BANGOR – Bangor Historic Track’s conditional license will go into effect today despite a last-ditch effort by CasinosNo! to derail it in court. But it will be months before the track’s owner begins operating slot machines at the site.

Penobscot County Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead denied a motion Friday afternoon to stay the decision of the Maine State Harness Racing Commission to grant the conditional license to Penn National Gaming, owner of the Bangor track.

However, Mead “fast-tracked” appeals of the commission’s decision made earlier this week. Mead met with attorneys after Friday’s hearing in Penobscot County Superior Court to discuss scheduling so he can rule on legal challenges by March 31.

The harness racing season is slated to open May 21 in Bangor.

James Kilbreth, the Portland attorney representing CasinosNo!, said after the hearing that the result was not unexpected and noted other challenges were still to be made.

“There was no basis for a stay,” said BHT’s attorney Peter Culley of Portland after the proceeding. “The commission made a very lawful decision.”

Kilbreth argued in court that the conditional license for Penn National Gaming, which plans to develop a racino in Bass Park, combining harness racing with year-round slot machine gambling, would allow slots at the racetrack on opening day.

Attorneys for BHT countered that in a letter to Gov. John Baldacci earlier this month, the owners of Penn National said they would not install slots until the Legislature had finished creating the regulations that would govern them.

In addition to CasinoNo!, which engineered the defeat of November’s referendum to build an Indian-run casino in Sanford, the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe also have appealed the commission’s decision. Both lawsuits claim that commissioners erred when they voted 3-1 to deny the tribes and CasinosNo! intervenor status.

The Christian Civic League of Maine also was denied intervenor status, but has not filed an appeal.

George McHale, chairman of the commission, on Friday left his duties as a play-by-play announcer at the high school basketball tournament being held this week at Bangor Auditorium to represent the commission in court. McHale asked the justice to continue the matter until the commission could find an attorney to represent it at legal proceedings.

Ordinarily, staff in the Maine Attorney General’s Office would represent a state agency such as the Harness Racing Commission in court. However, Attorney General Stephen Rowe on Thursday informed the commission that it would have to obtain outside council because it previously rejected legal advice on the matter provided by his office.

The Attorney General’s Office advised the commission earlier this month that the tribes did have intervenor status in the licensing process.

In his letter to the commission, Rowe added that constitutional issues regarding the installation of slot machines at the raceway would have to be reviewed by his office. “It is important that this office retain its autonomy to offer its opinions to the court on these issues,” he wrote.

McHale said that the commission was having difficulty finding an attorney or law firm to represent it who had the staff to handle the complex issues involved and who did not have a conflict of interest. Attorneys in the state’s largest firms already have been hired to represent interested parties, he said.

The longtime Bangor broadcaster, best known as George Hale, said after the hearing that he was pleased with Mead’s decision and felt the expedited schedule would allow the legal matters to be settled in time for the opening day of harness racing season.