SEARSPORT, Maine — While public hearings on DCP Midstream’s application to build a 138-foot-tall, 23-million-gallon liquid propane tank continued for a fifth night Friday, the planning board’s actual deliberations on the project won’t start until next year.
Bruce Probert, longtime chairman of the volunteer town board, who has been praised by those on both sides of the contentious issue for being fair and forbearing, said he wants the general public to have a good understanding of the project. He believes there has been a lot of confusion on the part of some who have not followed the process since the company applied nearly a year ago.
“Some people think it’s approved already,” Probert said. Others think the board invited the company to build in town. Neither is true.
“This is a process,” he said.
That process for the board began during the late spring, when it began evaluating DCP’s application for the $40 million project to determine whether it was complete. The board had the discretion to ask the applicant for more information, and it did — including requiring DCP to pay for an independent economic impact study.
After determining in October that the application was complete, the board started the public hearing process this week. Thanks But No Tank, the local opposition group, the Islesboro Islands Trust and some groups and individuals were granted interested party status, which let them question and cross-examine the applicant.
Throughout, Probert has taken a broad view of who can speak, overruling the attorneys on both sides who have tried to limit comment from some.
Initially, the hearings were supposed to end Thursday night, but Probert said Friday night was added to allow members of the general public to comment on the proposal, both for and against.
“They’ve been there four nights and haven’t been able to speak,” he said.
After Friday night, the board is not expected to meet again until January. The board will not hold its regular December meeting, Probert said, in part because there are no pending applications from other developers. On Jan. 14, the board will hold its regular meeting to address matters unrelated to the tank proposal. That meeting is set to start at 6:30 p.m. at Union Hall.
Then, on Jan. 16, the board will reconvene at 6 p.m. in the Searsport District High School cafeteria, and if the public comments are completed, members will begin reviewing the application against the land use ordinance’s performance standards. The board will conduct a deliberative “finding of fact” on each standard, voting that the project does or does not meet that standard, depending on the board’s conclusions.
DCP’s project is considered a permitted use under the ordinance in the industrial district for which it is proposed. But local planning boards are able to deny permits based on such factors as impact on property values, scenic views and traffic.
DCP has won the necessary permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Ultimately, though, as Probert has observed during the hearings this week, the project likely will be headed to Superior Court, as both the applicant and opponents are likely to appeal a planning board decision unfavorable to their side.
Maine needs jobs, this could bring jobs but we don’t want these kinds of jobs so please don’t come to Maine.
This state is so backwards at times it is amusing.
Kevin of Bangor, this state is not backwards. I’m so tired of commenters who say this. Obviously the people of Seasrport don’t want these kind of jobs, but this article does not give a summary of what was said by all the folks who spoke up. Reporters have their own agendas too.
For better or worse Tom Groening lives in Belfast. Not a criticism or an accolade, just a necessary fact.
I agree with you and am surprised to learn from Tux that Groening who has written most of the stories for BDN is a Belfast resident..disappointing really
I did post a summary of last nights meeting above to round out this rather superficial coverage of a very dramatic week of public hearings showing amazing patience and commitment on the part of a very concerned and very well informed community.
I said sometimes it is backwards, not always.
Supposedly it will only bring 6-8 jobs, and does anyone really think a local will get one of those jobs?
DCP does all of its procurements for construction, operations and purchases through a third party vetting company.IS Net World. The vendors and contractors have to pay the costs of their own vetting and the ongoing membership in IS Net World.At the moment there are no vetted and approved Maine companies.
Jere is the text from DCP’s stanrd letter that it send to all contractors and vendors:
“Dear DCP Midstream Contractor,
DCP Midstream is committed to upholding the highest standards in operational reliability, safety, and execution of projects. To ensure we are maintaining these standards for our customers, investors, public, and employees, we are implementing a more rigorous contractor information system to guide us in evaluating risk and assist with our auditing of
practices.
We have established a business relationship with ISNetworld http://www.isnetworld.com who will begin serving as DCP Midstream’s primary contractor information management system. As a result of this action, contractors and their subcontractors performing services for DCP Midstream are required to become subscribers to ISNetworld. If your company is a current subscriber to ISNetworld, there is no additional fee; however, please ensure your company has completed the items below.
There is a nominal fee for this service. DCP Midstream believes the benefits to both parties will far exceed any
associated costs. A more comprehensive list of contractor benefits and subscription quick start guide are attached from ISN. etc/”
I provided this information to Searport Town Manager James Gillway months ago.
So when DCP says it prefers to hire local it means..with qualified and vetted companies. The vetting process involved very stringent background checks, osha history and requires insurance and bonding that most maine contractors wouldn’t have..
Also at a hearing earlier this week DCP admitted that only one ship had called at their LPG terminal in Chesapeake. How much positive activity can result from that. But the tank will stand there nakedly looming above everything else and the buffer from mack point cleared and that will have an impact every single day on tourism and on property values in Searsport..all on the off chnace someone from Qatar will want to bring surplus LPG all the way to Maine.
Yeah Kev I think they should put this dangerous eyesore in your backyard. Bangor is already a cesspool so it wouldn’t be doing much damage.
“Backward” is moving forward without any concern for possible consequences.
Not everything I own is for sale… How about you?
Everyone keeps saying it is dangerous. When is the last time you heard of one of these things blowing up or a major incident taking place?
