Harpswell- A Christmas Season Retrospective
Recollection--12/31/2019 by Kev.
There was once a small quaint Maine village that went by the name of
Harpswell. This little peninsula, with its collection of connected and
unconnected islands, had a rich cultural heritage of fishing and maritime
commerce. Famous writers, drawn by its fierce beauty, wrote of its
breathtaking scenery. Songs were composed on behalf of the town.
Like all towns in America, the town had some problems, but for the most
part, life was idyllic. The children of Harpswell at the time grew up in a
safe sleepy small town, free from the harsher reality of societal ills
that plague larger, more developed areas.
That all changed when Fairwinds blew into town. It’s kind of ironic
looking back, the name Fairwinds, because once the rancid breath of the
project washed over the area, life as Harpswell knew it was about to take
a sharp turn for the worse.
The first casualty of the intrusion was the sense of community itself.
Startled by the suddenness of the proposal, brought late in the
negotiating process to town residents, the citizenry reacted violently and
emotionally. The town, already divided by glaciers geographically, now
split deeply along similar geophysical lines. Those impacted directly by
the project fought desperately against introducing industrial blight into
their neighborhood. The other citizens of the town, mesmerized by the
seemingly large offer of money, were not, at the time, as concerned about
the physical impact of the venture and against the wishes of their fellow
townspeople, voted for the project. In hindsight, the town residents
complained that they didn’t have all the information they needed in order
to make an informed decision and blamed this reason accordingly for some
of what was to follow, but that was just the way the huge corporation
wanted it. For they used that lack of expertise to turn the tables later,
after the contracts had been secured.
Sadly, the proposal passed by a narrow margin. This unfortunately split
the town further in two. Petitions circulated on Harpswell Neck for
secession immediately following the vote, as the residents directly
impacted by the negative overwhelming circumstances fought ever harder to
deflect the advances of the industry in their backyard. Other regional
surrounding towns, various impacted industry organizations, and
environmental groups sued too; both in an effort to stop the construction
of the project and/or to get their fair share of the financial pie,
claiming it was their due—they were being harmed without offsetting
compensation (the courts ultimately agreed and a portion of the proceeds
were to be paid in perpetuity to certain affected parties).
The fight was for naught. Although the secession was ultimately successful
and upheld by the courts, the same courts also held that the agreement
voted on by the town originally was legally binding, and Fairwinds was
allowed to move forward. Ironically the side of town that heavily voted in
favor the project never saw a penny from it. All the money went to
residents of the new town of Harpswell Neck. Even the folks that were
against the venture originally were for keeping the money local. After
all, they were the ones that had to suffer the day to day consequences.
Immediately assaulted was “The Neck’s” real estate and resource
infrastructure. Once construction began, housing units sprang like
mushrooms to accommodate the large influx of construction workers who
desired close quarters to the job site…although another substantial number
of them continued to commute down Route 123 from the surrounding area.
Unfortunately for the local tourist establishments, the new traffic snarls
on the narrow path discouraged ease of entry into and out of The Neck, and
visits from day trippers and vacationers stopped almost immediately.
Several town residents suffered untimely early demise due to auto related
accidents stemming from over usage of the now dangerous road. Several town
children were tragically killed on Route 24 when they had the misfortune
of encountering drunk construction workers ending their day at work and
commuting the now heavily traveled byways of town. “The TRAFFIC” and the
population became a continual plague and systemic problem for the town and
eventually choked the life out of the tourism industry.
Property values located close to the project instantaneously bottomed
out…which allowed the corporation the ripe opportunity to purchase the
properties from the former owners at fire sale prices, for they were
highly motivated sellers. Some of the properties were converted into
residences for the employees of the venture who were overseeing the
construction of the physical infrastructure and managed ongoing
operations. The rest of the properties were held in reserve for future
expansion plans…which eventually came to fruition a few years later after
yet another extensive expensive and exhausting court
battle with the town.
Harpswell Neck’s larger parcel owners, seeing sudden riches in real
estate, carved up their acreage and sold it off in small lots to support
ever denser growing housing. This sudden overwhelming expansion put a
tremendous strain on local water and sewer resources, but the situation
was not helped by Fairwind’s refusal to allow the town to tap into their
already existing salt to fresh water conversion facility, citing that
profits did not justify the helping hand…it would cost the corporation too
much to provide the assistance, and they would have to charge to town too
high a cost to allow it. After still another lengthy court battle, the new
town lost its appeal and was forced to build an expensive water and sewer
pipeline from the mainland to support its ever-burgeoning population. They
also had to provide Brunswick with new ongoing payments to cover the cost
of running the pipe from their existing system.
This created the byproduct of exploding growth in the town, as physical
barriers to unbridled expansion were now set aside. Dismayed at the
unpreparedness of their land use laws, the new town council just barely
had the chance to pass legislation curtailing any expansion of industry
into the Basin Point tip area, where an energy related enterprise had
wanted to put more tanks along the shores of Potts Harbor (attracted by
the protection of the islands and due to the volatility of the associated
energy product). Strict new zoning and land use regulations were hurriedly
thrown into place as town officials struggled to cope with reigning in the
chaotic changes that were occurring too rapidly to be adequately
corralled. Unfortunately, the town never got around to comprehensively
designing a thorough land use program.
