DOWN BUT NOT OUT: Belfast City Councilors scramble to keep Nordic alive
As you are well aware, last year the Maine Law Court (a/k/a Maine Supreme Judicial Court) ruled that private citizens Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace owned a certain coastal intertidal property deemed necessary for Nordic’s effluent pipes access to Belfast Bay, and thus the very existence of its fish factory. Jeffrey and Judith oppose Nordic’s plans for a 900,000 square foot salmon-raising factory. But Belfast wants Nordic here and together, the city and the company have used very legal maneuver possible to steal Jeffrey and Judith’s land.
The Law Court also ruled that the upland parcel formerly owned by the Eckrotes, designated as Belfast Tax Map 29, Lot 36 (“Lot 36”) was burdened with a “residential purposes only” servitude (restriction), established by Harriet L. Hartley in the 1946 Hartley-to-Poor deed, that prohibits any for profit business being conducted on the parcel conveyed to Fred R. Poor (Janet Eckrote’s grandfather) and binding on all of Poor’s successors (which includes the Eckrotes, the City of Belfast and Nordic). That restriction is enforceable by holders of property benefitted by that servitude, which includes the Friends of the Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area.
However, prior to the Superior Court or the Law Court entering their respective decisions on the quiet title case filed by Mabee, Grace and Friends of the Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area, in April 2021, the City entered a contract with Nordic in which the City agreed to use its eminent domain power for Nordic’s benefit and use. In August 2021, the City, pursuant to its contract with Nordic, seized the intertidal land adjacent to Lot 36 (including portions of that intertidal land that are located outside Belfast’s municipal boundary) and attempted to extinguish the ability to enforce the “residential purposes only” servitude (restriction by deed) on upland Lot 36 held by several property owners, including Jeffrey and Judith, and extinguish the Conservation Easement. The City attempted to justify this misuse of its power of eminent domain, claiming Lot 36 and the adjacent intertidal land would be used for a “public park.”
In truth, the City granted Nordic a deed to Lot 36 (which has not been recorded but is being held by Nordic’s counsel) and an easement on it that would allow Nordic to construct its three industrial pipes and an industrial pump house on this property (zoned as Residential II) and, in consequence, be allowed to pollute that part of Belfast Bay off of the Little River (discharging 7.7 million gallons of wastewater a day off of Bayside).
Of course, the Constitution of the State of Maine does not permit the City to seize private property for the use of another private entity, nor do the State’s statutes (1 M.R.S. § 816(a)-(c)) allow a municipality to use its condemnation powers for either seizure of fishing grounds or territory beyond its own boundary.
Six months ago the Superior Court tried to let the City “save face” by remanding the City’s 8-12 2021 Condemnation Order back to the City for reconsideration, amendment and/or vacation, in light of the Law Court’s decision about ownership of the property and other determinations that made it clear that the City had located its municipal boundary in the wrong location when it took the Mabee-Grace intertidal land — including intertidal land outside Belfast’s municipal boundary. In essence, the City could retract its seizure and say to Nordic, “We did our best for you. It’s not our fault, but the courts have overruled us.”
To date, the City has failed to act on the Superior Court’s order and opposed any attempt to set a deadline for its response to the Order for remand. More than six months have passed without any action by the Belfast City Council to restore Jeffrey and Judith’s title to the intertidal land illegally taken, even the intertidal land that is unquestionably outside Belfast’s municipal boundary established by statute in 1813.
At 6 PM this coming, Tuesday, April 2, prior to the usual Belfast City Council meeting, there will be a joint meeting between the Town Select Board of Northport and the Belfast City Counselors. Citizens may attend.
You can do your part to end this 5-year environmental and economic threat to the City and the Town. If you are a citizen of Belfast, please immediately contact your City Counselors and request they respond to the remand and end their misuse of its power of eminent domain.
Eric Sanders, Mayor, 322-6803, mayor@cityofbelfast.org.
Mary Mortier, 323-1748, ward1councilor@ciyofbelfast.org
Neal Harkness, 323-8089, ward2councilor@cityofbelfast.org
Brenda Bonneville, 505-0166, ward3councilor@cityofbelfast.org
Christopher Bitely, 613-5358, ward4councilor@cityofbelfast.org
Paul Dean, 338-1920, ward5councilor@cityofbelfast.org
If you are a citizen of Northport, please immediately contact the members of the Town Select Board and request they not cooperate in any manner with the City in this matter.
Jeanine Tucker, jeaninetucker@northportmaine.org
Breanna Bebb, breanna@northportmaine.org
Molly Schauffler, mollyschauffler@northportmaine.org
James Kossuth, administrator@northportmaine.org
And, if you can, please attend the meeting at Belfast City Hall at 6 PM this Tuesday to demonstrate and voice your objections.
We have just obtained an email from the City Attorney stating the public will not be allowed to speak, so plan on demonstrating silently — perhaps with tape on your mouth and holding a small sign, saying "Vacate the Condemnation Order” or “No Perambulation Needed” or some other message that conveys your opposition to the Belfast City Council’s failure and refusal to return the land they illegally seized in 2021.
Sincerely,
Sid Block, President
Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area