Residents in the Down East town of Columbia Falls have approved a large-scale development moratorium, by a vote of 63-17.
The town has been eyed as the potential site of a multibillion-dollar veterans memorial park and a 1,400-foot flagpole, envisioned as the world's tallest.
"Understandably people are looking at this moratorium as an opportunity to express some concern about the flagpole project," said Aga Dixon, the town's attorney. "I would say that the flagpole project was a catalyst for this effort. But it certainly wasn't the only reason the town officials opted to go this route."
There was no debate on the moratorium on Tuesday night, and only one person asked a question about the proposal. Voters applauded when the final count was announced.
The outcome wasn't necessarily surprising, Dixon said, because the town surveyed residents about the proposal earlier this year. More than 80% of residents indicated they were in support of a development moratorium.
Columbia Falls will now host discussions over the next six months about its vision for the community and will develop new ordinances and regulations to better react to large-scale commercial or high-density residential development proposals, Dixon said. Columbia Falls has a shoreland zoning ordinance but few other regulations.
"Columbia Falls has faced a number of development pressures, not only from the flagpole project but other types of development," she said. "The whole-scale pattern or directive that people are seeing in the community is to be on the lookout and be aware of new development patterns that are coming up, things that haven't been thought through or haven't been addressed. The moratorium really is meant to capture all of that, not just the flagpole project. But it certainly has impact. It will have an impact on that proposal."
The town hasn't heard from the flagpole's developers, Wreaths Across America founder Morrill Worcester and his sons, in several months, and Dixon said Wednesday she doesn't know where the project stands.
The developers said last fall that they were reevaluating the business structure for the project, which had been originally pitched as a for-profit venture.
"Our project will move forward and we remain committed to that," Mike Worcester, one of the developers said in an email Wednesday evening. "We also respect the outcome of the vote which pauses all future development in Columbia Falls."