Alarmed by the conversion of their once pretty town, some vacation
homeowners sold off their parcels to condominium developers for a handsome
profit, who proceeded to construct expensive, yet tasteful and exclusive
gated communities along the shore. Other landowners, turned off by the
increasing density and traffic along route 123, sold their property on the
road to strip mall developers and other small commerce builders, as
supporting small businesses began to crop up nearly immediately along the
widening strip of Harpswell Neck Road. The first Dunkin Donuts opened up
in the new little shopping plaza that they built just north of the post
office on the corner of Allen Point Road, only 8 months to the day that
construction began on the industrial complex.
Although some town property owners benefited greatly from the introduction
of industry to the area, other citizens weren’t as fortunate.
Particularly hit hard was the fishing industry and the already
economically challenged (Harpswell’s poor). Ironically, although some of
the lower income residents had voted for the project originally, in hopes
that some of that large reward would trickle down to them, they were noted
as the first victims to fall as they were particularly vulnerable to the
changes wrought by the venture. Because they weren’t skilled to begin
with, there was no place for them in the new economy either. The
construction jobs, where a unique skill set was required, was almost
exclusively imported from out of state, and there weren’t really any
positions left over for the local disenfranchised.
To make matters worse, most of the money garnered from the lease agreement
was set aside, as it became almost immediately apparent that the town was
going to be in dire need of it in order to offset its mounting expense
load. Between the lawsuits, the unanticipated large municipal expenses of
the industrial site impact, and the socio-economic consequences of the
expanding population, taxpayers saw a slight reduction the first two
years, but only very slightly. By the third year, the town saw clearly
that it needed the cash flow…the situation had deteriorated, and taxes
began their slow creep skyward. The once sacrosanct Skolfield property was
unwillingly and unpopularly procured by eminent domain to accommodate the
need for the building of the new school, there simply weren’t enough large
parcels left in town that could be annexed to address the ever growing
needs of the populace.
But the final nail in their coffin was the fact that property values away
from the industrial site had soared. Even rental property costs had gone
through the roof. Rents were exorbitant because the demand for housing in
the town was stretched to the limits, and those without the commensurate
income to adequately support themselves found that they had to move their
families to less costly areas to live in than the now regionally expensive
Harpswell. Folks living on the economic fringe were particularly hard hit
and had to migrate elsewhere to poorer areas.
The fishing community, who had already been facing extreme challenges with
over fishing issues…but had established a fragile balance to the system,
was also nearly wiped out completely in the region. The delicacy and
unpredictability of the ecosystem, while capable of sustaining the
industry up to that point, took a brutally hard hit from the laying of the
natural gas main to Cousins Island…a hit it never quite recovered from. By
the time it did (and it was never quite the same since), the damage
was done. Lobstering was predictably particularly uniquely gutted.
Territorial wars erupted even before the first section of trench was dug,
as local fishermen fought to change the zones and boundaries and achieve
equality under the new scenario. Nobody wanted to “get stuck” within the
zone waters that were to be where the pipe was anticipated to go, and the
tankers likely to travel. Political battles were fierce, and nothing was
settled by the time construction began on the pipe.
The problem was compounded because additional industry had moved into the
area, placed there with the support of the State of Maine, who also was
attracted to the additional revenue prospects—and that business had the
unfortunate side effect of impacting the clam populations…which accounting
for the adverse environmental domino effect that followed--reduced all
healthy biological activity on the west side of Harpswell Neck. All
maritime related commerce saw huge decreases in the amounts of catch
derived from the ecosystem, and the ripple effect from the reduction
resonated throughout the economy of the whole region. The cost of seafood
at the grocery store hit astronomical levels, consequently lowering
widespread demand for the products as households shied away from
purchasing the more expensive seafood and tastes moved to less costly
alternatives. Seafood restaurants also saw precipitous declines in
clientele, as many no longer could afford to eat out at their
establishments.
Everyone affiliated and affected sued and quickly overwhelmed the
mitigation fund that had been established to cover the industry losses. It
was, in retrospect, an apparent marketing ploy designed to convince area
fishermen that their legitimate concerns could be handled appropriately,
and thus win over their vote. But the mitigation fund proved dreadfully
inadequate, soon went bankrupt, and was no longer supported by a town that
had now had its own set of deep financial problems. Scores of related area
businesses had to lay off their employees too, due to the now lower level
of economic activity that derived its life’s blood from and was at least
in part supported by the whole fishing industry base.
This was unfortunate, because work in the area was by then hard to find.
Fairwinds had not brought a lot of permanent jobs with it, and the jobs
that were available went, to a large degree, to some of the imported
construction workers who had developed closer relationships with the
conglomerate’s employees than local townspeople. Attempts to control and
manage their business were squashed early in the process by Fairwinds, as
they would not agree to hiring quotas sought by the town.
And finally, as the town had forever changed from its original natural
beauty into something that would have been totally unrecognizable by the
town’s original occupants…most who now had moved away to
nicer places…..
No one foresaw or at least took seriously, that 15 years later while the
country was currently at war, that the enemy could take control of and
sabotage one of the now daily scheduled LNG tankers as they hijacked it
into
Portland and set its cargo ablaze in the harbor.
If only people had been smart enough to stop the vote from occurring in
the first place…
It was so obvious and preposterous that Harpswell was an appropriate place
to put such a landscape altering, ultra heavy industrial complex.
What were they thinking?
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