BANGOR (AP) – Local residents gave their approval. So did voters across the state. Now it’s the Maine Harness Racing Commission’s turn.

Shawn Scott will go before the commission next month as he faces the next hurdle to open a racino in Bangor: obtaining a harness-racing license.

Bangor Historic Track Inc., the privately held company that runs Bangor Raceway, currently holds a conditional license. Scott owns a 49 percent stake, but he is expected to take full ownership.

As owner of Bangor Historic Track, an applicant seeking a renewal for the 2004 season, Scott’s license request would take precedence over applications filed by the city and an Iowa-based competitor, according to Henry Jackson, executive director of the Maine Harness Racing Commission.

“This is the first time I’m aware of that there have been more than one applicant” for a racing license for a particular track, said Jackson, who has been with the commission since 1989.

It also is the first time the commission has received a license application from an individual or entity from outside Maine.

A legal resident of Hawaii, Scott has offices in Nevada. He is in the process of opening a racino at Vernon Downs in New York and is a contender for a proposed racino in Hobbs, N.M.

In January, the Maine Harness Racing Commission issued Bangor Historic Track a conditional license for 2003, pending the results of a state-mandated background check on Scott.

The investigation’s purpose was to comply with state law governing harness-racing licensing, which requires that applicants and their associates and creditors be of “good moral character” and that applicants be “financially responsible.”

The results of the investigation have yet to be made public.

Henry Jackson, executive director of the Maine Harness Racing Commission, said this week that the report would be made available after it has been submitted to the five-member racing commission.

After a series of postponements, licensing proceedings now are set to begin on Dec. 15, Jackson said. Meeting space has been reserved at the Augusta Civic Center for the entire week.

In addition to Scott, Iowa-based Kehl Management and the city of Bangor also submitted applications to the Harness Racing Commission.

City Solicitor Norman Heitmann said that the city is not competing against Capital Seven’s request. The point, he said, is to keep the city’s options open should Scott fail to obtain a license.

AP-ES-11-06-03 1431EST