City gives final approval for UNE’s pier proposal

August 6, 2025August 7, 2025 ~ Randy Seaver ~ 4 Comments

The Biddeford Planning Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to give final approval for the University of New England’s controversial proposal to build a research pier on the Saco River in front of their Biddeford campus.

The board’s decision caps off almost two years of a somewhat complex regulatory review process that included both state and federal agencies.

UNE has now cleared the final hurdle of the review process, which allows them to begin applying for the necessary construction permits.

The university has indicated that they are hoping to begin construction in the fall.

*A frustrated group of residents and mooring owners watch as the Biddeford Planning Board deliberated whether to give final approval for the University of New England’s research pier. (Seaver photo)*

Once again, tensions were high as the board deliberated their final review of the project.

The board’s decision was not well received by several members of the public who attended the meeting to speak against the project.

The planning board has seven-members, including board chair Alexa Plotkin and two non-voting members.

Planning Board members Susan Deschambault and Larry Patoine voted in favor of the proposal, while members Roch Angers and Matt Dubois voted against the proposal.

Plotkin broke the tie, voting in favor of the application and also voted against an earlier motion to table review of the university’s application.

Opponents feel frustrated, ignored

Several residents and others approached the podium to express their concerns about the proposal.

A common theme heard from opponents were several complaints about the former city manager’s decision to remove both the city’s harbormaster and assistant harbormaster from the review process of the university’s proposal.

RELATED: City manager quashes harbormaster

Gary MacMullen told the board that he had a good and close relationship with the late Marshall Alexander who served 37 years as the city’s harbormaster and resigned a few years ago because of health concerns.

“There is so much value and so much to be said regarding the importance of local knowledge,” MacMullen told the board. “Out-of-town engineers are great, but they lack specific, local knowledge about the intricacies of the Saco River.”

MacMullen described the person selected by the city to provide harbormaster review of the proposal is a “railroad engineer,” not familiar with the Saco River.

“When I have a problem with my neck, I don’t go see a podiatrist,” MacMullen said.

City Attorney Harry Center, however, strenuously objected to the term of “railroad engineer” as both inaccurate and misleading.

Center, clearly frustrated, told the board he was tired of hearing remarks that the city’s harbormaster was replaced by a “railroad engineer.”

Center reminded the board that TEC Associates – based in South Portland — is an experienced, professional engineering consulting firm that also has a division, which offers marine structural consulting services.

“This issue has become a red herring,” Center told the board. “It is a fake argument.”

Feeling abused and ignored

Capt. Shawn Tibbetts, and other mooring owners who will be impacted by the pier, attended Wednesday’s meeting.

“Not only have you sidelined the benefits of local knowledge, but we are also being ignored,” Tibbets told the board. “The harbormaster has been silenced by the city, but the city is also ignoring those of us who make our living on the water.”

RELATED: Mooring owners say they will not budge

Biddeford resident Matt Haas said no one in the city should be worried about whether the university will file a lawsuit if the proposal were to be denied.

“That’s not your concern,” Haas told the board. “Your job is to make sure you are representing the city and its people.”

Hills Beach resident Chris Stone lives not far from the university’s campus.

“We need to stop treating this like a slam dunk,” she said. “I do feel bad for this board, however. You are the only ones who have given this any daylight.”

Walter Alexander said the entire review process was flawed.

“I feel bad for you guys,” Alexander said. “This should have started at the city council level. You guys have been drastically misguided.”

Alternate board member Kayla Lewis said she feels torn on this issue, saying the city’s own ordinances on the subject are less than clear. “I understand why people are upset, but I also feel the university did all the right things in submitting their application.

“This should have started
at the city council level.
You guys have been drastically
misguided.”
— Walter Alexander

Lewis urged residents to consider working with the planning board and the city’s policy committee to help update and clarify the ordinances. “Please keep engaging with us,” she said.

Following the meeting, a UNE spokesperson said they we were pleased by the final vote.

