Department of Conservation plans Sears Island meeting

AUGUSTA – A meeting on Jan. 23 to discuss the planning process for Sears Island in Searsport will gather many of the players in the debate over use of the state-owned property.

Karin Tilberg, deputy commissioner of the Department of Conservation, has been given the task of convening representatives from groups that want to preserve the island, or limit use to light recreation, and from groups that want to be sure its deep-water port potential is retained.

“There are a number of very interested parties and entities,” Tilberg said, including the town of Searsport, and the state Department of Transportation, which administers ownership of the 941-acre island.

The goal is “to ensure a fair and substantive, thorough and deliberative process,” she said.

In late 2004, DOT encouraged the town to form a committee to study uses of the island. That group completed its report in the fall. The report includes a list of acceptable uses, most of which are recreational and educational in nature, though some commercial activities and limited lodging were also listed.

Throughout last year as the committee completed its work, DOT has maintained its intent to reserve 280 acres on the northwest portion of the island for potential transportation uses.

DOT also has said the town’s report would serve as a starting point for planning, but that statewide input would be sought before any final decisions were made.

Meanwhile, another local group formed, including residents of Searsport and surrounding towns, and representatives of environmental coalitions, calling itself Protect Sears Island. That group hired a consultant to help it craft a more finely tuned plan for the island, which called for more narrowly defined recreational uses.

PSI members have argued the state needs to relinquish the entire island to recreational uses for any plan to work.

At the same time, groups such as the Maine Better Transportation Association have lobbied the Legislature not only to retain the deep-water access, but also to ensure a buffer of land around any port use be maintained to avoid future conflict between recreational and industrial uses.

Needless to say, the next step for Sears Island – the statewide planning process – is fraught with the potential for conflict and accusations from each side.

Tilberg, a lawyer, said she has experience working with complex negotiations and hopes to assuage concerns any of the parties have about the coming planning process.

Among the questions she hopes to work through on Jan. 23 in Augusta are where to hold planning sessions; who will be invited; how to ensure fairness; and whether a facilitator will be hired.

Those invited to the Jan. 23 session include: a representative of the Sierra Club; Steve Miller of the Islesboro Island Land Trust and PSI; Astrig Tanguay, a member of PSI and of the town committee; Maria Fuentes, director Maine Better Transportation Association; David Gelinas representing the Penobscot Bay and River Pilots Association; John Melrose of Maine Tomorrow; Tim Love of the Penobscot Indian Nation; and Selectman Joe Perry, Town Manager James Gillway and Dianne Smith from the town of Searsport.

Also included in the meeting will be Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Hancock, and Sen. Carol Weston, R-Waldo, and representatives of the State Planning Office, DOT, Department of Conservation, Department of Economic and Community Development and a senior policy adviser from the governor’s office.

The fact that the Conservation Department is now working on Sears Island matters does not mean it is taking over management of the property, Tilberg said.

“I wouldn’t read any more into it,” she said.