The applicant DCP Searsport LLC is a corporation on paper only and it does not have any permits. All permits were issued ro DCP Midstream LP. The planning Board should not have accepted this application until the permits are approved for DCP Searsport. The Planning board violated its own rules in accepting this application and in so doing insulated DCP against land use or other changes the citizens of Searsport may wish to undertake now that they have a better sense of who these folk are and what they are up to.
Would have been nice, by the way to include a recap of the public testimony presented last night. and also some of the highlights of DCP’s final presentation…..
Here is a summary of last nights hearing from one of the organizers:
“35 residents from all over the region opposed to the mega-tank, some with damning evidence, many others with proof of Searsport planning board siting performance standards unmet and many others with heartfelt words and poetry. All made excellent points. Chairman Probert did not shut down anyone with his fear of repetition. Pro-tank speakers were 4 and all were ineffectual”
Kevin of Bangor: You got that right! “This state is so backwards at times it is amusing.”
Maine’s got Gay marriage that we don’t need.. and rejects good jobs that we do need.
Maybe this would be OK if someone wanted to build a “138-foot-tall, 23-million-gallon Gay Marriage Banquet Hall.”
Amusing and backwards indeed!
Don’t do it Searsport.
In fifty years your grandchildren will be the ones stuck with cleaning up the mess.
The Searsport Planning Board will also be hearing the Good Harbor Report on Safety and Hazard in January, before they decide what to do with the application.
What happened at the meeting? What was said? Where’s the beef, Mr. Groening?
Good job Searsport Planning Board. After serving for several year as a planning board member in a larger coastal community, I have some insight in this issue. The bottom line is, that you must abide by the ordinance in place. That is to say that if the use is an allowed use, it must meet the standards as outlined in the ordinance, regardless of public opinion. Kudos to you for entertaining all comments, it is important for the public at large to have their say. But, at the end of the day, the ordinance is the law by which you must decide. Having been employed in the business of the valuation of real estate for 25+ years, I can say that is is seldom prove-able that values will in fact suffer diminished values from the expansion of an industrial use. This type of evidence can only be developed and support by a licensed and certified real estate appraiser. The general perception of the public, whether they are in favor or opposed, is not a good measure of that statistic. Irregardless, in the interest of being balanced and fair to the public, I know that you, in good conscience, must listen to the testimony presented, and decide based on the ordinacne in place.
well in this case ( see articles in BDN by Abigail Curtis going back to the genesis of this)..the town ordinance in height limits was modified after Town officials met with DCP Searsport. It is not clear whether the town meeting presntation of this ordinance change, specifically tailored to DCP’s project,, that townspeople understood this. Most wo were there say they were told/it was described as necessary to accomodate a new crane to e used at existing operatins at Mack Point. Yes there had been Abigails’ two stories in BDN but towspeople relyon their ocal officials nt BDN to inform them .
I gave up going to town meeting here in Stonington. It is so hurried..there is no opportunity for questions, the information on each item is sketchy and it very hard to engage before hand to understand what is coming up ( And Ii am career high level public service person with an advanced degree in Public Administration and decades of participation in public hearings at all levels as witness and as organizer!!!!). To know what you are voting on you would have to know about the issue months in advance and make quite a concerted effort to track it and be at all meetings where it is discussed. Basically I find rural public administration a “black box”..and sometimes also, as in this case a “black hole”
This is a very important story to the people of upper Penobscot Bay and beyond. It’s too bad Tom Groening thinks he can do his work by telephone rather than drive the seven miles from his home in Belfast to the Searsport District High School auditorium where these hearings have been going on all this past week.
Given Mr. Groening’s record when he actually attends a meeting, maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. Had he been there Friday night he likely would have given most of his attention to the three or four elderly and presumably sincere people who, alone in standing up to support DCP, actually believe this foolish project is a good thing. Obviously, DCP’s robo-call effort earlier in the day to rally support from the public failed miserably.
We have every reason to conclude Mr. Groening would have played down the reality of a veritable army present of concerned citizens from Searsport and throughout the region who delivered informed, eloquent and often passionate testimony why the imposition of heavy industry upon Penobscot Bay would be a very unfortunate development.
Mr. Groening’s journalism-by-telephone style of doing business, at least as of 7:31 a.m. Saturday morning, has him reporting that “if the public comments are completed” the planning board will at a special session Jan. 16 go directly on to review DCP’s application.
In fact, had Mr. Groening been there Friday night he would have not only been aware the hearing session was extended past its scheduled closing time to accommodate perhaps a dozen more of the many people wishing to speak in opposition, but that Chairman Bruce Probert announced the Jan. 16 session would resume with a continuation of testimony from the many members of the public still waiting to be heard from.
And even without being there Friday night, even without his telephone, it’s hard to fathom why Mr. Groening, who supposedly has been following this story right along, failed to recall for his readers that beyond the overflow of public input scheduled for Jan. 16 but before actual board deliberations there will be the not insignificant matter of considering the hazard assessment findings of former top White House security advisor Richard Clarke’s Good Harbor Consulting.
I suppose it’s asking too much to also expect Mr. Groening to be aware of and report that the reason the privately funded security risk study will not be available for board review earlier is because DCP, which previously promised cooperation, has since declined to speak with Good Harbor’s investigators.