Searsport ideas sought on Sears Island State officials met last week with town leaders in early planning session

SEARSPORT – The Department of Transportation wants to give Searsport first crack at plans for Sears Island.

That’s the word from Fred Michaud, a land use planner with the DOT.

Michaud had been serving as a nonvoting member of a town committee that was looking into uses of the island, but he stepped down recently to avoid a perception of conflict.

State officials met last week with committee Chairwoman Diane Smith and Selectman Joe Perry to discuss plans for the island, Michaud said Monday.

Representing the state were DOT Commissioner David Cole and several others from the department, along with representatives from the departments of Environmental Protection, Conservation, Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, and Marine Resources, and a representative from Gov. John Baldacci’s office.

Representatives of the Sierra Club, which sued in the 1980s to block the state’s construction of a cargo port on the island, also attended the meeting, as did representatives of the Islesboro Island Land Trust and Environment Northeast.

The DOT is developing a memorandum of understanding between the state and the town, Michaud said, which will be put before selectmen in a few weeks for approval. The agreement will define the town’s and the state’s roles and stipulate what the state has offered, such as paying for a facilitator to help the committee.

In addition, that memorandum could include DOT’s assertion that it will retain about 280 acres on the northwest quadrant of the 940-acre island for future transportation-related uses. The acreage, Michaud said, matches the area circumscribed by the road built to the site of the proposed cargo port in the 1980s.

The DOT has no plans for the northwest quadrant, which has access to deep-water shipping channels.

“We basically have land-banked the property,” he said.

The state owns the entire island, Michaud said, and will consider proposals for developing the remaining 660 acres.

“That leaves you quite an opportunity,” he said of the remaining acreage.

The state developed goals for use of those 660 acres, Michaud said, which include economic development, local tax generation, public access, working waterfront activity, habitat preservation and compatibility with a port.

Eventually,the state will seek proposals for the island from stakeholders around the state, from paper mills that rely on shipping to the Sierra Club, Michaud said. Since the town’s voice is often drowned out by those of bigger players, he said, the DOT wanted to invite Searsport to develop its own vision for the 660 acres.

“Nobody’s ever asked Searsport to take the first bite of the apple,” Michaud said.

If the committee develops a concept for the island, such as something that relates to low-impact tourism, the state could seek proposals from developers, he said.

But the committee’s concept, if it develops a consensus on one, will not be endorsed automatically by the state. Rather, it will be included alongside other proposals, Michaud said.

Turning the remainder of the island into a state park or a preserve is unlikely, he said, because that could prevent the state from using federal funds to develop port facilities. Federal money cannot be used to seek permits for developments that would conflict with existing parks and preserves, Michaud said.