“This was a challenging process, and we appreciate the planning board’s careful consideration of UNE’s application and adherence to the city’s ordinances,” said Sarah Delage, associate vice president of communications. “We look forward to moving ahead with the next phase of the project.”

Note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly identified Gary MacMullen as Gary Plamondon. It was a reporting error, and we apologize for any confusion.

___________

Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be contacted by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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Planning board member blasts mayor, city council over UNE proposal: ‘something feels fishy’

August 6, 2025August 6, 2025 ~ Randy Seaver ~ 3 Comments

In a surprise move, Roch Angers — a former Biddeford city councilor and current member of the city’s planning board – told members of the city council Tuesday that he has serious concerns about the University of New England’s plans to construct a large pier on the Saco River.

“Something about this whole mess doesn’t feel right to me,” Angers told the council. “The way I see it, something seems fishy about this.”

The Biddeford Planning Board voted 3-2 on July 16 to give UNE preliminary site plan approval for their proposed pier, a project that has stirred considerable controversy in the community.

The Planning Board is scheduled to make a final vote on the project at their next meeting later tonight (August 6).

Angers is one of two planning board members who voted against the project during the board’s July 21 meeting.

Although the city council and mayor have no oversight or control over the Planning Board, Angers told the Gazette he thinks everyone should “be made aware of what is happening.”

Planning Board member Roch Angers told the Biddeford City Council that he has serious concerns about how the city has handled the review process of UNE’s controversial proposal to build a large pier on the Saco River *(Seaver photo*)

Angers addressed the council during the “public comment” portion of Tuesday’s council meeting. During this time, members of the public can address the council on any topic for up to three minutes.

Following his remarks, Angers said he was still feeling frustrated about the issue, especially after Mayor Marty Grohman told Angers that he had exceeded his three-minute limit for public comment.

“I couldn’t finish what I wanted to say,” he said while standing outside the council chambers.

Angers says he has no animosity toward the university, but does have “serious concerns” about how the application has been handled by the city.

“There are rules, laws and procedures we have to follow,” Angers said. “We can’t just pick and choose the ordinances or laws that we want to follow.”

Angers said he is going to make a motion during tonight’s planning board meeting to table further discussion of the university’s proposal until he “can get some answers.”

Specifically, Angers said he is troubled by a noticeable lack of public input during a complex review process that involved both state and federal agencies.

“Why was everything so quiet during their presentation to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers?” he asked, pointing out the fact that the federal agency did not hold any public hearings nor seek public input, despite the fact that university was able to secure a $3.5 million federal grant for the project from Senator Susan Collins.

We can’t just pick and choose
the ordinances or laws
that we want to follow.”
— Roch Angers

Angers said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection also gave its approval for the project without holding any public hearings, nor did they seek public input before making their decision.

During a previous interview with the Gazette, a UNE spokesperson said the university has followed all state, federal and local requirements when submitting their application.

“The University of New England has provided, and will continue to provide, all required and relevant documentation to the regulatory agencies and governmental bodies conducting the permitting process for our proposed research pier, said Sarah Delage, assistant vice president of communications.

During his commentary before the council, Angers also criticized former city manager James Bennett for removing both the city’s harbormaster and assistant harbor master from the review process of UNE’s application last year.

“Well, lo, and behold, he [Bennett] then appointed a railroad engineer with no local knowledge of the river to approve the plan,” Angers said.

Angers declined to speculate if he will be able to find support from his fellow planning board members to table the university’s application.

“I just did what I thought needed to be done,” Angers said. “The people of Biddeford need to know how the city is handling this affair.”

Angers said he was not able to complete his remarks, but offered a strong suggestion for Mayor Marty Grohman and members of the council.

“If this passes at the Planning Board, the mayor and city council should take a hard look at this project and ask themselves if they think everything is on the up and up,” Angers said. “All that matters to me is that we have transparency and a willingness to consider the impacts on mooring owners and other people in that area.”

“We’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” he said. “This is just my opinion.”

