Our Ongoing Efforts

Dear Friends,

Over the past six years, FHLH has stood firm to protect conserved land on the Belfast waterfront — against industrial development, unlawful land claims, and improper use of government authority.

What We've Fought For:

• To protect conserved intertidal land placed under permanent easement — land Nordic Aquafarms tried to trench and pipe through without legal right.

• To enforce deed restrictions that have protected Lot 36 from industrial use since 1946.

• To stop the City of Belfast’s improper use of eminent domain to seize protected shoreline.
  

What We've Accomplished:

• Maine’s highest court ruled in our favor (Feb. 2023), confirming ownership of the intertidal zone and upholding the Lot 36 residential-only restriction.

• The City repealed its 2021 condemnation order (May 2024), formally relinquishing its claim over Grace and Mabee’s land.

• The courts affirmed FHLH’s conservation easement is legally binding and cannot be bypassed.

What Still Concerns Us:

Ownership is now confirmed and the eminent domain attempt overturned — but Mabee-Grace and FHLH still have two major objectives ahead:

• Pursuing cost and damage claims against Nordic and the City (now before the Business & Consumer Docket), and

• Clearing Nordic’s Belfast parcels of legal entanglements and improper easements. These entanglements include:

• the protected status of a 12.5-acre parcel that Nordic never revealed in any of its filings; 

• an easement on the riverfront parcel (Waterfront Parcel) that allows construction through the public walking trails along the reservoir; 

• an option on the Lower Dam that could limit its renovation or removal; and 

• the opportunity to secure an easement across Lot 36 (formerly the Eckrote parcel) to provide permanent public access to the FHLH Conservation Area. 

Nordic is now seeking to sell its Belfast properties using altered deeds that attempt to erase these restrictions — profiting from efforts to override others’ property rights and undermine conservation protections.

We strongly believe Nordic must not be allowed to offload these lands while concealing the legal defects their own actions created.

Our Commitment:

We will continue working to:

• Defend conservation easements and property rights

• Prevent unlawful or deceptive land transfers

• Ensure any development reflects law, fact, and community values
  

This is about integrity — in how we treat each other, how we honor legal agreements, and how we care for our coastal land.

Thank you for standing with us.