With interest heating up in two areas Wiscasset owns, town staff are recommending the selectboard "pause" from putting on its agenda any proposals for those properties. The board will consider the pause Tuesday night, Nov. 4.

The agenda item reads: "To accept the Town staff recommendation to pause any further acceptance and discussion of any further tax-acquired property development proposals on future Selectboard meeting agendas until a comprehensive, transparent process for how any proposal is presented and evaluated, and how these parcels will potentially be developed." 

In his report for the meeting, Town Manager Dennis Simmons explained the staff recommendation. The report, posted Oct. 30 at wiscasset.gov with the rest of the meeting packet, noted the recent interest in town-owned property at Mason Station and Old Ferry Road.

"Both properties carry complex histories and issues, including tax-acquired status, legal, and environmental considerations. The Town is working to resolve these issues to ensure that any future development proceeds on a solid legal and environmental foundation. It will take time and funds to sort these issues out. In response, Town staff, working closely with the Town attorney, have agreed to recommend to the Selectboard that it should take a pause on placing any further proposals on an agenda and establish a coordinated, transparent process for how any proposal is presented and evaluated, and how these parcels will potentially be developed," Simmons wrote.

"In the coming months, we recommend that Town staff, working with the Town attorney and assigned members of the Selectboard, develop a comprehensive framework to guide these efforts. That framework will likely include inviting formal proposals through a clear and competitive process that includes public presentations and opportunities for community input. This will likely be through a Request for Proposals (RFP) process requiring developers to present detailed plans consistent with Wiscasset’s development goals, and their financial ability to carry out these plans. Once the issues with these properties are adequately addressed, this framework will be presented publicly to the full Selectboard."

The report continued, "Our vision is that after reviewing all proposals and public feedback, the Selectboard will select the project, or projects, that best align with the Town’s vision and values. Any major actions, such as rezoning, TIF (tax increment financing) agreements, bonding, or long-term contracts, will require approval at a Town Meeting. Accepted proposal(s) will be required to obtain all permits and approvals required by Wiscasset Ordinances, in addition to state and/or federal approvals.

"Any process ultimately pursued will be designed to manage these properties responsibly, balancing opportunity with due diligence, to ensure development that benefits the entire Wiscasset community for years to come."

Simmons was on vacation through Nov. 5. Wiscasset Newspaper asked Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky if the proposed pause would apply to the ongoing communications with the party interested in possibly putting a data center on the Old Ferry Road property.

The town would still answer questions from that party or from any prospective developer, but would be leading no conversations on either location, Chrostkowsky said in a phone interview Oct. 31. The newspaper had also emailed Selectmen's Vice Chair Pamela Dunning the question. "There would be no more further talks on anything to do with those properties until after the town has made some decisions about what their probable purpose (or) possible purposes could be," Dunning responded.

In October, Peregrine Turbine Technologies Chief Executive Officer David Stapp told the selectboard the company, based behind the former Mason Station power plant, wants to buy the rest of the town's tax-acquired parcels on Birch Point to create a research and development campus.

And in the past year and a half, the town's Old Ferry Road land opposite the former Maine Yankee nuclear power plant has drawn talk of everything from housing, to a clean energy park and, most recently, a data center involving an unidentified party with whom the town has a non-disclosure agreement.

Simmons recently told Wiscasset Newspaper nothing is off the table in terms of what type or types of development could be considered for the about 300-acre parcel.

The Nov. 4 selectboard meeting starts at 6 p.m. at the town office and over Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89949074298?pwd=UllSQTRtd1RqQ1YvSEV5T0l6UWNsQT09