WINTER HARBOR – Representatives of a proposed 3,200-acre development project on the Schoodic Peninsula will hold their first meeting next month to outline publicly what they already have discussed privately with many stakeholders.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, at the Peninsula Elementary School for residents of both Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro.

“We’ll be giving the same presentation we’ve been giving to a number of different groups for the last few weeks,” said Steve Ribble of Ames A/E Architects & Engineers, a Bangor-based company that is working with consulting firm Maine Street Solutions of Augusta on the project.

The discussion of a development project on a large tract of land adjacent to the Schoodic Point Section of Acadia National Park began late last month. Landowner Bruno Modena of Italy hired Maine Street Solutions to begin looking into the possibility of an “ecoresort” that combines land stewardship with sustainable development.

Michael Saxl, a former Maine legislator and speaker of the House who now heads the Augusta consulting firm, said he’s looking forward to meeting with the public and putting an end to rampant speculation.

“We’ve already met with a number of stakeholders, but we’re really still trying to see if what we’ve been discussing is possible,” he said.

A site plan for the project, which was submitted to the Winter Harbor planning board earlier this week, includes plans for two hotels, a golf course and a number of potential housing options. That plan is by no means final.

The development was discussed at a regular meeting Thursday night of the Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit conservation group affiliated with Acadia National Park. About 75 people attended that meeting, but since no representatives of the developer were there, most questions went unanswered.

“We don’t know much more than has been presented, but we’re certainly not going to snap to any judgment,” said Erin Hitchcock Fogg, a representative of Friends of Acadia who was at the meeting. “It’s important they have the opportunity to present their plans.” Ribble said the developers have been communicating with many different stakeholders and conservation groups, including Friends of Acadia.

“We understand that each has a different stake and all we’re asking them to do is please walk down the road with us a little ways. At every intersection they have the right to turn right or left, or keep going along,” he said. “There seem to be all these red flags out there, but so far we haven’t done anything yet. We just want opinions.”

Ribble did admit that developers may have unintentionally caused a rift among local planners because they didn’t go to them first.

“A project like this is new ground in this area, but the approach that we’re trying to take is also new,” he said. “I think it will all work out in the end.”

Saxl said last month that the development could be an enormous economic opportunity for the two Schoodic Peninsula communities that have been distressed since the closing of a former U.S. Navy base in 2002.

The land, which has been owned for years by the Modena family, was at the center of controversy in 1996 when Winter Harbor Properties Inc. harvested timber on 2,400 acres. Around the same time, the owners considered dividing the land into as many as 2,000 house lots, but those plans never materialized.

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