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Serving Bridgton and the surrounding towns of Western Maine since 1870. Vol. 147, No. 9
24 PAGES - 2 Sections
Bridgton, Maine
March 3, 2016
(USPS 065-020)
Weather . . . . . . . . . . . 6B
www.bridgton.com
SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS
Kent’s Landing payment spikes
IT’S OUR WATER — After packing an inside courtroom, some of the over 100 Fryeburg residents and members of Community Water Justice stood with protest signs outside the entrance to the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland Tuesday. They believe Fryeburg’s water supply is being put at serious risk under a long-term contract between Nestlé Waters of North America and the Fryeburg Water Company, and want the Maine Supreme Court to reject the Public Utility Commission’s approval of the contract. The Justices heard legal arguments and questioned both sides, and will rule on the case at a later date.
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer NAPLES — Ouch. It is like a very expensive Band-Aid that is being pulled off far too slowly. The cost of Kent’s Landing has just spiked upward. That’s because the annual land purchase payments have come due. The payments are for a loan taken out with Maine Municipal Bond Bank (MMBB) six years ago. The waterfront parcel, which allowed the expansion and improvement of the Naples Town Beach, was purchased for $750,000 in 2010. For six years, the Town of Naples has been paying about $16,000 a year in interest only. That has been done in two payments – one due in May and the other in November. Going forward, every November, the annual bill will be more than $40,000. By 2026, the payment on the bond will be more than $46,000. The interest rates increase each year from 3.8% in 2016 to
Supreme Court case galvanizes activists By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer It was standing-roomonly inside the Cumberland County Courthouse Tuesday as the Maine Supreme Judicial Court heard final oral arguments in an appeal on Poland Spring water rights in Fryeburg that has precedentsetting implications in Maine. The six Law Court Justices must decide whether to let stand the Public Utilities Commission’s November 2014 approval of a contract between the Fryeburg Water Company (FWC) and Nestlé Waters of North America,
Where do the assessors stand?
By Dawn De Busk Staff Writer CASCO — It has not been smooth sailing for the Town of Casco’s assessors because the three-person crew was limited to two people for quite a while. That happened when the prior director retired abruptly in October. Within a week, Renee Lachapelle came aboard, at first as the interim director. Currently, Lachapelle is at the helm as Town Assessor and two other employees have been hired to serve Casco as well. Now, the team is navigating a charted course with state-mandated deadlines in mind so that the Town of Casco can make its tax commitment in July. Lachapelle brought the Casco Board of Selectmen up to speed on what tasks have been completed and what is on the horizon. The assessing team will be working on the assets’ list for businesses to determine personal property taxes, she said during a Feb. 23 meeting. There is silver lining for Maine taxpayers, she said. “This year, the legislature approved an increase in the homestead exemption to $15,000, which was an increase of $5,000 from last year. Next year, it will go up another $5,000,”
under its Poland Spring brand. The exclusive contract with the private municipal water utility serving Fryeburg and East Conway, N.H. allows Poland Spring Bottling to withdraw up to 603,000 gallons of water per day from the Wards Brook Aquifer for 20 years, with five 5-year options for renewal for up to 45 years. Contract opponents say the contract, if upheld, would give the world’s largest food and beverage company unfair proprietary advantage over the community’s water supply way too far into an uncer-
tain future when the impact on the aquifer cannot reasonably be known. The contract e xtensions will be negotiated privately without the opportunity for public input. Not only drinking water, but also lake levels and the ability to draw from private wells and irrigate farmland and forests could be adversely impacted, opponents say. Contract supporters, both the Fryeburg Water Company and Poland Spring, counter by saying the contract guarantees priority to the local community’s water use needs and that a long-term contract is
necessary for financial stability and a predictable revenue stream. In addition, sustainability is ensured through a rigorous monitoring program and backed up by continuing hydrological studies indicating that up to 603,000 gallons a day can be pumped safely by the bottled water exporter without impacting local water needs. Bruce Taylor, a resident of an adjacent town, appealed the PUC’s decision in February of 2015 along with the national nonprofit Food and Water Watch. They have long awaited a decision on the
