This is the second installment in a multi-part series of articles that examines the ongoing saga of issues connected to the University of New England’s controversial research pier project
By RANDY SEAVER | Editor
As their ongoing and intensifying battle with the city of Biddeford continues, the University of New England has taken off the gloves, filing a lawsuit this week against the city in Maine Superior Court.
In their lawsuit, the university claims that Biddeford officials have deliberately disrupted the construction of a controversial, large-scale docking pier on the Saco River, a project that was narrowly approved by the Biddeford Planning Board in August.
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Despite the planning board’s approval, the proposed pier project remains in a virtual state of limbo – a situation that has frustrated and angered university officials who are anxious to begin construction of the concrete and steel structure that will stretch approximately 180-feet away from the shoreline in perpendicular fashion.
A growing chorus of project opponents say the pier’s proposed location will disrupt public activity on the river, adversely impacting commercial fishermen and other longtime mooring holders while also causing visual and potential environmental impacts near the lower estuary of the Saco River.
UNE officials, however, say the pier’s proposed location will have no impact on other maritime traffic using the federal channel. The university says the pier’s location was meticulously researched and recommended by engineering and maritime experts hired by UNE.
“The pier will not extend anywhere near the center of the Saco River,” said UNE spokesperson Sarah Delage earlier this month, pointing out that the new pier will extend into the river a similar distance as the school’s existing seasonal pier.
The university says the new pier will allow them to conduct year-round and ongoing marine research in the Gulf of Maine. The existing seasonal pier, they say, will be removed once the larger pier is constructed.
The battle started years ago
The ongoing saga between the university and city began nearly three years ago when Biddeford Harbormaster Paul Lariviere began publicly criticizing the university’s preferred location for their new pier.
Lariviere said the proposed site would be problematic for others who use the river. He also said the school’s preferred location would not provide adequate water depth for a 60-foot research vessel.
Following the recommendations of his predecessor – the late Marshall Alexander, a veteran and widely respected harbormaster – Lariviere suggested an alternative location for UNE’s pier, a proposal that would run parallel to the shoreline, roughly 100 yards away from the school’s preferred location.
But despite broad public support for a different location, the university insisted that their preferred site was the only viable option.
“A settled issue?”
In fact, more than two years ago – several months before submitting their pier proposal for the city’s review — the university hinted at potential legal action if their project and its preferred location was not approved.
In a February 13, 2024 letter to Biddeford’s attorney, Ron Schneider — the university’s general counsel and vice president of legal affairs — argued that the proposed location for the pier was already a “settled issue.”
“It is our position that the planned location of the [Girard Marine Science Center] Pier is a settled issue,” Schneider wrote. “Mr. Lariviere, and by extension the city, is estopped from reversing course at this time and mandating a different location for the pier.”
In fact, UNE described the proposed location as a “settled issue” even before other state and federal agencies had completed their own reviews of the project.
The city, apparently, flinched after receiving Schneider’s letter.
Former mayor Marty Grohman had made several public comments about the many benefits of the proposed pier.
Former City Manager James Bennett also signaled strong support for the project.
Shortly after receiving Schneider’s letter, Bennett sidelined the city’s harbormaster from his statutory review of the project. At the time, Bennett said he had no choice because the harbormaster had been a vocal critic of the project.
Grohman agreed with Bennett, saying that Lariviere was clearly biased against the university. But what was never clearly explained was why the city also sidelined Assistant Harbormaster Randy Desmaris.
Bennett simply said that Desmaris had been “trained by Lariviere.” There is no record of Desmaris ever making any public remarks about the pier.
“At this point, they [UNE] are holding all the cards,” Grohman told this reporter in a July 2024 interview. “I don’t know how we can get them back to the table.”
Bennett’s decision to sideline the city’s harbormaster infuriated John Schafer, who was then chair of the city’s harbor commission.
Schafer resigned his position on the harbor commission and became an outspoken and vocal critic of the university’s permitting approach.
A political change of tide
Although former city manager James Bennett appeared bullish about UNE’s proposal, he soon found himself embattled in his own growing controversy.
New questions were being raised about Bennett’s management style, ongoing financial problems and high staff turnover at City Hall — and a myriad of other issues.
In October 2024, Bennett — out of excuses and facing a weary city council — reluctantly offered what he described as a “phased retirement,” saying he would step down from his position in April 2025, several months before the end of his employment contract.
Despite his surrender, public pressure continued to swirl around Bennett. He became a political liability even to his strongest and most ardent supporters, including former mayors Marty Grohman and his predecessor, Alan Casavant.
Bennett was asked to turn in his keys and was placed on administrative leave in February 2025, roughly two months before his planned “resignation.”
Grohman remained outwardly supportive of UNE’s research pier, pointing to its potential benefits and the opportunity to create a public-private synergy on issues connected to sustainability and climate change.
In August, only days before the Biddeford Planning Board was scheduled to decide the fate of UNE’s proposed pier – one board member appeared before the Biddeford City Council during a public meeting to express his concerns about the project and how it was being presented to the planning board.
“Something about this feels fishy,” said Roch Angers, a former city councilor and an icon in Biddeford political circles.
RELATED | “Something feels fishy,” says planning board member
Grohman was infuriated and was clearly uncomfortable listening as Angers rattled off a series of concerns about a project that he described as being on greased skids.
“There are rules, laws and procedures
— Roch Angers
we have to follow. We can’t just pick
and choose the ordinances or laws
that we want to follow.”
Two weeks later — during another city council meeting — Grohman attempted to have Angers removed from the Planning Board, arguing that it was inappropriate for a planning board member to offer a personal opinion on matter still pending before the board.
But Grohman’s attempt to remove Angers failed miserably.
Only Ward One Councilor William Emhisher was willing to make a motion to support the mayor. The remaining eight councilors sat silent, stoned-faced and many with their arms crossed in front of them.
After an awkward pause of silence that left audience members on pins and needles, Councilor Marc Lessard leaned forward and declared, “the motion dies without a second.”
Grohman shook his head. The color drained from his face as he shuffled some papers in front of him. The rest of the meeting continued without incident.
A call for stronger leadership
Although the planning board narrowly approved UNE’s proposal, public sentiment about the project intensified with new questions being raised about how the city handled UNE’s application.
Just a few weeks before the city’s biennial November election, a group of residents collected enough signatures to force a special citizens grievance meeting.
Grohman greeted individual residents as they filed into the council chamber. “I had nothing to do with removing the harbormaster,” Grohman repeated to anyone who would listen.
Few people in the room that night were willing to buy what the former mayor was selling.
Grohman was now facing a challenge from two very different members of the city council, elder statesman Norman Belanger and Liam LaFountain, a 28-year-old who represented a dynamic departure from the city’s old-guard political hierarchy.
Belanger and LaFountain both said the city needed “stronger leadership.”
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The voters agreed, and Grohman was sent packing. LaFountain and several new councilors were elected and tasked with delivering on their campaign promises.
The university was now facing a new political reality.
The message – though never delivered publicly – was that a new era had begun.
In response to voter sentiment, the city charted a new course based on the principles of accountability and transparency.
The university was forced to readjust its own political messaging and approach.
A showdown was looming.
Business — as usual — was over in Biddeford.
But Grohman and a few other members of the old guard were not quite ready to cede the field to a new administration.
NEXT | Shifting strategies, strange bedfellows and new alliances take over in the UNE research pier saga.
PREVIOUSLY | UNE says their relationship with Biddeford is “broken”
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