letter to the editor

Belfast’s eminent domain train wreck

Mon, 04/15/2024 - 8:30pm

On April 2, the Belfast City Council met with the Northport Select Board to discuss the Belfast City Council's plan to revisit the Belfast-Northport town boundary.

In the meeting, Belfast City Attorney Kristin Collins repeatedly sowed doubt about various surveys of the Belfast-Northport line and the location of the mouth of the Little River, and at 15:06 of the meeting video, Collins showed a slide that quoted a Waldo County County Superior Court decision on the town boundary.

But what Collins didn't say is that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overruled that decision and clearly and unequivocally located the mouth of the river.

In other words, Collins left a false impression. She told only half the story. And not one Belfast city councilor said a word.

Is this what the city council calls ethics? You tell your neighbors half the story?

It gets worse. At 21:14 of the video, Belfast Mayor Eric Sanders said none of this was related to the eminent domain action the city took in order to give land to Nordic Aquafarms. The problem is the city council's eminent domain action spills over into Northport — and Mayor Sanders is the only person I know who believes the April 2 meeting wasn't about trying to salvage the city council's eminent domain train wreck.

This is the way the Belfast City Council treats its neighbors, by feeding them rubbish and half-truths? And by paying out-of-town lawyers to spew half-truths? Really? Wow.

Lawrence Reichard lives in Belfast