core legal issue of whether the PUC’s approval of the contract violates the water company’s charter, after legal delays ensued over questions surrounding FWC’s corporate status and conflicts of interest among PUC members. Bruce McGlauflin, lawyer for the Food and Water Watch, led off the hearing by stating that the contract’s very generous pricing structure — Poland Spring buys the water in bulk at the same rate as local ratepayers, currently about one-tenth of a cent per gallon — “incentivizes maxiAPPEAL, Page 3A
5.1% in 2021. In addition to the bond payments for the next 20 years, the town will continue to make interest-only payments of slightly less than $10,000, which will be due in May. Naples Budget Committee Chairman Jim Turpin said this is an example of fiscal mismanagement. It is fiscally irresponsible for the town to not pay a single penny toward the principal in the six-year period since the property was purchased, he said. “Kent’s Landing has been a money pit all along and will be all the more so now that $40,000 in yearly payments against (the) principal will need to be accommodated within the town budget,” Turpin said in an e-mail. “It appears to me that Kent’s Landing will cost the Town of Naples in the range of $100,000 per year going forward,” Turpin said. He commented that he did not see a positive cost-benefit ratio. Also, Turpin questioned the purchase price of $750,000 for a piece of property that was actually valued at $717,000, he said. Then, to top it off, the existing building was removed, “leaving the town with a piece of land worth $537,750 (less than we paid for it, much like the Begin lot) at the bargain price of $750,000 plus interest,” Turpin said. According to his calculations, the Naples taxpayers will end up shelling out $1,260,000 for the land purchase. Kent’s Landing, which is part of the town beach parcel on Long Lake, is for the exclusive use of Naples residents. Therefore, there is no user fee for nonresidents; they simply LANDING, Page 5A
Last chance to New Age builders By Gail Geraghty Staff Writer Just as the Bridgton Planning Board was about to nullify the application, the board decided Tuesday to give New Age Builders one more chance to seek approval for a medical marijuana cultivation facility in a vacant industrial building on the Portland Road. Code Enforcement Officer Robbie Baker said the applicants told him they planned to submit a “brand new application” for the business, after coming in unprepared, with conflicting information, back in November. The Planning Board gives applicants three months of tabling actions to give them the opportunity to come up with a completed site plan that the board can then begin to review. That three months was up on Tuesday. Questions arose over who was the actual applicant of the project. Initially it was listed as a contractor, New Age Builders, but at a subsequent meeting the person seeking to grow the marijuana as a licensed caregiver appeared before the board seeking approval. The owner of New Age Builder is also a caregiver, and said he was also the applicant, but the board told them two separate entities cannot operate a medical marijuana growing operation within the same facility. Another confusion arose over language. The initial application stated the planned use was as a dispensary, but in later letters to abutters the use was listed as a cultivation operation. Adding to the difficulty is the lack of specificity about rules governing cultivation operations in the medical marijuana provisions inserted in the Site Plan Review Ordinance that was approved by voters last June. In other action, the board: • Gave final approval to an office and professional buildANOTHER GOLD BALL FOR THE LAKER TROPHY CASE — Damon Knight (left), ing at Sustainable Way, off the Portland Road, that is being Lexus Rodriguez and Ryan Hodgdon each kiss the Gold Ball following the awards cer- developed by Justin McIver of Main Eco Homes, doing busiemony Friday night. The Lakes defeated Ellsworth to capture the Class B title. ness as Criterion Developers. The project is still subject to (Rivet Photo) Department of Environmental Protection approval. • Gave final approval to Chalmers Brothers plans to raze Lachappelle said. qualify if they own a home the 2016 tax year, she said. PLANNING, Page 2A The Town of Casco will and it is their primary resi- Once a person has qualified receive 50% back through dence for at least six months for the tax break, they do not need to re-apply, she said. out of the year, she said. reimbursements, she said. “It is not too often you “If you are currently not “At this point with the homesteads we have on receiving the homestead get a program that helps Established 1870 file,” the Town of Casco is exemption, I would recom- with tax reliefs so the homeP.O. Box 244, 118 Main St. likely to increase its rev- mend you go to the town to stead program is a wonderful Bridgton, ME 04009 complete the form. It has to thing for property owners,” enues $27,118, she said. 207-647-2851 She recommended that be completed by April 1,” Lachappelle said. Fax: 207-647-5001 Prior to sharing that bit of people apply for the home- she said. bnews@roadrunner.com Deadline is April 1 is for stead exemption. People ASSESSING, Page 2A
The Bridgton News