May 13--WINTER HARBOR, Maine -- By all accounts, the proposal is unique, ambitious and, if successful, could provide an economic shot in the arm to a region of coastal Maine that sorely needs it.

Click here for a full screen view of the proposal

But some conservationists and residents remain wary that large-scale development -- no matter how environmentally friendly -- could threaten the geographical gem that is the Schoodic Peninsula.

The public debate over Winter Harbor Properties Inc.'s plan to turn 3,300 acres in Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro into an ecological community will officially begin at a meeting on Wednesday, May 14.

While many details of the development remain open and subject to change, representatives of the landowner met recently with the Bangor Daily News to outline their vision.

"What we're trying to do is turn this traditional model of development on its head," Michael Saxl of the Augusta-based consulting firm Maine Street Solutions said late last week. "We're meeting with as many local and regional stakeholders as possible because we think the community has a right to help shape this project."

Saxl, Steve Ribble of Ames A/E, the Bangor architecture firm that's working on the project, and others already have met privately with a number of conservation groups and state leaders.

Now they're ready to take what they have to the public.

"It's important to stress that this is still in the conceptual stage and many people can contribute to the success of this," Ribble said, adding that the developers expect a big turnout and plenty of constructive feedback at Wednesday's meeting.

A sketch plan presented to the BDN shows several components of the development, which covers a rectangular-shaped piece of land that starts north of Route 186 in Winter Harbor and extends to the Schoodic section of Acadia National Park.

The largest component involves preserving more than two-thirds of the 3,300 acres as a green corridor. That part of the plan will be off-limits to development and could include multiuse carriage trails similar to the ones John D. Rockefeller Jr. helped bring to the main section of the park on Mount Desert Island.

Other possibilities include: a lodge that will serve as the educational focal point, an outpost for avian study, a nursery for native plant preservation and an aquaculture education center. The plans also call for a hotel and an 18-hole golf course, and at least 10 separate areas have been designated for housing.

Saxl said the combination of conservation and development is rare in this part of the country, and both he and Ribble said they understand concerns about the unknown. Ribble added that a lack of hard numbers and data inevitably causes imaginations to run wild.

As the development process moved forward, Winter Harbor Properties Inc. will need permits from planning boards in Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro and also from the state Department of Environmental Protection. That process could take several months, but Ribble said the land already has been owned since the 1970s by a group of businesspeople, led by Bruno Modena of Milan, Italy, so there's no rush.

"As it is, we've been working on this for more than two years already," he said. "We want to do this right."

In 1996, Winter Harbor Properties Inc. created a controversy by harvesting timber on 2,400 acres of the property. Around the same time, initial plans were floated for the creation of as many as 2,000 house lots, but those never materialized.

The local economy in Winter Harbor is still trying to recover from the 2002 closure of a former U.S. Navy base, and Saxl said if it's not this development, it surely will be something else.

"Taking aside my professional role here representing the developer, as a state we need to figure out sustainable economic development," he said.

Some conservation groups, such as Friends of Acadia, a nonprofit affiliated with the park, have expressed concerns about the development, but most seem willing at least to sit at the table with the developers.

Saxl indicated that immediately after Wednesday's meeting, the developers will sit down and create a more specific plan to include suggestions and to address additional public concerns.

erussell@bangordailynews.net

664-0524

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