SEARSPORT, Maine — A group of neighbors opposed to the construction of a fireworks store on U.S. Route 1 in Searsport have been granted an opportunity to appeal the local planning board’s approval of the new business.
The Searsport board of appeals Monday night agreed by a vote of 3-2 to review the planning board’s approval of the building permit.
The business, called Up-N-Smoke Fireworks, was given the green light this summer by the Searsport planning board to be built on the west side of town. However, the board of appeals will hear the matter at a meeting scheduled for Oct. 15.
“We go back and plead our case one more time,” said Ruth Southworth, who lives close to the store’s 173 West Main St. location and believes the planning board erred in allowing it. “I think that there’s been quite a few errors and inconsistencies and possibly even falsehoods that have occurred. I think it’s time that we set the record straight here.”
John Hamer, Bangor-based attorney for proprietors Robert and Heidi Gordon, said the appeals board’s decision will slow down but will not stop his clients’ business from being built.
“It delays them a little bit, because we have another step to go through,” he said Tuesday. “But the planning board approved their plans, and we’re confident that the board of appeals will confirm them.”
He described Up-N-Smoke as a small, modular building the Gordons hoped to have open by now.
“A lot of times, neighbors are concerned about fireworks stores because they don’t know what to expect,” Hamer said. “This is a heavily regulated industry, and this is a small store.”
At the meeting Monday night, attorneys for both sides argued whether the board of appeals was required to accept the appeal. Southworth pleaded to Percy King, the chairman of the board, to do so.
“You’re fair people,” she said to him and the other board members. “We’re not asking for anything — just for you to hear our story. I don’t know how many times we have to come here and beg for your fairness. Let us have our say, instead of shutting us down.”
Warren Southworth, her husband, said Tuesday those opposed to the store believe locating a full-time retail facility on the west side of town goes against the Searsport comprehensive plan. He said the plan called for retail development to be concentrated on the east side of town.
“It wouldn’t have made a difference if it was a jewelry store,” he said. “The decision to permit the store compromised two or three years’ work by the comprehensive planning committee.”