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A 35,000 square foot size cap on retail development is now part of the town land use ordinance, thanks to a strong victory in the March 21 secret ballot election. For Information contact Our Town at ourtowndamariscotta@yahoo.com.
A 35,000 square foot size cap on retail development is now part of the town land use ordinance after a record turnout and nearly unanimous support at the March 27 Annual Town Meeting. For Information contact Our Town at ourtowndamariscotta@yahoo.com.
With record turnout and a landslide YES vote, Nobleboro voters passed a 6-month moratorium to give the town time to complete its comprehensive plan and consider a 35,000 square foot size cap. These measures will be voted on in the fall. For more information about Nobleboro contact Marty Welt at: backlog@tidewater.net
On May 20, the Town of Edgecomb will vote on a 35,000 sq. ft. size cap at the Annual Town Meeting, which begins at 10:00 am at the Edgecomb Eddy School on Route 27. The Planning Board, which is unanimous in its support for the size cap, has held two informational meetings and a formal public hearing. There has been no opposition to the size cap, and many people have spoken in support of it. For more information on the Edgecomb effort contact Kathleen Halm at kmc@lincoln.midcoast.com
On June 13 the town of Waldoboro will vote on a 45,000 square foot size cap by secret ballot at the Waldoboro Town office. Our Town Waldoboro has been running a strong pro-size cap campaign, countered by Don't Box our Future, the self-proclaimed opposition to the Size Cap. The vote promises to be a cliffhanger. For more information go to www.ourtownwaldoboro.com. To recieve updates on Waldoboro send an email to ourtown@midcoast.com.
Citizens in Wiscasset are currently circulating a petition for a moratorium on retail development to protect that town from out-of-scale retail development until their Comprehensive Plan can be finalized. To be included in future Wiscasset emails please email Bill Phinney at: phinland2003@yahoo.com
The newly formed Our Town Warren is currently circulating a petition for a 6-month moratorium on retail development to give town residents time to put into place a 35,000 square foot size cap. To sign the petition or for more information about the Warren effort contact Steve Burke at: stevbee@midcoast.com
Thomaston will vote on competing size cap proposals at their May 16 town meeting. One proposed cap is 70,000 square feet, and the other is 150,000 square feet. Our Town Thomaston is campaigning to pass the smaller size cap, which members say is more in scale with Thomaston’s current size.
We have not stopped working on issues of Big Box development and citizens' rights to control their future. Here are some updates. We need your help.
Waldoboro will have a size cap on their June Warrant. Details of language and size are still being worked out, but there will be a warrant item for sure. Our Town Waldoboro held their inaugural meeting on Wednesday April 5, and volunteers are working on various aspects of the campaign to pass the Waldoboro size cap. If you live in Waldoboro and would like to be involved in this effort, please email ourtown@midcoast.com. This is the official email address for Our Town Waldoboro, maintained by Bill Hinkley.
Citizens in Wiscasset will circulate a petition for a moratorium on retail development to protect that town until their Comprehensive Plan can be finalized. They will have petitions available for signatures on Saturday, April 8 on the Wiscasset Town Common. Please pass this word around to your Wiscasset friends and neighbors. To be included in future Wiscasset emails please email
Bill Phinney at: phinland2003@yahoo.com
Finally, LD 1481, the bill limiting the reach of citizen action to stop development, passed in the Maine Senate by a wide margin. We are extremely disappointed in this result, and feel it to be a real victory for the suits over the citizens.
If 1481 becomes law it will make it MUCH EASIER for Wal-Mart and other Big Box developers to force their way into small towns across Maine. We would like our recent local victories to be the first of many success stories, not the last.
We are happy to report that Dana Dow was a champion for the rights of citizens, and fought hard to defeat this bill. His impassioned speech on the Senate floor and his NO vote were not enough, however, and the bill passed 24-10.
