Mount Desert rejects sewer, OKs school addition

MOUNT DESERT – Although voters approved all six state bond issues, a $7.07 million bond for local sewer improvements was narrowly defeated in Tuesday’s election.

The proposal failed by a vote of 363-394, a margin of only 31 votes.

Town selectmen had proposed the bond to improve Mount Desert’s four village sewage treatment plants, which are about 30 years old and showing their age.

In fact, the Otter Creek plant is running afoul of state environmental regulations because its disposal pipe for treated wastewater does not extend far enough into the Atlantic Ocean. To meet regulations, the line would have to be extended nearly a mile, at a cost of $1.5 million.

Selectman Jim Bright said before the election that should the sewer bond fail, the Board of Selectmen would be required to find the $1.5 million in funding for the repair immediately or risk DEP fines.

The bond would have funded closure of the Otter Creek treatment plant, sending its waste instead to the Seal Harbor plant. The bond also would have funded capital improvements to the treatment plants in Northeast Harbor and Somesville.

Voters approved a $5.95 million bond to renovate Mount Desert Elementary School by a wide margin, however.

The construction bond, which will fund a two-year project to improve the circa 1950 school building through renovation and a 10,800-square-foot addition, passed by a vote of 500-256.