SANDY RIVER PLANTATION – Fearing for the fate of the tourism industry in Rangeley, residents overwhelmingly opposed a plan by Poland Spring Bottling Co. to build a pumping station in nearby Dallas Plantation.
“Make no mistake, (Poland Spring’s) plans for this community will be devastating to Rangeley,” Sandy River Plantation resident Cathryn Thorup testified during a public hearing at Saddleback ski resort Wednesday. “Tourists are not interested in coming to a rest stop along a major tanker thoroughfare. Our economy will not suffer, our economy will be crippled. This initiative will cost us jobs, as tourists stay away from our hotels, away from our restaurants and away from our shops,” she continued.
“This community is under attack,” agreed Linda Robinson, a resident of Rangeley Plantation and member of Crossroads Coalition, an ad hoc regional comprehensive planning group.
Six new subdivisions are being created annually in the region, according to Town Manager Perry Ellsworth.
“It’s death by a thousand cuts,” Robinson said.
The pumping station, if approved by the commission, would allow up to 100 tanker trucks to travel daily through downtown Rangeley and permit the company to pump up to 184 million gallons of water annually from the same aquifer served by Rangeley’s water district.
Testimony on Wednesday indicated that the Rangeley Water District has no significant concerns about drawdown of the aquifer as a result of Poland Spring’s proposed operation.
But truck traffic from the Dallas spring would be highest during the company’s peak summer demand, which coincides with Rangeley’s busiest tourist season – a fact that seemed most worrisome to residents.
An estimated 200 people attended the five-hour hearing.
According to Alan Bubier, fleet manager for Poland Spring, a pumping station in Pierce Pond Township north of New Portland, which has operated under similar restrictions for the past year, currently loads between five and 30 trucks daily and has not operated on weekends.
If the Dallas plan is approved, the company would send their trucks from Redington Road north of Rangeley, not just through Rangeley village on Route 4 or Main Street, but up Route 16 through Stratton to lessen traffic, he said.
With bottling plants in Poland and Hollis, the company is looking for additional sources of spring water to meet increasing demand. They are considering building a bottling plant in Kingfield and already utilize the pumping station in Pierce Pond Township.
Supporters, mostly from Franklin County but few from the Rangeley region, cited spring water as a renewable resource and a clean, nonpolluting industry that will provide jobs to the region.
Although a Kingfield bottling plant could provide up to 200 jobs, permits for it have yet to be filed and residents of the Rangeley region are loath to sacrifice their outdoor heritage and tourism industry for jobs that may not materialize.
“The economy in the area is past disaster,” said Jack McKee of Kingfield, a water district trustee in his town that may someday host a bottling plant. McKee spoke of the importance of regionalization.
“We can’t live in Kingfield and ignore Carrabassett Valley,” he said.
But others disagreed.
“I can’t believe how quick the rest of Franklin County is to sell us down the river,” said David McMillan, a Rangeley dentist who “commutes” by foot each day across Route 4, the proposed trucking route.
A public comment period on the proposed Poland Spring pumping station in Dallas Plantation will last until Nov. 14, with a rebuttal period ending on Nov. 21, at which time the file will be closed to public comment.
Interested parties should reference Development Permit DP4721 and send their comments to Marcia Spencer Famous, senior planner, at: State of Maine, Department of Conservation, Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0022. People may also send e-mail to her at [email protected]. The commission’s telephone number is 287-2631.
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