Candidates Wrestle over Wal-Mart

Candidates Night Centers Around Big Boxes

BELFAST (Oct 12): The debate over big-box stores has dominated Belfast politics for the past seven years, and it was the focus of much of the Candidates Night discussion Tuesday night at City Hall.

Candidates for the Wards 3 and 4 council seats and the mayor’s position were asked numerous questions from members of the public — from: “Would you reach out to Wal-Mart?” to “Would you vote to eliminate the Special Commercial District on the East Side?” The two-and-a-half hour event was sponsored by the Republican Journal.

The answers were more revealing about individual candidates than about potential alliances the seven participants might form if elected Nov. 6.

Ward 4 candidate Jan Anderson, for example, said she would work to restore the right of citizens to make decisions on zoning issues by referendum, and would like more participation by the people in zoning deliberations.

Incumbent Councilor Robert Gordon, who last week voted to restrict the use of contract rezoning in the new Route 3 commercial district, said he generally has no problems with that process. Gordon said he would not push to restore the referendum right for voters.

Ward 3 Councilor Cathy Heberer said she would move to eliminate the special commercial district on the East Side, approved by voters in 2004, because the city has designated a new district for big boxes. Her challengers, Richard Rumney and Alan Wood, said the people should make that decision because it was their vote that created the district.

Both Heberer and Anderson responded to a question from Lewis Baker by saying they would not “reach out” to entice Wal-Mart to locate in Belfast, nor would they support any size store Wal-Mart might propose. Both said they would negotiate in good faith with the company.

Rumney said he would solicit Wal-Mart’s coming to Belfast, negotiate in good faith and support the size store Wal-Mart wanted for the city. Wood said he wants to contact other retailers and would negotiate the size of a new store with the developer.

Resident Joanne Boynton asked how citizens can keep local control over development, and Gordon said contract rezoning does that. Anderson said she favors using contract rezoning for the entire Route 3 parcel, which Gordon helped scuttle last week.

Walter Ash, who is running for mayor, said the city’s entire zoning system should be examined. “We have more zones than in Portland,” Ash said. His opponent, Michael Shell, said “the participation of the people is key” in zoning.

Three questions with political implications were introduced, beginning with former councilor Charlotte Peters, who asked Shell if he has served on any city boards and commissions. When he replied no, Peters said, “There’s a tradition that you serve on a board before you run for council or mayor.”

Another former councilor, Anita Robertson, read from an e-mail sent by Mayor Mike Hurley calling for a mayoral candidate with a progressive outlook to challenge Ash.

Ash said, “I’ve always had a progressive agenda ... I feel I have been progressive,” citing his support for a new YMCA and library while he was a councilor.

Shell said, “Being progressive is forward-thinking, being proactive. It’s thinking outside the box. It’s the way I approach people.”

Hurley then asked Ash for his position on the Footbridge, which Ash supported while a member of the council. He said, “I told the voters I’d honor the people’s vote, which I did. I believe you’ll find a brick with my name on it on the east end of the bridge.”

But he quickly added, “But it would be my druthers to take the $5 million (the cost of the bridge project) and put it on the Upper Bridge. That would ease congestion at routes 141 and 1 and the money would be better spent up there.’

Rumney said the bridge is “a ridiculous waste of $5 million. It’s a bridge to nowhere. And why do we need a drawbridge? It’s one of the many ways Belfast has spent money foolishly.” (City officials have said the total cost of the bridge is $4 million, some of which was paid through state and federal grants.)

The seven candidates include four natives of Belfast — Ash, Rumney, Wood and Gordon; two 30-plus-year residents – Anderson and Heberer; and Shell, who has lived in the city for two years and a year ago was not registered to vote.

In their opening and closing statements, most spoke of the need to unite the community, to bring people together.

Ash said, “I want to protect Belfast, but I want to see it grow, too. I’ve been in business here for 35 years, and I consider myself a survivor.”

Heberer noted, “Maine is beginning to produce high-wage jobs. The Maine brand is important. We need to educate citizens for tomorrow’s jobs,” praising the Hutchinson Center for its role in that challenge. “We have to be careful to keep growth appropriate to Belfast,” she said, “to protect the forest, the farms and the working environment.”

Shell said his strengths lie in three roles he is ready to fill — as facilitator for meetings of the sometimes divided council, as an ambassador for the city to distant corporations and interests, and as a promoter of new businesses.

Rumney said there are two reasons to vote for him in Ward 3: “I care for the community, and I believe we need more shopping opportunities.”

Wood detailed his long service to the city as a city councilor, school board member, director of Waldo CAP and as a 13-year member of the Zoning Board of Appeals. “We need to work together,” he said.

Anderson, a former guidance counselor, house painter and founder of the city’s Substance Abuse Task Force, stressed the need to “listen and feel compassion.” She said, “I’ve lived here for 32 years, and the issues have always been the same — the waterfront, jobs, affordable housing, reasonable growth.”

The discussion was broadcast live on Channel 5, the local access TV station, and will be aired several times before the election. Journal editor Dan Dunkle moderated the session.