PENJAJAWOC EASEMENT

An agreement to set aside land for conservation in the heavily developed mall area in Bangor is a positive step in the city’s development and an encouraging result of the city council’s resolve last year to better balance development with environmental concerns. The easement doesn’t settle the question of siting of Wal-Mart Supercenter along Stillwater Avenue, but it sure helps.

There are two related arguments in opposition to this development, with some opponents holding both and others only one. The first is a concern about the spread of huge shopping warehouses – their effect on smaller stores, how they change the feel of a town or city, what they say about people as consumers. The second is environmental: What happens to nature when a 224,000-square-foot store and expansive parking lot are built near many other versions of the warehouse-and-parking combination?

The conservation easement is about the second question only. The state Department of Environmental Protection and The Widewaters Group, would-be developers of the Supercenter, agreed recently to set aside a 27.4-acre lot and provide public access to the nearby Penjajowoc Marsh as ways to mitigate the effect of the Wal-Mart. Some details of the agreement have yet to be made final, causing the Bangor City Council recently to express support but not approval for the deal.

The council’s support is appropriate because it follows its resolve of last year that said development in the Penjajawoc area should “emphasize seeking conservation and/or access easements as new development occurs adjacent to the marsh/stream and be discussed with property owners who wish to preserve open space and traditional land uses.” Residents concerned with the environment may well conclude that setting aside this land would not adequately offset the loss of habitat paved over by the development, and they may be right. However, given the pattern of development in that area over the last 15 years and the city’s past willingness to skim over its comprehensive plan’s passing references to the environment, it is a measurable – albeit state-led – improvement.

A pending court case over whether Bangor’s planning regulations were sufficient in denying the Wal-Mart development means that this debate is not yet over. But Bangor can use this example as it looks to protect what’s left of the area.