Windham rejects proposal for subdivision standards

The Planning Board voted Monday not to recommend proposed new subdivision standards to the Town Council that would have prioritized open space and kept the rural character of the town’s subdivisions.

The proposal was formulated by the Long Range Planning Committee, and Planning Director Amanda Lessard presented the new standards at a Town Council meeting June 4. The standards were then sent to the Planning Board for review.

Source:  Portland Press Herald

By downeastlaw, ago

Maine downtowns that turned themselves around

Lately, downtown Bucksport looks a lot like this idealized picture of a downtown, but it wasn’t always that way.

In 2014, after over eight decades of operation, the Verso paper mill shut down in Bucksport. The town was devastated. Over 500 employees lost their jobs, the town tax base shrunk by 40 percent and the economic heart of the town stopped beating.

Source:  BDN Maine

By downeastlaw, ago

State admits it was wrong to resist federal crackdown on oil tank pollution

Maine was wrong to fight a federal crackdown on hazardous emissions from petroleum storage tanks in South Portland and Searsport, a state official now admits, but there is still no consensus on how to safeguard the public from air pollution produced by oil facilities across the United States.

For much of the last decade, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection sided with oil companies and defended a widely disputed method of estimating air pollution from storage tanks that was developed by the petroleum industry, according to documents obtained by the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram under a Freedom of Access Act request.

Source: Portland Press Herald

By downeastlaw, ago

Only One Company Raising Salmon In Maine Right Now

Atlantic salmon farming has made news in Maine recently with construction of a $180 million, indoor salmon farm due to start in Bucksport this fall and another entirely land-based farm seeking permits to build in Belfast.

But so far, the only company raising salmon in Maine is New Brunswick-based Cooke Aquaculture, which has its operation spread between hatcheries in western Maine, pens in the Gulf of Maine and a processing plant in Machiasport. Cooke’s operation, partially on land and partially in pen stocks at sea, differs from the operations proposed in Belfast and Bucksport in key ways.

The company has been raising salmon in Maine since 2004, and it has effectively built itself a salmon monopoly in the Gulf of Maine in that time. Since 2016, the New Brunswick-based corporation has invested about $2 million in its Maine facilities and it expects some growth in its operation over the next two years, according to company spokesman Andrew Lively.

Source: Maine Public

By downeastlaw, ago

Reopening Old Town Mill Expects To Produce Pulp By August

The new owner of the Old Town pulp mill has hired 130 workers and expects the reopened facility will begin producing pulp by the end of July, a major turnaround for a plant that shed nearly 200 jobs when it closed in 2015. More than 1,000 people applied for the open positions at the Old Town mill, which was bought in October by ND Paper, a subsidiary of the Chinese company Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd.

Source: Maine Public

By downeastlaw, ago

Boston Celtics buy the Maine Red Claws

The Boston Celtics have reached an agreement to purchase the Maine Red Claws, their NBA G League affiliate, the Celtics announced Thursday.

The teams have been affiliated since the Red Claws began play in the 2009-10 season. In 2012, the Celtics became the team’s sole affiliate, assuming control of all basketball operations. In the Red Claws first three seasons, Boston shared the affiliation with the Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia 76ers.

“The Celtics have been great partners with the Red Claws over the last 10 seasons,” said Bill Ryan Jr., the Red Claws chairman and principal owner, in a press release. “We are thrilled that the Celtics will continue to build upon the success we’ve had in making the Red Claws an important part of the Maine community.”

Source:  Portland Press Herald

By downeastlaw, ago

Locals have been tricking visitors with this Down East ‘mall’

You’re in Machiasport, wondering what local sites you should check out. A local resident tells you that you really should visit the Bucks Harbor Shopping Mall.

Sounds impressive, right? So you decide to take a look.

You might at first dismiss the observation that the road to the mall is suspiciously narrow, curvy and lined with trees that provide a thick canopy, unlike most multi-laned mall roads. Then, as you pull up to the mall’s parking lot, you see that it’s gravel and large enough for maybe a dozen vehicles. The one-story structure it leads to is not much larger than a double-wide trailer, and it looks like it has been closed for years.

Source:BDN Maine

By downeastlaw, ago