BELFAST, Maine — Plans to build a roughly $500 million dollar salmon farm in Belfast are being held up over a controversial move by a city board to keep a local conservation group off the case.
Last week, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that Upstream Watch had the standing to fight the permitting process for Nordic Aquafarms, the company trying to build a large indoor facility in Belfast. This strikes down an earlier decision by the Belfast Zoning Board of Appeals to reject an application to appeal filed by Upstream Watch.
"This is one win for us," Jillian Howell, the executive director of Upstream Watch, said Tuesday. Howell was surprised the process came to this, as Upstream Watch’s past appeals—including with the Belfast Planning Board, have been approved. "Courts have said that we have had standing in the past so [the zoning decision] was a bit of a shock and surprising."
As complicated as the issue can get, the argument presented before Maine’s highest court had to do with a piece of paper. To appeal a permit in Belfast, a person or group must fill out a form on why they have a stake in the building project in question. The Belfast Zoning Board of Appeals didn’t find Upstream Watch’s answers adequate.
"They did every other part of the appeal except that, except establishing standing," Peter Nesin, the chair of the board, said Tuesday from his optometry office in town.
A district judge agreed that the appeal form was sparse on information, but when the case reached the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, other factors came into play.
Kristin Collins, the Belfast city attorney explained, "The law court found that that form was not the only thing that the board of appeals should have looked at."
Now, Nordic Aquafarm’s permits head back to the Belfast Zoning Board of Appeals, which will have to consider Upstream Watch’s claims before approving or denying the project.