ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday, June 5, on a $900,000 expansion of the Knox County public safety complex.
The planners Tuesday night reviewed the application filed by the county and found it to be complete. The board will tour the property at 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 8.
A vote could come on June 5 after the public hearing.
The county in January purchased the property at 301 Park St. in Rockland for $500,000 from Richard Anderson of RMA Properties LLC. The 8,300-square-foot building is adjacent to the Knox County Jail complex.
Knox County voters agreed at a November referendum to have the county borrow up to $2.5 million for the purchase, expansion and renovations to the building as well as the purchase of additional communication equipment.
Plans for the 301 Park St. building call for a 2,000-square-foot addition to the rear of the building. The county also will construct a road that leads from that building to the jail building. The parking lot will be improved and considerable landscaping is planned for the front of 301 Park St.
The county plans to relocate the sheriff’s patrol and the communications department, now located at the jail, to the adjacent 301 Park St. building. In addition, the emergency management agency offices, now at the Knox County Courthouse, also will be moved to 301 Park St.
The project is expected to take six months to complete from when the city grants approval.
Meanwhile, in Rockland, citizens are losing their jobs and their homes, but the “planners” want to spend spend spend. It’s not like the “planners” had to go out and earn that money they are so eager to spend. It must be easy to spend other people’s money.
The very idea that those serving on the Rockland planning commission are involved in this County project — and there is no longer a City Engineer, either — is beyond belief.
I think you’ve both missedthe point. The County already approved the project and the funding last fall, it’s now before the Rockland Planning Commission as part of their review of all large projects in Rockland. So they’re not “involved” as is planning the building, but as a code enforcement tool to ensure the project meets the zoning ordinances, etc. It’s the City making sure the County does things correctly as they’ve bought a building and are renovating it in Rockland.
It’s not the “planners” as in the Rockland Planning Commission who are spending the money. It is the County, who obtained voter approval for the project last fall. We’re all unhappy with the economy, rising taxes and what appears to be politicians ignoring the problem, but the people voted on this project just last fall, thus it isn’t local government spending other people money without approval. We can’t all get our way, and so the majority rules, it’s our system…