Dollar General has lost its bid for signage bigger than Wiscasset allows. The appeals board Monday night rejected the request 3-0-1, John Blagdon abstaining.

Blagdon told Chair Susan Blagden, he’d like to know why the business needs the size it sought for the signs. He said he had no “personal objection” and had been prepared to support the request. Wiscasset has a sign saying it’s business friendly, he said.

“But we’re not business friendly to the extent of flouting the law,” Blagden responded. The two agreed they wished the business had come to the meeting.

“If they’re not concerned enough to be here, what’s the sense of seeing where it goes,” Blagdon said.

Reached by phone later, Dollar General owner Matt Casey deferred comment to a contractor handling the store’s permitting. A contact listed on the appeal did not immediately return a phone message.

In an interview afterward, Blagden, a member for four decades, confirmed she had never had an applicant not appear. “It’s never happened before.” Asked why a postponement was not considered, she said: “I saw no reason for it. They got their notices, as far as I’m aware. And (the variance request) was their initiation.”

She explained to fellow members at the meeting’s outset, they could still determine if the proposal met all the requirements to vary from the sign ordinance. They found it did not.

According to the town’s April 1 denial of a sign permit request, the proposed roadside and wall signs for the business at 277-279 Bath Road measure a combined 194.67 square feet. The town allows up to 150 square feet, the document states.

According to town ordinance and Blagden’s explanations to the board, a variance requires a property's unique circumstances and land that otherwise couldn’t yield a reasonable return; and the proposal can’t alter the nearby character or be due to action the owner or prior owner took.

Members raised no issues with character or prior actions, but came up with no unique circumstances and, as for an inability to yield a reasonable return without the signage variance, Blagden argued: "I don't see that they could possibly meet that requirement."

Plans call for the planning board to sign Dollar General’s plans May 13, chair Karl Olson said in a brief phone interview ahead of the appeals board meeting. The signing did not depend on the outcome of the sign appeal, Olson said.