Poland Spring’s application for a water pumping station in Pierce Pond and Spring Lake Townships is on hold for now, according to Catherine Carroll, director of the state Land Use Regulation Commission.

Residents living along Long Falls Dam Road, the 15-mile access road to the proposed project, spoke up at a public meeting Wednesday night in North New Portland and the commission’s staff clearly heard them.

In a telephone interview Friday, Carroll said that she is leaning toward recommending that the permit go to the commissioners for a vote, an unusual request for one of this nature. Staff make permit decisions on a majority of requests in the unorganized territories, deciding on approximately 1,200 annually. This particular request does not legally require the commission’s vote. However, Carroll felt, after hearing the public’s comments Wednesday, that people are disappointed with LURC and did not seem to trust the staff.

“I feel we owe it to everyone, the public and Poland Spring, to go to the commission,” she said.

She would not divulge whether she was recommending for or against the project because it is currently being reviewed by the Attorney General’s Office. She did say that the commission could approve a permit with reasonable restrictions, though she did not say whether any were part of her recommendation.

“It’s precedent-setting,” said Richard Levesque, a resident of Long Falls Dam Road and speaker at Wednesday’s meeting.

“LURC covers a large territory and there is potential for a lot of interest in this resource,” he added, referring to the spring water the company hopes to be able to take from a drainage of Pierce Pond.

Tom Brennan, natural resource manager for Nestle Waters North America Inc., the parent company of Poland Spring, said in a telephone interview Friday, that they are just waiting at this point.

He said that because of the distance of the site from the majority of citizens with concerns, namely those living along Long Falls Dam Road, they were not required to notify them initially and did not anticipate the controversy.

“Once we realized that people were concerned, we sponsored the public meeting (in April),” he said.

He said that the pumping station is intended as a backup only when another station is in disrepair and demand is high. Its remoteness and distance from their bottling facilities and the one way in and out nature of the access road, do not make the site a viable or effective one for regular use, he said. The reason they have asked for 24-hour access any day of the week is to provide for those emergency situations.

“We are looking for other sources closer to our facilities,” he said, adding though, “I hope we get the chance to prove that we will be good neighbors.”

jhausen@sunjournal.com

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