Panel aims to draw port, conservation boundaries

SEARSPORT – A dozen members of the Sears Island Joint Use Committee, meeting for the first time Wednesday, touched on some of the issues expected to both unite and divide them.

The new group was formed in April by a landmark agreement forged by the Sears Island Planning Initiative committee, which worked under the auspices of the state Department of Conservation for a year.

That committee included 40-plus stakeholders, with representatives of groups wanting to preserve the entire 941-acre island, and others wanting to develop a port on the state-owned parcel’s western shore.

While the planning committee came to terms on several key issues, including calling for 600 acres to be conserved and 341 acres to be set aside for a possible port, it left several important tasks for the joint use group.

The 15-member joint use group is composed mostly of veterans of the larger planning committee. Only those who endorsed the agreement on the concept of preserving and possibly developing a portion of the island could serve on the new group.

The most difficult task the joint use committee faces is drawing boundary lines between the 600 acres and the 341 acres, something the earlier group could not achieve.

Most agree the port area generally will include the northwest portion of the island, where a road and jetty were built when the state tried to develop a cargo port there in the 1980s and 1990s.

But the actual shape of the parcel may be dictated by permitting requirements, say those advocating for a port, while the conservationists on the panel worry about developing environmentally sensitive areas.

Another wrinkle is that any of the 341 acres not needed for the port will revert to the conservation area.

The new panel must also develop deed restrictions for the conservation portion, address public access to the island, create a way for the island to produce revenues for the town, and plan for the likely mitigation required by permitting agencies if a port is developed.

Though there was no real conflict during Wednesday’s three-hour session, when committee members agreed a resource inventory would be a good first step, some old wounds were reopened.

There are volumes of natural resource studies generated during the port permitting bid of the 1980s and 1990s, but committee member Jim Freeman said some of that data was inaccurate then.

Deane Van Dusen, an environmental mitigation program manager for the Department of Transportation, pledged to provide the committee with only the most up-to-date and accurate data.

When the subject of how the group would make decisions was raised, committee member Bob Grindrod, president and CEO of the Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, said he would resign if the group began splintering into 8 to 7 votes. Members agreed to work toward consensus for much of its work.

DOT Commissioner David Cole, who is leading the committee along with Searsport Town Manager James Gillway and Searsport resident Dianne Smith, opened the meeting highlighting the significance of the effort.

“It feels like we’re making history,” Cole said, with a concept agreement in place after several decades of conflict over the fate of the island.

Gillway said as he chats with residents in Searsport, he has heard encouraging words.

“Generally, folks in town were very pleased to see we’re making some progress,” he said, and that in speaking with family and friends in surrounding towns, he’s heard the same sentiment about the agreement.

Sen. Dennis Damon, D-Trenton, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Transportation Committee, will serve as an unofficial committee member. He said he was pleased the earlier group found consensus, and signed a letter endorsing the agreement.

“We have a unique asset in Sears Island,” he said, and while some have argued the state has enough protected areas, Damon does not agree.

“Every bit of our natural environment is important to us,” he said.

At the same time, Damon said he agreed with those who say there are very few places in Maine where a world-class port can be built, and Sears Island is one of them.

The committee’s next meetings are 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sept. 20, Oct. 18 and Nov. 15; the group will meet at Searsport’s Public Safety Building.

Information about the group will be posted on the DOT, town of Searsport and Conservation Department Web sites.