Searsport comprehensive plan faces rescind vote

SEARSPORT – Dan Sylvester won’t say how he’ll vote on a proposal to rescind the town’s comprehensive plan, even though he circulated the petition to put the question on the warrant.

It’s not so much the existence of the plan, adopted in 2002, that troubles Sylvester, but the way it was sold to voters by town officials.

At the time, those advocating approval of the first-ever plan said if the town did not adopt one, the state would impose a more generic comprehensive plan on Searsport.

Sylvester later learned this was not so, since the funds to create plans for towns not meeting their planning deadlines had disappeared years ago.

“That wasn’t the case at all,” he said Monday.

Searsport, with a population of about 2,600, is the third largest town in Waldo County, but until 2002, residents had resisted comprehensive planning. An adult bookstore proposed in the late 1990s – and uncertainty about the future of the port and possible industrial development of state-owned Sears Island – may have tilted some toward supporting the plan.

A comprehensive plan does not have the force of a zoning ordinance, but instead describes in general terms the goals for development in town, designating some areas for residential, some for commercial and some for industrial.

The plan is a required first step for adopting zoning, but the existence of a plan does not mean zoning is inevitable.

Advocates of the plan also note that having one is often a prerequisite for winning state grants.

Sylvester said he has tried for three years to take the issue to a vote. In 2005, the town had not held the required public hearing on the question before the issue was taken up at town meeting, so it was not addressed. Last year, he said, the question did not make it to the warrant.

“Maybe this year, everything will be kosher,” and the question can go to voters, he said.

Sylvester’s petition asking that the plan be rescinded had 139 verified signatures, more than the 114 he needed. The petition called for the question to be decided in a secret ballot vote at the meeting, but a motion to that effect will have to be made from the floor of the meeting.

While he would not reveal how he will vote, Sylvester did say land use planning efforts in town do not seem necessary.

“I think a lot of it is restrictive. We’ve been doing pretty good without since the town has been here,” he said. Sylvester has lived all of his 54 years in Searsport, he said.

Asked about the proposed adult bookstore, and rumors of a Dunkin’ Donuts store coming to town, both of which sparked opposition, he noted that neither had come to fruition, suggesting the plan was not needed.

A public hearing on the question is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8, at Union Hall, with a snow date of Feb. 9.

The town meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, March 10, at the Searsport Middle School/High School complex.

Ballot voting is on Tuesday, March 6. Residents will elect a selectman to replace Jack Merrithew, who did not seek re-election. Candidates for the three-year term are Roland LaReau, who now serves on the town’s Gateway 1 committee, and James Cunningham, who now serves on the SAD 56 board.

Cunningham’s name is also on the ballot for a three-year term on the school board. If he wins both posts, he would have to resign one.

The school board ballot also includes Tom Calderwood for a three-year term. No candidates filed nomination papers for a one-year seat.