Now we move on to the Maine House of Representatives, where our chances to defeat it may be better. The House will probably vote sometime next week, so please act TODAY (details and contact information below). Jonathan McKane and David Trahan have both committed to vote against the bill, in part because so many of their consitituents have already contacted them about Big Box development in the Midcoast. Both feel it is essential to keep local control in the hands of citizens. People who live in other districts should make every effort to contact their representatives. Everyone should contact the Governor's office. Please forward the information below widely.
Signing off,
Jenny and Eleanor
Here is the Maine People's Alliance explanation of the bill and what to do about it.
The Governor's office is tracking phone and e-mail on this issue and only received 3 calls on Wednesday from our side!
Please call or e-mail the Governor's Office at 207-287-3531 or governor@maine.gov
House member messages can be called into
800-423-2900 or 287-1400
Senate messages can be left at 800-423-6900 or 287-1540
Wednesday was a sad day in the Maine State Senate. While battles are raging across our State to stop WalMart's invasion into our communities, many senators voted for a bill, LD 1481, that helps WalMart and other big box developers by severely limiting the ability of citizens and their town governments to adopt ordinances to protect their towns from such corporate giant, big box development.
In the end, 10 Senators stood with us, and stood on the side of citizen referenda (follow the link below for the roll-call vote). We urge you to call and thank them for their valiant effort to protect our right and ability as citizens to shape the future of our towns. A special thanks to Senator Peggy Rotundo, who has led the charge against this (for which she was personally attacked by opposing senators), and Senators Michael Brennan and Dana Dow, who did an amazing job outlining the issues and fighting for us.
To the "WalMart" Senators that voted for corporate interests in this battle and claim they were only voting to support affordable housing-that story just won't fly. They refused to exclude big box retail developers from the bill. They also refused to limit the bill to affordable housing (even though the attorney general ruled this was constitutional!). So when you call, don't let them off the hook. They knew who they were voting for in this battle!
If WalMart files an application in a town that does not have regulations in place to protect against its plan to build a big box store, and the citizens file a referendum petition to adopt protections (such as a big box size limit approved by voters in Damariscotta and Newcastle), WalMart can get its permit after the petition is filed but before the citizens have a chance to vote, and this bill will protect that permit, and deprive the citizens of their chance to protect the town against the big box. The bill says that after a municipal permit has been issued, citizens will have only 75 days to hold a vote. It often takes a lot longer than 75 days to have hearings and a vote! In Westbrook, it took the town council a year to consider and adopt regulations in face of a WalMart plan to build a 24/7, 200,000 sq. ft. store 50 feet from a residential neighborhood! This bill would have foiled Westbrook!! If this bill passes, WalMart will win most of these battles.
Call your State Representative and the Governor (287-3531). We still have time to stop this! Tell them not to join the "WalMart" Senators! The Senate needs to vote on this again as well, but if you can only make 2 calls, make it to your house member and the Governor. Calls and email will make a difference!
You can find your legislators and their home phone and email address at this website: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/.
Together, we did it. We slew Goliath, or at least
temporarily stunned him. We are working towards an
unprecedented regional effort to keep development in
scale in this precious and fragile part of the midcoast.
1,203
people voted, with 747 for and 456 against the size
cap. The margin was 62%, which we hope is enough, along
with the high turnout, to convince developers that
this area doesn't want Big Boxes.
For those of
you who could not make it last night to the Damariscotta
River Grille, it would be hard to put into words the
amount of love for our community that was in that room.
That is what community is: the ties that bring people
together as neighbors whose shared sense of place trumps
other divides.
Now we move on. First to Newcastle on
Monday, (7:30 pm, Lincoln Academy Gym. Childcare is
available, because we need both parents' votes!) then
to healing the divide created by the spectre of Wal-Mart
and differing views on whether Big Box development
presents a threat or an opportunity.
We will heal. Both sides of this campaign love this
community, we just have different visions for its future.
But we are still neighbors.
Thanks for your time, your energy, your skills, and
most of all, your unwavering support for this campaign.
YES!
Eleanor and Jenny
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