Why abandon Wiscasset's vision of the future, depicted in the just approved Comprehensive Plan? Point East quickly committed to support and adapt to the plan with their Maritime Village and light industrial i.Park in 2004. Those plans, carefully developed and compatible with Wiscasset's historic character and its maritime history, were applauded for their vision and their preservation of Wiscasset's "Quality of Place". Are we abandoning this vision just because it's hard to implement? Do we really want to give up on the diversified jobs and broad based economic opportunities promised at the Maritime Village and in the i.Park, and the tax relief that was inherent in that wiser plan?

In 2004 Point East proposed to bring 5-10 businesses a year into a light industry park called i-Park on 450 acres formerly owned by Maine Yankee. Rynel, Inc, lined-up and ready to go, was to be the first of many. All Wiscasset voters had to do was approve the investments in the roads and utilities. They voted to spend the money, and Wiscasset approved a low interest $2 million loan so that Point East could go forward with the i.Park plan. Wiscasset even handed them a $1 million federal earmark grant, for the purposes of developing a technology park. Wiscasset kept its end of the bargain.

Now we are told that the only way to get the good jobs and lower property taxes promised is to abandon that clean "light industry" plan and go down the path of a dirty "heavy industrial" coal plant and diesel refinery. Do we really want to let Point East off the hook for delivering on the promises made just a few years ago? Does Point East get a "do over" just because they haven't succeeded in developing the Maritime Village or bringing in the businesses they promised, when they promised? Does the ordinary citizen receive breaks on their bills just because the economy is weak at the moment?

Here's a better idea: Hold their feet to the fire and demand results! Point East is accountable to the taxpayers of Wiscasset, and we should insist that they deliver on their previous promises. If Point East cannot deliver, we should get someone who can. By taking us down the coal plant dirt road, they are no longer working on getting the light industries they promised. Would you invest in a new home or business neighboring on a coal plant? Fulfilling the Comprehensive Plan visions may well be harder work for them than the "hail Mary" pass of a dirty coal plant. But it will be far better for Wiscasset - better for us financially, better for our family's health, better for our current fisheries industry and tourist based businesses, better for the region and global environment. And let's not forget about the impact on our neighbors!

Remember this reality: If we vote "yes" on the ordinance change for the coal plant, a cloud of economic uncertainty will cover Wiscasset. Clean light industries will no longer want to relocate to the i-Park. Tourist based investments will halt. Since the coal plant is just not economically viable (the true cost is twice what we have been told and will go far higher when carbon capture and sequestration are inevitably mandated) it will fail to garner investor support. (As have several similar plant proposals recently) Wiscasset will really get nothing but lower property values and fewer good jobs until the mess is sorted out. With growth frozen and values declining our tax rate will go up, not down.

For Point East, getting our ordinance changed so a coal plant can be built is an easy way out of the hard work of proper development of the site. They get off easy, and can sell the property to a multinational petroleum company with the project designed and built by another multinational construction company then skip town, while Wiscasset gets to live with dirty industry, foul air, and a village that is by-passed by all.

The original vision, if competently implemented by now, would have given us more than a dozen new businesses and several hundred new jobs. The property tax base would have increased significantly. The town would have grown with diverse new businesses attracted to the natural beauty of our area. Our property taxes would have gone down. You would have seen the $625 property tax savings you were promised by Point East when they asked you to approve the Shoreland Business Zone II ordinance investments a few years ago. Remember that un-kept promise?

Instead, Point East has now proposed a different vision. Wiscasset would become a dirty industrial town. Property values would drop as a result (20 percent up to 50 percent, depending on proximity to the plant, according to some local real estate professionals), new clean businesses would shy away, and tourists would by-pass Wiscasset in search for "the way life really should be." Wiscasset can do better.

Let's Stick With the Current Vision in our Comprehensive Plan; with a "Light Industry" i-Park! The comprehensive plan, and its writers, never envisioned heavy industry in the old Maine Yankee property. These people, who are your neighbors, felt their voices should be heard above those of corporate interests.

Wiscasset had a good plan for good clean jobs, a healthy environment for our family and for property tax relief. Let's stick with it. Vote "NO" on Questions 2, 3, 4 and 5!

Don't be fooled by false promises and slick advertising. Remember the old adage: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

For more information, visit our web site: www.backriveralliance.org.