A special city commission that formed more than a decade ago to balance development of the Bangor Mall area with the protection of the nearby Penjajawoc Marsh will soon come out of dormancy to try to resolve a dispute over a proposed RV park behind the Walmart Supercenter on Stillwater Avenue.
On Monday night, the Bangor City Council delayed action on a controversial proposal that would allow RV parks, campgrounds, golf courses and driving ranges to be developed along certain rural sections of Stillwater Avenue. The change has been requested by a Newburgh woman, Cindy DeBeck, who wants to develop a seasonal RV park on 70 acres of her family’s land.
Some councilors suggested that they would oppose the proposal out of concern that it could invite other types of development that would threaten the marsh and the nearby Bangor City Forest. Earlier this month, the planning board voted 4-3 against recommending the change, which the Bangor Land Trust has opposed. The City Council also rejected a similar proposal earlier this year.
This time, councilors ultimately voted 5-3 to reconsider the issue in March 2020. In the meantime, they asked members of the Penjajawoc Marsh-Bangor Mall Management Commission to consider whether both sides could find common ground.
[Another controversial proposal to allow RV parks in area near marsh heads to Bangor council]
First formed in 2005, the commission originally was meant to give a diverse group of stakeholders — landowners, environmental groups, city officials and commercial developers — a chance to provide input on developments near the marsh, including the Walmart Supercenter that was then being developed.
DeBeck, an original member of the group, is still on it. While the 12-person commission still exists, it has become inactive in recent years and until recently did not even have enough members to form a quorum. That will soon change, as the council appointed several people to the commission as part of an unrelated matter at its meeting Monday night.
DeBeck has said that she wants to open an “RV resort” that would cater to retirees who spend summers in Maine and said that she would not be pursuing it if she thought it would damage the marsh. She has also previously suggested that she would be willing to develop a different kind of business that does not require a rule change if the current proposal were rejected.
The change would have grouped Stillwater Avenue with two other Bangor arteries — Broadway and Union Street — along which campgrounds, RV parks and golf facilities are allowed to be developed in areas with rural residential and agricultural zoning.
If the council had approved the amendment, the RV park would have been subject to other requirements, such as connecting to sewer and water lines, and operating at least 50 feet away from public roads. The project also would have needed additional approval from the planning board.
Before Councilor Ben Sprague proposed sending the matter to the so-called marsh-mall commission, he said that he was leaning toward voting against the change in the interest of protecting Bangor’s preserved wilderness.
But he also said that an RV park could be less intrusive than other types of development the city allows in rural residential and agricultural areas along Stillwater Avenue, such as farms, day care centers, animal pounds, crematoriums and cluster subdivisions.
“What gives me pause is that land could already be developed for something,” Sprague said. “A modest-sized RV park would have less impact than the types of development that could happen.”
Earlier in the discussion, Lucy Quimby, president of the Bangor Land Trust, suggested that the members of the marsh-mall commission could be able to find a compromise on DeBeck’s proposal.
“I do think there is a solution where things could go forward, but the proper pieces need to be in place,” she said.