NEWS | Just one issue could finally determine the fate of UNE’s controversial pier proposal

A public hearing on Wednesday will likely focus on whether a 25-year-old state ruling will prevent tree clearing and the construction of an access road along the shore of the Saco River.

By RANDY SEAVER | Editor

On Wednesday, the Saco River Corridor Commission (SRCC) will hold a public hearing that could set the stage and finally determine – once and for all – the fate of a controversial research pier the University of New England wants to construct on the Saco River.

Despite a host of related issues and controversies, the Aug. 12 public hearing at the Saco Community Center will likely focus on just one key element of the ongoing and sometimes bitter debate.

Will construction of the large-scale pier violate a prior ruling made by the SRCC more than 25 years ago, when the quasi-state agency created a 250-foot buffer zone that prevents shoreline development on the school’s Biddeford campus?

According to public records, the 250-foot buffer zone was created in 2001 as a compromise that allowed UNE to build two new dormitory buildings, which exceeded the city’s height restrictions. The new zone was then incorporated as a permanent standard to address public concerns about environmental and visual impacts.

In order to construct their 180-foot pier, the university needs to clear several mature trees and build a permanent access road along the shoreline within the 250-foot buffer zone.

A project stalled by one legal question

**IN THE ZONE** | In this 2025 file photo, UNE Vice President Alan Thiebault leads members of Biddeford’s Planning Board along the shoreline near the location of where the university intends to remove trees and construct an access road.

. . .

Although the SRCC approved UNE’s proposal in August 2024, a new permit needs to be issued because the project has been stalled for more than two years by legal challenges and the city of Biddeford’s reluctance to issue a building permit until questions about the buffer zone can be settled.

Cherie Dunning, the SRCC’s executive director, told the Biddeford Gazette in October that her agency failed to consider the 250-foot buffer when it initially approved UNE’s pier proposal in 2024.

Opponents of the project have seized on that issue and say the SRCC should now deny the application and require the university to submit a new plan that adheres to the agreement it made in 2001.

The university, however, says the SRCC’s original approval is valid — primarily because the 250-foot buffer does not preclude “any and all development,” such as tree clearing and construction of an access road.

Although the SRCC will not make its final ruling on the issue until later this month, Wednesday’s public hearing will give commissioners an opportunity to consider public comments and testimony that today appears heavily stacked against the university.

Two mayors; two different perspectives

In reviewing dozens of public comments that have already been submitted to the SRCC, it appears that one notable Biddeford resident is taking a minority opinion and strongly supporting UNE’s request for a permit extension.

Former Biddeford Mayor Alan Casavant says he is supporting the university’s application because he feels frustrated by both anonymous critics of the project and by the city’s current approach.

“It just seems like the city is intentionally putting up barriers and roadblocks to a project that offers numerous benefits for the community,” Casavant said during a brief telephone interview on Sunday.

Casavant — who led the city for 12 years between 2011 and 2023 — said he did “a lot of work” to repair the city’s tense relationship with the university.

“I always found them [UNE] to be cooperative and willing to listen,” Casavant said. “I just don’t understand the objections, and I think the city has created a poisonous atmosphere of distrust and angst.”

In March, Casavant and another former mayor – Marty Grohman – published an op-ed in the Maine Sunday Telegram that criticized Mayor Liam LaFountain’s approach on issues connected to the university.

In his written testimony to the SRCC, Casavant wrote that “UNE is always honest, particularly true when dealing with [UNE] President James Herbert.”

LaFountain — who ousted Grohman from the mayor’s seat in November — said his approach to UNE is firmly aligned with his campaign promise to ensure transparency and accountability at City Hall, not any kind of animosity toward the university.

“The issue is straightforward,” LaFountain said. “In 2001, the SRCC required UNE to maintain a 250-foot vegetative buffer along the entire shoreline of the parcel as a condition of their dormitory permit.

“The SRCC’s own staff has now acknowledged in writing that this condition was not discussed or addressed when the pier permit was approved in 2024. We’re asking the commission to make an explicit finding on whether that condition remains enforceable and, if so, whether the pier permit complies with it.”

“The standard should rely
on rules and processes
that are defensible, regardless
of who the applicant is.”
— Mayor Liam LaFountain

LaFountain said he has an obligation to uphold Biddeford’s code of ordinances, which requires a valid SRCC permit before any pier may be constructed in the city.

“Until the commission resolves the status of the 2001 buffer condition, we cannot be certain that the previous SRCC permit is valid,” LaFountain said. “That clarity isn’t a roadblock; it’s a prerequisite to doing our job.”

While LaFountain said he respects Casavant’s record of public service, he also said that development and environmental reviews shouldn’t rest on the personalities or character assessments of the applicant.

“[The standard] should rely on rules and processes that are defensible, regardless of who the applicant is,” Lafountain said. “The Saco River deserves that standard. That standard is what the city council voted unanimously to pursue, and it remains my commitment as well.”

Two sides of the debate

**JOHN SHAFER** has been an outspoken critic of UNE’s proposed pier project and met with former Mayor Marty Grohman in May 2025 to outline his concerns about the proposal and how it could impact mooring holders and others who use the Saco River. | *File photo by Randy Seaver*

. . .

John Schafer, a Hills Beach resident and former chair of Biddeford’s Harbor Commission, has been one of the most outspoken opponents of UNE’s project.

It was Schafer who pressured the SRCC into holding a public hearing before deciding whether to approve UNE’s permit extension request.

Schafer says his biggest objection settles on what he describes as “a flawed review process” by state and federal agencies.

“Everyone should have to follow the same standard,” Schafer said. “No one should be allowed to bulldoze their way through a review process. There are just too many questions and too much at stake to ignore facts because they are simply inconvenient.”

But a UNE spokesperson said the university has diligently followed the required review process and stated that the 250-foot buffer “allows for certain limited types of development such as a road to facilitate access to a marine-dependent structure.”

Sarah Delage, UNE’s vice president of communications, says the pier project –including its required access road – has undergone an “extensive review” by the city of Biddeford, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Saco River Corridor Commission.

Delage said the SRCC’s 2024 approval of the project is consistent with that framework and is lawful.

“We welcome constructive public input and discussion at the upcoming SRCC hearing, but those discussions should be grounded in the approved plans and the factual permitting record, not in misunderstandings or mischaracterizations of the project,” Delage said.

When asked if the 250-foot buffer zone was specifically mentioned in any part of the extensive review process, Delage said permit and grant applications are not intended to list every ordinance, regulation, or permit condition applicable to a project.

“UNE’s obligation was to ensure the proposal complied with all relevant federal, state and local requirements, including SRCC regulations and the permit conditions established in 2001, and our application did just that,” Delage said.

Delage said UNE did not separately highlight the 2001 permit condition because it does not prohibit appropriately permitted development within that area.

“As with numerous other applicable regulations, our focus was on ensuring compliance, not on cataloging every individual provision in the application material,” she said.

Wednesday’s public hearing will begin at 7 p.m. at the Saco Community Center, 75 Franklin Street in Saco.

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