AUGUSTA (AP) – A legislative committee gave its blessing Tuesday to a report that sets forth a plan for Sears Island, whose destiny has been subject to decades of debate among conservationists, state officials and developers.

But new questions arose soon after the Transportation Committee voted unanimously to approve the report, which calls for a 601-acre conservation easement while reserving 330 acres for transportation uses on the state-owned island just off Searsport.

Sears Island has been eyed for 40 years by developers who advanced plans that included a refinery, coal power plant, liquefied natural gas terminal and cargo port.

Conservationists expressed their concerns over how those projects would affect the island habitat as well as Penobscot Bay and surrounding communities.

Efforts to reach a consensus on how the island should be used led to the formation of working groups representing diverse interests, which have been holding discussions over the the last couple of years. The settlement is contained in a report that went before the Transportation Committee on Tuesday.

Searsport’s 2,800 residents have been waiting for a decision on the island’s use for decades, town manager James Gillway told the committee.

“We seemed to be at a standstill for many, many years,” Gillway said. He added that the town has lost considerable tax revenues by having no one using the 941-acre island.

Once an agreement was negotiated last year to identify appropriate uses for the island, Gov. John Baldacci assigned a second group representing varied interests to establish a line separating transportation from conservation areas, and also to develop a perpetual conservation easement.

After deliberating the final plan Tuesday, lawmakers balked at signing on until a number of legal and technical questions were answered.

Sen. Christine Savage was concerned about approving the conservation easement before there are any assurances a port facility would be built at Sears Island.

“I will accept the agreement but I must be assured a port will be built there,” said Savage, R-Union.

The committee voted unanimously to accept Savage’s motion to accept the report but to leave the conservation easement unsigned until a permit for a port development on Sears Island has been issued.

The committee’s action could cause the carefully crafted development agreement to unravel because negotiators had carefully avoided linking the port approval to the easement, said Jim Freeman of Friends of Sears Island, one of the negotiators.

“It puts it back in limbo,” said Freeman.