KINGFIELD – Water District trustees voted unanimously Wednesday night to consider making an agreement with Poland Spring Water Co. to build a pipeline along Route 142 to connect a proposed bottling plant to the pumping station.
Poland Spring, which is in the process of submitting an application to build an $80 million bottling plant in the town, sought the agreement when it learned a few weeks ago that only utilities are allowed rights of way on state roads.
The question is, according to Poland Spring representative Tom Brennan, “are we a utility?”
A company that sells bottled water to the public might not be considered a utility, he said. “Because of that concern, we’ve tried to find an alternative, and the obvious approach is to just ask the Kingfield Water District to take over the pipe, and then there would be no concern about the wording,” he said.
The company would pay for building and maintaining the line, and the district would then lease it to the company, for a profit.
The district can still back out of the agreement.
Lawyer Greg Cunningham told district Chairman Bob Barnes and the others that, by agreeing, they were only saying OK to considering an agreement in the future.
It’s “essentially an agreement to agree, if these conditions are met,” like a purchase and sale agreement, Cunningham said.
It would be an interim step allowing the application process to go forward. Details would be worked out later. If the district is unhappy with Poland Spring’s offer, trustees can later say no.
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