_____________

Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be contacted by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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Tensions run high during Planning Board review of UNE’s proposed pier

July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 ~ Randy Seaver ~ 3 Comments

Following a rather tense and emotionally-charged discussion, the Biddeford Planning Board voted 3-2 Wednesday to give preliminary site approval for the University of New England’s proposed research pier.

The controversial pier proposal has generated widespread public discourse for more than a year, even before the application was formally submitted in June 2024.

*This aerial photograph shows the proposed location of the University of New England’s proposed research pier (UNE Photo)*

Opponents – including area fishermen, private mooring owners and neighbors – have consistently said they wanted the university to consider an alternative location that was proposed by Harbormaster Paul Lariviere nearly two years ago.

City Attorney Harry Center, however, told board members that the so-called “alternative location” was not part of UNE’s application and thus, not subject to review and/or approval by the board.

City Planner David Galbraith began the discussion with an emotional statement, saying he has been vilified by project opponents and that “personal attacks” have called into question both his integrity and professionalism.

“I have been doing this for 30 years, and I have never been subjected to such malicious comments,” Galbraith told the board. “I and others involved in the review of this proposal have gone out of our way to be open, transparent and accommodating.”

Galbraith told the board that he was especially angry about a recent YouTube video that was posted by a anonymous Facebook page known as “UNE Pier Review.”

“Frankly, I am appalled,” Galbraith said. “I assure you that my integrity is worth much more than what any developer could offer me.”

“I have been doing this for 30 years,
and I have never been subjected
to such malicious comments.”
— City Planner David Galbraith

Planning Board Member Susan Deschambault reminded her fellow board members that the university’s proposal has already been reviewed and approved by several other agencies, including the Saco River Corridor Commission, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S, Army Corps of Engineers.

But alternate board member Kayla Lewis said she could understand why opponents and other members of the public were feeling angry and frustrated.

“UNE did exactly what they were supposed to do in submitting their application to us,” Lewis said. “But we also have to acknowledge and recognize that this review process has had a shaky foundation. Somewhere along the line, things got very blurred.”

Roch Angers was one of the two board members who voted against approval of the project.

“I have a lot of mixed feelings about the process,” Angers said. “But that has nothing to do with our city planner, who I think has done an outstanding job.”

Center told the board that the city’s ordinances are clear and that there is no legal basis for consideration of potential impacts to mooring owners or fishermen in the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. Center also told the board that any concerns about the harbormaster being removed from the review process were also not relevant for the board’s consideration.

Resident Kyle Noble questioned why the Planning Board was even considering the application after what he described as a “faulty review process.”

“This is a once in a lifetime project,” Noble told the board. “And it’s forever.”

A UNE spokesperson said the university was pleased about the board’s preliminary vote.

“We were also encouraged by the comments made by city staff and planning board members correcting a number of false statements that have been made about the project,” said Sarah Delage, associate vice president of communications for the university. “We look forward to a final vote at the next meeting.”

John Schafer, the former chair of Biddeford’s Harbor Commission, has been a leading opponent of the university’s proposal.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed,” Shafer said during a brief interview Thursday. “There was a lot of misinformation thrown at the board and they acted mostly in lock-step. From my perspective, it seems that their decision was already made before the meeting started.”

NOTE: Board members Roch Angers and Matt Dubois voted in opposition to the application; Board Members Larry Patoine and Susan Deschambault voted in favor of the application. Board Chair Alexa Plotkin broke the tie, voting in the affirmative for the applicant (UNE). Kayla Lewis is an alternate, non-voting member of the board.

Randy Seaver is the editor and founder of the Biddeford Gazette. He may be contacted by email: randy@randyseaver.com

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UNE blasted before Biddeford Planning Board

May 22, 2025May 22, 2025 ~ Randy Seaver ~ 3 Comments

During Wednesday’s Planning Board meeting, not a single member of the public spoke in favor of the proposed location for a research-docking pier that the University of New England wants to build on the Saco River.

