Residents Steve and Selena Brock sign a petition offered by John Stone of the Sanford Clean Air and Water Coalition on Tuesday morning. Stone said business was steady. Photo: Gail Burnett
By Lee Burnett
As expected, opponents of a massive data center proposed for south Sanford have launched a petition drive to secure a six-month moratorium and town-wide referendum.
Sanford Clean Air and Water Coalition has until June 29 to gather the necessary 736 signatures to put the moratorium on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Volunteers plan to staff a table at Sanford Farmers’ Market Saturday, the Pride Picnic Sunday at Gowen Park and at Primary Election polls at Sanford High School Tuesday. Other locations and dates to gather petition signatures are expected.
The new drive adds to an already crowded moratorium docket.
The City Council May 19 enacted an emergency 91-day moratorium on data center development that would expire in early August, although councilors have indicated they might extend it. The 180-day moratorium, if approved, would go into effect Nov. 3.
The council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a 180-day moratorium on a proposed biosolids gasification plant, also in south Sanford, that a separate petition drive brought forward. The moratorium won’t go into effect until it is subjected to a second public hearing at the council’s next meeting on June 16. At that point, the six-month clock will start ticking on a thorough ordinance review.
Another recent development is the merging of two citizens’ groups behind the petition drives. The biosolids petition drive was organized by Stop the Sludge – Sanford, an allied grassroots group that broke away from the coalition after initial meetings to take a more activist stance. At the time, the coalition was focused on securing a public hearing on the biosolids plant before the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which it was successful in obtaining.
Organizers earlier this week said it made sense to merge the groups because their goals have always been aligned and their membership overlapped.
“It’s just a matter of the nomenclature catching up with the passion,” said Nicole Gorsun, a spokesperson for Clean Air and Water Coalition. “It just makes sense to unite under the same banner.”
Gorsun expects the new petition drive will tap into the same level of enthusiasm as the first one. She said she was approached by someone who wanted to sign as she walked away from City Hall on Monday.
“I think it’ll be the same as before. There’s interest … People are excited to sign,” she said.
Up to a dozen volunteers plan to circulate the petition, including Nick Serritella, who posted himself in front of the Post Office on School Street for several hours on four days this week. “He’s our hometown hero,” she said.
The coalition’s top concerns with data center development are proposed heavy draw on Sanford’s water supply and heavy initial reliance on natural gas for power, which could spike electricity rates for an undetermined period of time before developers switch to hydrogen fuel cells. While Water District Superintendent Dave Parent has said he welcomes a large water customer to stabilize rates for residential customers, coalition spokesperson Jordan Matthews said heavy draw could be detrimental in the event of an extended drought. She also raised questions about potential PFAS contamination, which she said has recently been reported.
Gorsun and Matthews said they hope the ordinance review that the city undertakes during the moratorium results in tougher noise and odor regulations. Other communities that have hosted data centers have complained about constant background noise and odor even from great distances away, said Matthews.
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