PROSPECT, Maine — Residents who came out to a special town meeting Saturday morning — which one Prospect elected official described as “lively” — narrowly voted in favor of a 180-day moratorium on industrial and large-scale commercial development.
Thirty-six residents supported the moratorium while 33 were opposed to it, according to Selectman Diane Terry.
“There were questions from both sides,” she said. “The side that was against the moratorium was certainly far more vocal than the pros.”
Selectman Bill Sneed said earlier this month that the town planning board had started working on a site plan review ordinance in November, and the six-month moratorium would give the panel the chance to finish the work.
However, the moratorium seems likely to affect the timeline of local businessman Arthur House’s plan to build a multimillion-dollar heat-treated wood chip operation in an old gravel pit off Route 1A.
Efforts Tuesday to reach House, a Belfast construction developer, were unsuccessful. But before the special meeting, he had sent a letter to Prospect residents asking them to think twice about the moratorium on industrial development.
“Although I want to build my business in Prospect and create local jobs and tax revenue, a moratorium could force me to bring the business elsewhere,” House wrote.
In December, House told Prospect residents and officials that he hoped to start chipping wood in January and wanted to have the processing plant built by late 2015 or early 2016. He said he would like to employ 150 in Prospect by 2016.
But in the letter he sent to residents before the special meeting, the timeline and goals of his project had changed. House wrote that he expected to create 40 to 50 jobs in Prospect by 2017.
Prospect has no planning or zoning ordinances that provide for a municipal review of industrial and large-scale commercial developments. According to Terry, members of the planning board intend to go “full speed ahead” to develop the site plan review ordinance and have it ready for a hearing sometime in March. Residents who attend the April 11 annual town meeting will have the chance to vote on the ordinance.
Although the turnout at the special meeting — about 13 percent of the town’s 504 registered voters — does not seem very high, Terry said that comparatively speaking, it was.
“The turnout for the special town meeting was probably twice the size as what we’ve had at annual town meeting for the last few years,” she said. “If only this many people would show up when you’re talking about the monetary issues.”