A Tractor Supply Co. store is on track to be built in Bucksport this year following the local planning board’s unanimous approval of a site plan Tuesday.
The company wants to build a nearly 22,000 square foot store at 116 US Route 1 on an empty lot next to a small existing strip mall. Plans include 60 parking spots for cars, indoor and outdoor retail space, equipment displays and residential propane sales.
The store would join a handful of other Tractor Supply locations in the region, including Bangor, Belfast, Ellsworth and Holden. It’s a major development for Bucksport, with one planning board member saying it was the largest project he recalled since plans for Whole Oceans, a proposed but unrealized land-based fish farm, were approved by the town in 2019.
“This is very much a prototypical Tractor Supply Company,” Sam Malafronte, an assistant project manager from the applicant’s engineering firm, said of the design.
The Bucksport location will not include a greenhouse with live plant sales, though that feature was included in application materials submitted to the town, according to Malafronte.
It is set to provide a self-service pet grooming station and occasional visits from a veterinarian offering services such as vaccinations. Products would include home and garden supplies, animal feed, farm equipment, trailers, small vehicles, propane and other “rural lifestyle” items.
The project was submitted by the developer, Palm Coast Capital, LLC. Store ownership will eventually revert to Tractor Supply Co., Malafronte said.
Stores are typically open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, though the Bucksport store may close earlier. Store deliveries are typically made once a week.
Discussion of the project focused on exterior lighting, the need for blasting bedrock on the site, and questions of whether it would make existing summer traffic problems worse on busy Route 1. An update is coming to the state traffic light at Route 1 and Main Street in 2027 designed to alleviate that problem, Rep. Steve Bishop told the board.
In response to requests from a few neighbors with homes on adjacent residential lots, the board added a condition of approval that the applicant work with town staff to find options to control light pollution, such as shields over exterior lights and a fence or vegetative screening. Outside lights will turn off automatically within an hour of the store closing.
The project is still awaiting state approvals and permits, but developers aim to start building in April or May and open the store in late 2026 or early 2027, Malafronte said.