Bangor Daily News
Maine firms quit work on ecoresort project
By Bill Trotter
December 26, 2008
WINTER HARBOR, Maine — Citing differences in philosophy and difficulties in getting paid, two Maine firms that had been helping to develop plans for an ecofriendly resort on land abutting Acadia National Park have severed their relationships with the developer.
Winter Harbor Properties Inc. announced last spring that it was developing plans for the large-scale resort on more than 3,000 acres of the Schoodic Peninsula and in the process held a public meeting and hired consultants to help move the plans along. The landowners indicated that the intent of the development was to create an ecoresort community that combined land stewardship and sustainable development.
In August, however, Ames A-E, a Bangor architecture and engineering firm, filed a lien on the 3,300-acre property near Schoodic Point. According to documents on file at the Hancock County Registry of Deeds, the firm was owed more than $49,000 for work it had done for Winter Harbor Holdings, the owner of the parcel.
The lien was discharged in November, after the architecture firm and the owner reached an agreement on the outstanding bills, according to Steve Ribble of Ames A-E. Ribble said recently the developer actually owed the Bangor company closer to $60,000, but he declined to say how much Ames ended up being paid.
Ribble said a philosophical disagreement over how to approach the project precipitated the dispute over payment. He said he thinks the property is suitable for an environmentally friendly development project, but it needs to be “done right” and with the support of surrounding residents and landowners.
“We felt it should be a very open process,” Ribble said. “I would be surprised if there was the same level of public participation moving forward.”
Michael Saxl, a former speaker of the Maine House who now works with consulting firm Maine Street Solutions, said last week that his company also has stopped doing work for the developer.
“I can verify for you that I am no longer affiliated with the project in any way,” Saxl said.
Saxl said he still thinks the project has potential for changing the development model in Maine, but declined to comment further.
In May, more than 250 people attended an informational meeting on the project at the local grammar school. Ribble, Saxl and Cecelia Ward, the development firm’s spokeswoman, were hosts for the meeting. The turnout reflected strong interest in the project in the Schoodic area, which has seen a decline in its population and its local economy since a Navy base at Schoodic Point closed in 2002.
Some area residents have voiced support for the proposal, but other residents and officials with Acadia National Park and Friends of Acadia have expressed concerns about the impact the development could have on the peninsula’s relatively undeveloped character. Initial ideas floated for the project include a “green corridor” of preserved land, but also include environmental education facilities, a hotel, an 18-hole golf course, and possibly hundreds of house lots.
On Monday, Ward declined to comment on the payment dispute, on the decisions by Ames A-E and Maine Street Solutions to sever their relationships with the developer, or to answer other questions about the developer.
“I’m not authorized to be able to do that,” Ward said.
The one topic Ward commented on was about the current state of the project.
“We’re still revisiting the comments that were made at the community meeting,” Ward said.
Mark Laska, CEO and president of Great Ecology and Environments in New York City, said last week that his firm also had to wait for a long time to get paid for work it had done for Winter Harbor Properties. He said he still considers the developer a client, but that the project seems to have come to a standstill. He said he has not done any work for the developer in about six months.
“Maybe I should ask you this question,” he said to a reporter who asked about the status of the project. “Is the project moving forward?”
Laska said it is common in development work for subcontractors to wait relatively long periods of time to get paid, but that if the wait had been longer, he might have willfully stopped working on the project, even if there had been more work for him to do.
He declined to say how much money his firm was owed, but said it was paid in full and that its role was “significantly smaller” than the roles of Ames A-E or Maine Street Solutions. He said he remains interested in the project’s potential for environmental stewardship.
“I might want a bigger retainer upfront,” Laska said about doing more work for the developer, “but I would definitely want to work on the project.”
Ribble of Ames A-E said he has heard of other Maine firms that have spoken with the developer about assisting on the project but added that, as far as he knows, none of them is under contract with Winter Harbor Holdings.
“I believe everyone is moving very cautiously,” Ribble said. “There were previous consultants who had the same payment issues that we had.”
Sheridan Steele, superintendent for Acadia National Park, said last week the change in consultants would hinder the park’s ongoing efforts to discuss the project with the development company.
“I think it’s a setback,” Steele said. “Basically, we have to start over again with whoever they hire.”
Steele said he would prefer to meet directly with officials with the development firm. Doing so would help assure that each side knows about each other’s concerns and motivations, he said.
“You don’t know how much information is flowing either way” by communicating through third parties, Steele said.
Marla Stellpflug O’Byrne, president of conservation advocacy group Friends of Acadia, last week echoed Steele’s concerns. She said that because of the ongoing changeover in consultants, FOA would prefer to meet directly with Vittorio Modena. Modena is an Italian businessman who, with his father, Bruno Modena, is be-lieved to be among the primary partners in the 20 or so who make up Winter Harbor Holdings.
“It is really the landowner that has a vision for this property,” O’Byrne said. “It doesn’t feel like [dealing with a chain of consultants] is where we need to be.”
It is not the first time liens have been placed on the property to compel the owners to pay bills associated with the land. From 1992 through 1999, the town of Winter Harbor placed a total of $40,123 in tax liens on the property. In neighboring Gouldsboro, where a comparatively small portion of the land that would be developed is located, the developer owed a total of $6,714 in back taxes between 1996 and 2000, according to the registry of deeds.
Eve Wilkinson, Gouldsboro town manager, said last week that all of Gouldsboro’s liens have been discharged and the back taxes paid in full. She said she does not know what may have led to the taxes having not been paid, but that town officials typically do not know such information.
Roger Barto, Winter Harbor’s town manager, said last week all of Winter Harbor’s back taxes have been paid and there have been no issues with tax payments on the property since earlier this decade.
Barto, who has been Winter Harbor’s town manager since 1998, said he was not sure why the taxes were not paid in a timely fashion. He said the issue seemed to be resolved ever since Bruno Modena took over the operations of the company from Vittorio Modena.
“That’s pure speculation on my part,” Barto said. “When the son was operating things, there was always a backlog of taxes.”
Barto said Winter Harbor officials have not taken a position on the development concept and will not until a formal plan has been submitted to the town for approval.
“We can’t make statements until we have a plan,” he said.
Ward, spokeswoman for the development company, said she was unaware of any history of tax liens that have been placed on the property.
Documents on file in Hancock County Registry of Deeds also indicate that Winter Harbor Properties has a right of first refusal to purchase several acres of shorefront property in the Gouldsboro village of Birch Harbor. The Birch Harbor land is owned by James Brunton, who also owns the abutting Ocean Wood Campground.
