Our Town Damariscotta

As the world’s largest corporation, Wal-Mart behaves shamelessly in the way it forces itself on American communities. Its aggressive bullying of American communities occurs because Wal-Mart’s growth is central to its business model; it has to grow to sustain its profits, $10 billion in 2004 alone. Analysts have noted that Wal-Mart’s growth efforts are nothing short of a “massive undertaking.”

Read the Report (this pdf document is 2.7 mb, broadband connection is encouraged)

Damariscotta: 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 admin@ourtowndamariscotta.com.

Newcastle: 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 admin@ourtowndamariscotta.com.

Nobleboro: 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

Edgecomb: 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

Waldoboro: 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.

Wiscasset:  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.

Warren: 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: 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.

Hello Our Town!
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 Update: 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.

Wiscasset Update: 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

LD1481: 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

Wal-Mart’s plan to build a large store in a small town is the backdrop for this sharp-edged docu-comedy.

All goes well for the corporate giant until an 11th hour citizens’ rebellion resists the lure of low prices to reveal another side of the bargain–a side which paves over open land, annihilates Main Street businesses, and rolls back wages.

The story goes still deeper–following, over a period of seven years, Greenfield decision contrasted with a town 20 miles away which welcomes the corporation.

The results of decisions made years earlier are clearly documented. Made by an award-winning filmmaker, Steve Alves, who fought in his town’s internationally recognized battle against Wal-Mart.

Personal and incisive, Talking to the Wall examines the issue of big box chain stores, and citizens unwittingly turned into a nation of consumers, with humor and depth. This multi-award winning movie has inspired numerous groups to learn how to organize and defeat Wal-Mart.

Visit the Talking to the Wall website.

On the advice of our attorney, we were very careful this time around: only Damariscotta voters collected signatures and signed petitions. Nearly all of the signed petitions were notarized. On November 1 we submitted 320 signatures, 287 of which were certified by the town clerk. Because this number was well beyond the threshold of 105 (representing 10% of the voters who voted in the last gubernatorial election), the petition was certified as a referendum that would come before town voters.

Because our petition had the legal number of signatures, the selectmen do not have a choice about whether or not it will be voted on. They do have a choice, however, on when that vote will take place. Despite recommendations from the Land Use Planning Committee, on November 16 the Selectmen voted 4 to 1 to let our referendum wait until the June Annual Town Meeting instead of calling a special town meeting as was requested by petitioners.

The Selectmen’s decision was a disappointment to many people in Damariscotta. We hoped that signatures of nearly 30% of the voters that voted in the last gubernatorial election would be enough to convince the Selectmen to take swift action. We are currently exploring our options for how to have a vote on the size cap sooner than June. Waiting seven months leaves the town and its businesses in limbo and gives Wal-Mart plenty of time to run a high-priced PR campaign and get their building proposal in order.

The Land Use Planning Committee, which had previously decided to work towards passing a size cap of their own, voted unanimously to let our referendum go before Damariscotta voters without a competing ordinance. Without endorsing our petition, they acknowledged that if two proposals came before the voters, the “Yes” vote would be split and both would fail.

On November 16, a Wal-Mart representative flew to Damariscotta to announce Wal-Mart’s official intention to build here. He met with Selectmen, spoke to the local papers, and appeared on the evening news. According to this spokesman, the typical size for a new Wal-Mart is 186,000 square feet. This size store could not be built within the 500 foot setback already in the land-use ordinance without a town vote. Therefore some people are under the impression that that the town is already protected and a size cap is unnecessary. In truth, we won’t know what size store Wal-Mart is actually planning to build until a proposal is before the planning board. If the town votes down our size cap, Wal-Mart could come in the next day with a proposal for a smaller, longer, thinner store that would fit within the setback and the town would have limited channels through which to stop them.

After forming OurTown and starting an email network, we called a lawyer to talk about strategy. We chose a Portland attorney with experience with fighting Big Box stores in other communities. She recommended passing a building size cap as a proven strategy to keep Big Box stores out of town. With her help, we wrote a petition asking for an amendment to the zoning ordinance to put in place a building size cap of 35,000 square feet on new retail stores.