Maine College’s Pier Plan Not Floating With Commercial Fishermen

By Ted Cohen Patch.com

Town or gown.

Judging from the backlash to the University of New England's plans to build a massive Saco River pier, it's actually Townspeople vs. Gown.

The Biddeford college’s proposal has raised hackles among commercial fishermen who complain they're about to lose critical river access.

Recreational boaters are also mad, claiming they're going to lose their moorings if the pier gets the green light from the city Planning Board.

The on-line Biddeford Gazette for months has been suggesting that the school has received favorable treatment by city leaders and been lax in trying to reach a middle ground with opponents afraid of losing waterfront access.

“If this plan goes through, they will essentially be closing off the river to everyone else,” tuna fisherman Mike Ramunno told the Gazette. “When you plan to build a house and go to the planning board, you have to notify your abutters. Why doesn’t the university not have to notify us about their plan?”

Randy Seaver, who runs the Gazette, has been the only reporter regularly covering the pier’s implications, which have drawn little interest from the legacy press, i.e., the Portland Press Herald.

The university’s pier would include a 28-by-24-foot landing; a 90-by-14-foot approach pier and an 80-by-24-foot pier with floating docks.

The plan has already been approved by the Saco River Corridor Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The school, which has priceless riverfront access, describes itself as “Maine’s premier educator of marine scientists and environmental researchers.”

School officials said the year-round pier would replace an existing seasonal research dock, “allowing students and faculty to conduct their studies 365 days a year.”

They pointed out that the pier would also be used as the docking site for the city’s fireboat, evidence the pier will have a public benefit.