WISCASSET (AP) – Voters authorized the town to acquire 441 acres near the site of the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant Tuesday night as part of a plan to develop the property as a technology park.

The proposal to authorize borrowing $2.7 million to buy and develop the site north of Ferry Road was approved by a town meeting vote of 101-38.

The town could eventually spend more than $4 million for principal and interest payments over 20 years.

Eric Howes, a spokesman for Maine Yankee, said the town’s offer of $1.75 million – an additional $937,000 would go toward installing water and sewer lines – must still be approved by Maine Yankee’s board of directors.

“We’ve indicated that ($1.75 million) is a reasonable amount for the property. The price won’t change,” Howes told voters.

Town officials said the project was an opportunity to promote economic growth and diversify to diversify the town’s tax base.

The Maine Yankee power plant is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2005. During its peak period of operation, Maine Yankee paid annual property taxes of more than $12 million but that amount declined to a low of $1 million last year.

“It’s no secret … selectmen are faced with the decommissioning and the demise of what was once the town’s largest taxpayer,” Director Andrew Gilmore of the town’s Office of Economic and Community Development told the town meeting audience. “The question before you is do we do this by design or by chance?”

Town Manager Larry Cilley identified two businesses that have shown interest in moving into a technology park: TSI, a marine technology company based in Wiscasset, and Rynell, a manufacturer of foam that is used in cosmetic sponges.

Maine Yankee announced in 1997 that it would close.

AP-ES-12-10-03 0215EST