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April 27, 2001
Contact: Max Alexander at 207-845-3148 or malex@midcoast.com
CITIZENS UNITE TO FIGHT ASPHALT PLANT IN KNOX COUNTY
WASHINGTON, MAINE. Citizens of rural Washington, Maine have formed a non-profit organization to oppose a plan for a granite quarry that would include an asphalt, cement and rock crushing plant on farmland in their village. The group, called the Land Association of Washington (LAW), is challenging an application by Connecticut-based Lane Construction Corporation for a conditional use permit-similar to a zoning variance-that would allow open pit mining and processing on a 56-acre site in the Damariscotta Lake Watershed.
The issue highlights a less publicized aspect of Maine's growing pains-the increasing need for road-building materials. As coastal communities grapple with retail and suburban sprawl, inland farm towns like Washington are under pressure to provide the raw materials demanded by that growth.
"Nothing like this has ever been proposed here before," says LAW president and Washington resident Robert Marks. "We believe it's illegal, and with good reason: It would devastate a highly protected area of the town." At least one residential real estate deal has fallen through since word of the plant went out.
Washington (population 1,350) is a quiet community of centuries-old farms, rolling blueberry fields and woods, midway between Camden and Augusta. The proposed plant would be built on a highly visible parcel off the Vanner Road, interrupting a scenic vista that is notable enough to be included in a guide book, Maine's Most Scenic Roads (Down East Books, 1998), as well as in the town's own comprehensive plan. The site is zoned as a Farm and Forest District, which according to the town's land use rules is meant "to maintain the fields and forestlands which traditionally have been accepted as part of the landscape." As such it cannot be used for mining without special approval of the local planning board. All industrial and most commercial activities are prohibited.
Lane, a civil engineering firm with annual revenues of $350 million, is claiming that the manufacturing aspect of the plan is an "accessory" to the pit mine. But representatives of LAW disagree, noting that Lane's own application suggests about two-thirds of the necessary materials-including petroleum products-will have to be trucked in from elsewhere. Lane says the plant will be served by up to 100 truck trips per hour at certain times. Says Marks, "It's a smokestack industry, plain and simple."
LAW has sent a letter to the planning board requesting that it hire independent experts to evaluate the plant's impact on property values, town services and the environment, as well as examine potential nuisance factors. Town rules provide that such experts can be hired at the expense of the applicant.
LAW is urging midcoast citizens to attend a public hearing in Washington on May 10 and express their concerns. The group has set up a website at www.penbay.org/law01.html with more information.
LAW Contact: Max Alexander at 207-845-3148 or malex@midcoast.com
