Work continues on County resort study

CARIBOU – The Northern Maine Development Commission and the Aroostook Partnership for Progress went online this week seeking parcels of property in Aroostook County that potentially could become part of the plan to have a resort or resorts in The County.

Two months ago, members of a resort development team visited Aroostook County to familiarize themselves with the area while they do a feasibility study of development. Global Research Inc., which consists of three companies involved in resort development, went around The County by land and air.

The NMDC and APP are hopeful that positive results will come from the resort study. The report is expected by the end of the year.

“We are cautiously optimistic,” Shawn Manter, tourism and development specialist with the NMDC, said Thursday. “We are now soliciting potential sites for tracts of land.

“The final decision on land will be up to developers, but we want to have potential sites in advance,” he said. “We are compiling data.”

People who believe they may have suitable land may go on-line at www.nmdc.org and fill out a simple form. Manter said the site came online this week.

Landowners need to know that the request is in no way an offer to buy or broker transactions, but only a collection of information during the planning effort.

The entire process for resort development is a four-phase process. The project is now in its second phase, which is soliciting and finding potential sites.

While a decision is up to developers of projects, Manter said he and his colleagues are looking to compile data for them. The data will be given to the consulting team.

Manter said the entire proposal is a monumental task.

He said the group is looking at many different styles of development, even development in several areas that can be tied together from one end of the county to the other.

He said there is a potential for vacation homes, condominiums, time-share units or a resort type of development.

“We don’t want to limit our options,” Manter said. “We are looking for any sort of development, all over Aroostook County.

“It may even be smaller resorts in different parts of The County, tied together through some form of trail system,” he said.

Part of the feasibility study done by the GRI will be a survey of 10,000 households to find out what they know about Aroostook County and to see whether they would be interested in being in The County.

The entire effort is part of a $200,000 look at resort development. The plan is funded by APP and the NMDC and grants from state and federal agencies.