BELFAST — Nordic Aquafarms, Inc., has filed a complaint against the City of Belfast, as well as Jeffrey Mabee, Judith Grace and the Friends of the Harriet Hartley Conservation Area, saying Belfast erred in repealing a condemnation order May 7 at a City Council meeting.

Nordic is asking the court to reverse the Council order, and issue a judgment that an easement claimed by Nordic remains valid.

Nordic is represented by several attorneys with the Portland-based Pierce Atwood firm, and they filed the complaint May 16 in Waldo County Superior Court.

In a May 29 press release, Nordic said: “We are dedicated to Belfast and want to continue bringing other economic benefits to Belfast and the surrounding region by completing the development of its fully permitted on-land aquaculture facility.... Having the Superior Court determine Nordic’s rights following the Council vote is an important part of the development process, and Nordic is committed to seeing it through.”

The Friends of the Harriet Harley Conservation Area have not commented on the case, but at its website, the nonprofit said: “Nordic Aquafarms is suing the city of Belfast for repealing its exercise of eminent domain to claim land held in a conservation easement by Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area. The company is suing on the grounds that the city did not determine its municipal boundaries before vacating the order. This is despite the existing surveys that clearly define the boundaries and the mouth of the Little River.

“The lawsuit requests the reversal of the city's revocation, the validation of Nordic’s easement for its intake and discharge pipes, and a court declaration that the easement does not breach the deeded use restrictions attached to the land since the 1940s.

“Included, though not served with a copy of the lawsuit, as parties of interest in the case are Friends of Harriet L. Hartley, Jeffrey Mabee, and Judith Grace.”

While Nordic is a Norwegian company, Nordic Aquafarms, Inc., is under its umbrella and registered in the U.S. in Delaware, with an office in Belfast.

Nordic is still hoping to build a $500 million indoor salmon farm in Belfast. For the recirculating aquaculture project to work, it needs outfall pipes for discharge of salmon plant water into Penobscot Bay, and intake pipes to circulate water throughout the indoor salmon pens.

The location of the pipes and ownership of the intertidal flats and shoreline where the pipes were proposed has resulted in multiple lawsuits. The Maine Law Court decided in February 2023 that the intertidal land belonged to Jeffrey Mabee and Judith Grace, reversing a Waldo County Superior Court decision to the contrary.

Most recently, the Belfast City Council revoked its 2021 eminent domain order, which would have facilitated Nordic’s use of the intertidal land to place pipes from the proposed facility across Route 1 into Penobscot Bay.

Using its power of eminent domain order, the city had issued an Order of Condemnation  in August 2021, appropriating use of the land and tidal flats specifically to enable Nordic’s plan via an easement.

But on May 7, the Council repealed and vacated the condemnation order.

Now, Nordic has argued that the City of Belfast revoked the order without determining its municipal boundaries, and said it is, “aggrieved by the Revocation Order.”

The company said the City’s right to the land via the condemnation order stand, and “because title has passed by operation of statute, the Condemnation Order is final and cannot be unilaterally revoked.”

Furthermore, Nordic said: “By approving the Revocation Order without resolving the dispute regarding the municipal boundary, Defendants abused their discretion, committed errors of law, and made findings that were not supported by the evidence.”

Therefore, Nordic said, the company still has rights to the 2021 easement as originally stipulated.

“The uses contemplated by the Nordic Easement do not violate the use restriction on the Eckrote Property,” the complaint said.

Nordic is invoking the Maine and U.S. Constitution, both the Fifth and the 14th Amendments.

Nordic cites the Maine Constitution, Article 1, Section 21, that, “private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation....” 

“Accordingly, regardless of the Revocation Order, the Nordic Easement remains valid and enforceable and grants NAF the rights set forth in the easement,” the complaint said.

“An order from this Court declaring that the Nordic Easement is unaffected by the Revocation Order, remains valid and enforceable, and does not violate any use restriction on the property would terminate any uncertainty and controversy about the Nordic Easement’s effect.”

In a May 29 press release, Nordic said:

“Nordic is committed to creating aquaculture jobs and increasing the City of Belfast’s tax revenue significantly each year. Our Corporate Giving Program has donated $8-10,000 per year, benefiting our community through the Waldo County YMCA, the Belfast Rotary for community events, Belfast Chamber of Commerce events, the Summer Street Party, Belfast High School,

Reach Editorial Director Lynda Clancy at lyndaclancy@penbaypilot.com; 207-706-6657