The newly approved TIF district includes parcels on Cyro Drive, Eagle Drive and Main Street.
Photo: Courtesy City of Sanford.
By Zendelle Bouchard
At its March 3 meeting, the Sanford City Council voted unanimously to approve the creation of a new tax increment financing (TIF) district, which includes the property where a new biosolids gasification plant has been proposed by Aries Clean Technologies. Several local residents spoke in opposition to the Aries project.
To kick off the meeting, Mayor Becky Brink spoke to the packed council chambers to “address some of the misinformation” she has seen on social media. She clarified that the council does not vote on whether any particular company can do business in Sanford and does not approve development projects. The approval of site plans for development rests with the Planning Board, which only grants its approval after all permits have been secured from state (and federal, if required) regulatory authorities.
Brink also gave a brief explanation of how the biosolids from the Sanford Sewerage District facility and other facilities would be first “dewatered” (dried out) to reduce the weight and volume, and then trucked to the Aries plant to undergo the gasification process, which she said destroys 99% of the PFAS chemicals. If the project is approved, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection would regulate and inspect the plant. “If we don’t do this, what is the plan to solve the problem of what we have to do with our biosolids, now that most of the landfills are closing down? Soon we will have no option,” she added.
Brink concluded her remarks by announcing that since the Goodall Library community room proved to be far too small for last week’s public info session on the project (see related story), a presentation and question-and-answer session will be held April 2 at 6 pm at the Sanford Performing Arts Center, which can hold more than 850 people and has professional quality audio visual equipment.
City Manager Steve Buck began his regular report by saying the Aries project meets his definition of high-quality industrial development due to the good paying jobs that will be created, and the company’s plan to take waste material that would otherwise go into a landfill, and turn it into a usable industrial product. He pointed out that 375 new homes would have to be built in Sanford to increase the city’s tax valuation by the amount the Aries project will bring.
During the public participation segment of the meeting, several residents challenged Brink and Buck’s support for the project.
Clay Harrison, a native of Linden, NJ, where Aries has another plant, said the company defaulted on $90 million in government bonds there and wants to use the Sanford project to recoup that money. Harrison is also concerned about the environmental risks associated with the plant and feels the jobs created will be outweighed by the negative impacts.
John Henkelman, an analytical chemist and adjunct professor at the University of New England who provided council members with a 17-page report on his research into the project at their last meeting, said his concerns focus on potential PFAS contamination of the Mousam River and whether condensate from the plant would go back into the Sanford Sewerage District. “When you’re shipping in other people’s PFAS, that’s increasing the load we have in our community…the City Council must be asking the hard questions and protecting our town,” he said.
Alex Clary, who described himself as a government bureaucrat, said he was not opposed to development, but that Aries doesn’t pass muster from a financial standpoint due to its debt. He questioned the company’s long-term prospects, quoting the federal Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board official finding of “substantial doubt” that Aries has sufficient cash flow to survive the next 12 months. “Before we allow them to build another large project in this community, we should think about whether they can finish it,” he concluded.
Lindsay Bellissimo expressed concern with the science behind the proposal and said people who say it works are those affiliated with Aries itself. She added that the technology has not been demonstrated to work in real-world applications and encouraged the council to look into it more. “Let’s slow down and let our community and surrounding communities catch up and allow for due diligence,” she asked.
The TIF district that was approved includes several other properties in addition to the Aries parcel. All are currently undeveloped, and they include four lots on Cyro Road, the property on the north side of Eagle Drive, and six lots on Main Street across from Lowe’s. Keith McBride, director of the Growth Council, said he expects to see dramatic increases in the value of the lots in the TIF in the future. Revenue from the TIF could be earmarked for payment of the debt service on the new fire stations, road and other infrastructure improvement in or adjacent to the district, economic development, workforce training, trails, affordable housing and homelessness remediation, and public safety equipment. Additional uses would require a public hearing and council approval.
Sanford resident Kurt Woltersdorf challenged McBride’s expectation of increased property values in the district as “wildly optimistic…if you are going to put a biomass incinerator there…who’s going to want to build there?”
Clary said a community benefits agreement (CBA) might be a better fit, as those have greater accountability and equity than TIFs. Henkelman urged the council to vote against the TIF, arguing that property taxes on increased valuation should go into the general fund to reduce taxes. “Sheltering does not put a single dollar into our classrooms,” he said.
For more information about TIFs and how they work, see our related story.
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