Hampden to revisit L.L. Bean call center Retailer scrapped ’89 plans to build in town

HAMPDEN – L.L. Bean just sold to the town a plot of land along Route 202 it tried for years to get rid of, nailing the coffin shut on the company’s decade-old plan to build a call center in town.

Now Hampden wants the sporting-goods retailer back.

At Monday’s Town Council meeting, Mayor Rick Briggs shared news that L.L. Bean no longer plans to build a call center in Oakland for fear that qualified workers will be drawn to a proposed T-Mobile call center in the same business park. Bean could always come back to Hampden, he said.

“We have a nice piece of property we just bought from them,” Briggs said.

Bean purchased the 234-acre property, formerly the southern portion of the Ammo Industrial Park, in 1989 with plans to build a $50 million distribution center. It was to be operational by 1992 with 500 full-time employees.

Five years later, the plans were scrapped, and Bean constructed its Freeport facility. The town purchased the property in November for $360,000, just over half of its assessed value.

The Bangor area has the work force to support the proposed call center, and Bion Foster, Hampden’s economic development director, should contact Bean and Gov. John Baldacci’s office to encourage the company to take a second look, Briggs said.

“I really would like to have him seriously spend some time on this,” he said.

Development also could come to town as a result of amendments to the zoning ordinance approved unanimously at Monday’s meeting.

Among the changes is an amendment that allows conditional use in the village area for fast-food restaurants. That revision could prompt a developer from Dunkin’ Donuts to file an application for a restaurant at the intersection of Route 1A and Western Avenue.

Dunkin’ Donuts franchisee Tony DeCosta has been considering the location, which is home to a Big Apple convenience store, since July.

DeCosta approached the council earlier this year with his plans in the midst of the ordinance revisions. He chose to wait for the process to be completed rather than rush an application and risk a bad relationship with the town, his attorney said in July.

The amendments become effective 30 days from Monday’s meeting, according to town planner Robert Osborne.

In other business Monday, councilors discussed a report from the Secretary of State’s Office that analyzed the accessibility of all polling places across the state in the November election. The report cited two areas in Hampden that do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The entrance to the town office, where polling was held, is a half-inch too narrow, and the threshold to the community room is too high for wheelchair and scooter users, according to the report. New hinges on the main doors and a lip to cover the threshold should solve the problem, according to Town Clerk Denise Hodsdon.

“It sounds like these are simple solutions but we do need to respond,” she said.