salmon conservation plan.

The East Machias is one of eight Maine rivers where wild Atlantic salmon are an endangered species and the purpose of the weir is to keep farmed Atlantic salmon from entering the river and intermingling with the wild fish.

The salmon commission was several weeks into construction of the federally funded weir when the East Machias code enforcement officer issued a June 13 stop-work order, telling the commission it needed a permit from the town before the project could proceed.

The order took the salmon commission by surprise. Weirs have already been constructed on two other Washington County salmon rivers – the Pleasant in Columbia Falls and the Dennys in Dennysville. Neither of those projects required a state permit.

But East Machias has a state-approved comprehensive plan, something that Columbia Falls and Dennysville do not.

The East Machias town attorney and lawyers for the Maine Municipal Association advised the town that a state-approved comprehensive plan meant that the state had to comply with local ordinances.

The salmon commission applied for a permit, but another problem arose. The weir abutment was within 25 feet of a piece of town-owned property. Town ordinances require an abutting landowner to give permission for any structure within 25 feet of his or her property line.

And, despite a letter from Gov. Angus King, First Selectman Bucket Davis said the town could not give the commission permission to build within the 25-foot setback because townspeople were opposed to the weir.

King’s letter apologized for the state’s failure to obtain a local permit and said the state wanted to work with the town “to obtain proper authorization so we may proceed with the project.”

Commission staff solved the setback problem Tuesday night, supplying the board with a construction change order, narrowing the abutment by 3 feet so that it was beyond the 25-foot setback.

Planning board members have been studying the permit application for weeks and they continued to ask clarifying questions on various aspects of the project and the commission’s plan to restore the area after the 10-year life of the weir.

Board members appeared satisfied by the answers they received from commission staff.

“Unless someone can come up with something that the court or the government can’t overrule, they’ve met all the requirements,” said Molleur in response to objections from several residents who oppose the project.

Molleur said the board had never issued a shoreland zoning permit, so he wanted to consult with the DEP and the town attorney.

The commission already has a Natural Resource Protection Act permit for the project from DEP, something that Molleur noted in his remarks. “Of course, you already have one DEP permit,” he told Joan Trial, the salmon commission’s senior biologist and the person who spoke for the staff. “And they don’t usually issue a permit if there is a problem.”

Molleur said once he has obtained opinions from DEP and Town Attorney Ron Mosley, he would call a special meeting of the board and vote on the commission’s permit application.

Molleur said after the meeting that he anticipated a decision by the beginning of next week.

Richard Baker, the DEP’s shoreland zoning coordinator, wrote to Trial on July 24, saying he does not believe Maine’s shoreland zoning law prohibited installation of the weir.