Township sawmill project falls through

AUGUSTA – It appears that a Pennsylvania developer’s proposal to build a $60 million sawmill in Sapling Township in Somerset County has been scrapped.

Edward “Ted” Marra, president of SMIS Group LLC of West Chester, did not exercise his sales option for the purchase of a 300-acre parcel of land owned by Plum Creek Timber Co. where the development was proposed.

“The option to purchase the land has expired,” Kathy Budinick, Plum Creek Timber Co.’s director of communications, confirmed Friday.

Greenville and state officials had worked hard to bring the project and its 100 jobs to the region. Greenville officials held closed-door discussions with Marra for about a year before the project became public. Marra had initially eyed Greenville for the development because of the combination of wood, rail and three-phase power in the community but the local industrial park was not big enough for the project. Marra then proposed building the sawmill in Sapling Township about 12 miles from Greenville.

Since the option expired Oct. 31, the Land Use Regulatory Commission, which has jurisdiction in the unorganized territory of Sapling Township, is required by law to return the businessman’s application, Catherine Carroll, LURC director, said Friday. She said the LURC staff had been prepared to recommend the project be approved.

Calls to Marra for comment were not returned Friday.

Gov. John Baldacci, who earlier credited his Pine Tree Development Zone Initiative as the biggest incentive for the company’s proposal to build in Maine, was disappointed at the news, his spokesman said.

“The governor is committed to making the mill [location] a Pine Tree designation and will work with anyone to make that happen,” Lee Umphrey, the governor’s spokesman said Friday. “Unfortunately this has fallen through, but we will keep trying to restart it.”

There are no answers as to why the project was dropped, according to Jeff Sosnaud, deputy commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Community Development, whose office had worked closely with Marra. “We’re very sorry that it does not appear to be going forward,” he said Friday. “We have reached out and offered to sit down and see what can be done, but at this point the developer has not taken us up on our offer.”

Disappointment also was expressed Friday by Greenville Town Manager John Simko. “It would be a shame to give up on him until we know for sure he’s not going to do this.”

Even if the project does not go forward, he said, Piscataquis County officials will do all they can to promote another project in the area, he said.

“Every time somebody comes forward with a project like this, it just galvanizes the strength and cooperation of all the folks who work together on economic development in Piscataquis County and statewide,” Simko said.

Much was done to clear the path for the high technology sawmill, including a zone change. LURC rezoned 90 of the 300 acres between Greenville and Rockwood Strip from general management to a commercial industrial development subdistrict to allow the development. That zone change will remain in effect, according to Carroll.

“We [LURC staff] were all working very hard to make this happen for Mr. Marra and for it to just go away in a puff of smoke is very sad,” Carroll said. “It doesn’t have a very happy ending.”

LURC had planned to take action on the application at its September meeting but Marra was unable to attend, so the matter was tabled, Carroll said. Marra said he would call and let them know when he was ready, but there was no response from him and the sales option expired, Carroll said. Calls that she placed to Marra also were not returned.

“I don’t know why he didn’t come back,” she said. “I’m saddened and disappointed that it didn’t work out for Mr. Marra.”

State economic development officials have been working with Somerset County commissioners to amend that county’s Pine Tree Development Zone application to include the Sapling Township property so the company could qualify for the benefits of the economic development program.

The door is still open to Marra or any other developer, according to Budinick of Plum Creek. She said her company is willing to renew the sales option with Marra or coordinate with local economic development officials to identify another developer.