Town mulls Poland Spring

KINGFIELD - Planning Board Chairman David Guernsey asked members Monday night to consider their obligation if Poland Spring Water Co. seeks to build a pumping station or bottling plant in Kingfield.

Company representatives met with town residents Jan. 25 to answer questions about the possible project, which could bring more than 200 jobs to the area.

Guernsey said the land on West Kingfield Road, where the company is hoping to find a viable aquifer to sustain a bottling plant, would require a conditional-use permit because it would mean changing the zoning from residential and forest to commercial use.

"We have the responsibility and authority to negotiate this for the town," he said at Monday's meeting at Webster Hall.

It's not like a farmer in the area putting in an additional well to sustain a larger dairy herd, agreed board member Betty Ann Listowich. The taking of water does not require any special permit, she added.

Board members had several questions about the proposal, including whether the company's aquifer withdrawal would change the quantity or quality of water from the town's well. That well would be downstream in the recharge area from the company's proposed site. Also, if there were a change and the town's well needed to be moved, who would pay for the move, they asked.

Listowich, who attended the January meeting, said she believes there is almost a limitless quantity of water in the town's aquifer.

"Eighty percent of the town is on top of the aquifer," she said.

She also said she was impressed with the company's representatives.

"I was impressed with their candor, there was not a lot of slick talking," she said. "Neighbors who live on the West Kingfield Road breathed a collective sigh of relief," she added.

First Selectman John Dill told members that a pumping station for the company is a sure thing. The bottling plant, however, is still questionable. Either way, the project will have Department of Environmental Protection oversight, he said.

A bottling plant is a lot cleaner industry than a paper mill, said Guernsey. The water district should be commended for setting up the meeting, he added.

Nestle Waters North America Inc., the parent company of Poland Spring, has been looking for sites elsewhere in Franklin, Somerset and Oxford counties, including a site for a pumping station in Dallas Plantation near Rangeley.