Bangor panel OKs Widewaters retail site plan

BANGOR – The New York-based company that has been trying for five years to develop a 26-acre site near the Bangor Mall and the Penjajawoc Marsh finally won site development plan approval Tuesday, though not for the project it originally planned.

Widewaters Stillwater Co. LLC had planned to put a 224,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store on the site. However, a backlash from environmentalists proved to be that project’s downfall.

After spending the last two years regrouping and working with the city, state transportation and environmental officials and local groups, Widewaters returned with a downsized plan calling for a 142,000 square foot retail shopping center.

That was the plan unanimously approved during a marathon planning board meeting Tuesday night at City Hall.

During the meeting, Widewaters architect and executive Kevin Kane attributed the site plan approval to the work of the city’s Penjajawoc-Mall Area Stakeholders Task Force, which brought together representatives of the city, the environmental and development communities, local land trusts and property owners.

The group, established by the City Council, was given the mission of seeing if a balanced approach could be developed for the area that protected the ecologically sensitive marsh while allowing for continued commercial development.

“I think the City Council should be proud of having the vision to take on a task that only they could do,” Kane said.

The group, which began meeting in January, issued a final report and recommendations that recently were adopted by the council.

“I am proud to say that the application that is before you is in complete harmony with those recommendations,” said Kane, who served on the task force.

The proposed shopping center will consist of seven attached buildings and four satellite buildings that will be served by a 727-space parking lot.

Its main entrance will be from Stillwater Avenue via a drive between Circuit City and Chili’s.

A cost figure for the shopping center has yet to be developed, Kane said, though he confirmed Monday it would be a multimillion dollar project.

Kane said Widewaters spent an “enormous” amount of money in its unsuccessful attempt to get the Wal-Mart project approved and after it wasn’t, its reputation with the nation’s largest retailer was damaged.

The developer has yet to line up tenants for the development because “no one in the national retail community believed we could pull this off.”