RANGELEY – Area residents are being encouraged to attend a meeting with the Board of Selectmen and Poland Spring representative Tom Brennan at 6 p.m. today in the Rangeley School gym.
Dubbed an “informational meeting” by selectmen, the meeting comes after an Oct. 4 resolution penned by the board expressing “significant safety concerns” pertaining to Poland Spring Bottling Co.’s application for a pumping station in nearby Dallas Plantation.
“The town of Rangeley is seen as a quaint village running at a slow pace which attracts tourists to its downtown areas,” according to the resolution, and the added traffic of 200 tanker trucks rolling down Main Street every day will jeopardize resident and tourist enjoyment of the area and driving safety. Moreover, the pumping station is slated to take from Rangeley’s water supply, which could become overburdened during the summer months, the resolution stated
At Tuesday evening’s meeting of the Board of Selectmen, Rangeley Crossroads Coalition member Jim Proctor discussed his concerns about the Poland Spring application, saying that if it is approved and the company builds a pumping station in Dallas, “in the summertime you’re not going to be able to keep your doors open, and people aren’t going to park” on Main Street.
Selectman Jim Stone said, “If you’re going to fight this thing, it’s going to be more than just this board” working against it.
He said he hopes townspeople and concerned area residents will attend the meeting and help the selectmen in their efforts to fight the proposal.
Selectman Robert Welch told Proctor, “We need people to show up at this meeting and speak their mind. And we need people to show up at the LURC hearing” next month.
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