Although several people told the board that they supported the idea of UNE building a new pier, they also said the proposed location for the pier is a bad plan and would adversely impact public recreation, nearby mooring owners and commercial fishing operations near the mouth of the river.

During the public comment period, which lasted nearly an hour, several people also complained about what they said is “a lack of transparency” about the project and the university’s closed-ranks approach to building the pier in their preferred location.

Alan Thibeault, the university’s vice president of operations, introduced the project to the board, stressing that prior boards “approved the pier concept, design and location” as part of the university’s overall master plan.

Thibeault told the board that UNE has spent many years planning and designing the proposed pier, considering nine different locations along the shoreline near the school’s Marine Sciences Center building.

*Former city councilor Kyle Noble addresses the Biddeford Planning Board about the University of New England’s proposed research pier on the Saco River (Seaver Photo)*

“We are here tonight to listen,” Thibeault said during his opening remarks, pointing out that project has already been approved by the Saco River Corridor Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

But many residents saw Wednesday’s meeting as their first opportunity for a bite at the apple for public comment and feedback of the project, which includes a 130-foot approach pier with an 80 by 20-foot pier head jutting out into the channel.

Former city councilor Kyle Noble who lives near UNE’s Biddeford campus, described UNE’s application as “incomplete.” Are you going to side with the public or UNE?” Noble asked the board. “If they were good neighbors as they so often claim, they would have designed this differently.”

Thibeault told the board that the university’s current research vessel is only 32-feet long, despite prior talk of a new, much larger vessel of more than 60-feet in length.

Dan Chadbourne, Saco’s former harbormaster, told the board, “You don’t build an 80-foot pier for a 32-foot boat.”

Chadbourne said he thinks the university has needed a more adequate pier for a long time, going back decades to when the school was St. Francis College. “The location is the issue,” he said. “Where they want it is gonna catch ice, and they’re gonna be disappointed when they are unable to turn because of inadequate depth in that area.”

Although Thibeault told the board that mooring impacts would be minimal and that the university had tried to obtain maps of private moorings, several local mooring owners approached the podium one-by-one to say that their moorings would be adversely impacted and that UNE has done nothing to contact them.

Walter Alexander of Biddeford is the son of former harbormaster Marshall Alexander who was the city’s harbormaster for 37 years before retiring a few years ago and then died late last year.

The younger Alexander told the board: “My father was the one who gave UNE what he thought was a much better plan for their pier, closer and parallel to the shore,” he said.

“The university has deep pockets, and they have threatened the city with litigation if they don’t get the location they want,” Alexander said. “There has been a lack of transparency, and this whole thing has turned into little more than a big dock contest.”

Peter Mourmouras, the owner of Saco Bay Tackle, told the board that the proposed pier would essentially close off a very popular fishing area that generates revenue for the local economy from chartered recreational fishing trips.

John Schafer, the former chair of Biddeford’s Harbor Commission, has been an outspoken critic of the project. He reminded the board that Biddeford’s former city manager “silenced both the city harbormaster and assistant harbormaster” from the review process last year. “Since then, there has been no local knowledge evaluating this proposal,” Schafer said. “The university has twice threatened to sue the city, as outlined in letters from February 2024 and again in March 2024.”

RELATED: City Manager quashes harbormaster

RELATED: Mayor defends city review of UNE proposal

Other representatives from the university attended Wednesday’s meeting, seated together in the back row, including the school’s senior attorney and a public relations representative. None of them addressed the board.

“There has been a lack of transparency,
and this whole thing has turned
into little more than a big dock contest.”
— Walter Alexander

At the end of the public comment period, several board members said they felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the project, including the school’s submission that is reportedly more than 1,000 pages of information.

Board members voted unanimously to conduct a site walk of the area, and a possible boat tour of the river area at low tide, stressing that the public would be notified and invited to participate.

Board chair Alexa Plotkin asked the university to provide some more details, saying the board would appreciate more than just “four or five days” to review additional information.

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