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View Full Version : Upscale Katahdin resort Planned



TJ aka Teej
12-16-2005, 12:15
http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2005/12/15/upscale_resort_planned_near_katahdin/

MILLINOCKET, Maine --A Millinocket developer hopes to begin construction by next fall on an upscale resort in the shadow of Mount Katahdin that would include a 60- to 80-room hotel, a restaurant and inn, and a facility for conferences and weddings.
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Potential activities offered by the [$15 Million +] resort include cross-country skiing, mountain biking, trail hiking, skeet- or trap-shooting, snowmobiling and bird-watching, he said.
<snip>
Polstein said he is considering the use of biomass boilers and windmill-type devices to generate electricity <snip>
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More at the above link.
The location, for those familiar with the road tween Millinocket and Baxter Park, will be where the radio station is after the campground as you go towards the Park.
Polstein owns the NEOC in Caratunk and outside Baxter, the franchise operating the Paper Company cabins at the north end of the 100 Mile Wilderness, an upscale restaurant in Millinocket, and other businesses.

Almost There
12-16-2005, 16:00
From the way it looks if it's done right, might not be such a bad thing. Of course, that means it has to be done "RIGHT".

Mouse
12-16-2005, 16:24
Sounds suspiciously like everything Baxter State Park is trying to avoid. :dance

weary
12-16-2005, 16:49
Sounds suspiciously like everything Baxter State Park is trying to avoid. :dance
It's to lessen the possibility of such intrusions that we founded the Maine Appalachian Trail Land Trust

www.matlt.org

Except for a few private timber holdings and a relatively few miles of public and conservation organization lands, all the land adjacent to the trail corridor in Maine is now owned by developers. Once the plans for development are drawn, it's almost impossible to stop the development from being approved.

We'll probably speak against this development at the hearings, but the only way to prevent the inevitable total civilization of the trail in Maine is for hikers to put their money where their interests are.

Weary

Frosty
12-16-2005, 17:11
They shouldn't allow private developers to build upscale resorts near the trail in New England. That's the AMC's job. :D

smokymtnsteve
12-16-2005, 17:15
WHAT?!?!?! NO DOG MUSHING????

if they ain;t got no dog mushing then it's defintely not upscale :D

weary
12-16-2005, 17:28
They shouldn't allow private developers to build upscale resorts near the trail in New England. That's the AMC's job. :D
So far AMC has only built a grey water disposal system, a new sauna and bath house and about 15 miles of new trails on the 37,000 acres it has purchased in Maine. AMC has also closed roads and plans on closing more, and eliminated some snowmobile trails.

Frosty
12-16-2005, 20:18
So far AMC has only built a grey water disposal system, a new sauna and bath house Yeah, I know what you mean. Somehow a sauna just doesn't fit with my idea of down-to-earth hiker digs. I thought the NH AMC guys were bad with the Highland Center, but you Maine guys got it even worse. Wonder what comes after the sauna and bath house? Shopping concourse? Heated outdoor year-round pool? Five star restaurant with wine cellar? Golf course?

hikerjohnd
12-16-2005, 20:40
Polstein said he is considering the use of biomass boilers and windmill-type devices to generate electricity for the resort, which aims to instill in its guests an appreciation of nature in a quiet, pristine environment.

- Think they'll put the turbines on top of K just to piss people off?

weary
12-16-2005, 21:38
Yeah, I know what you mean. Somehow a sauna just doesn't fit with my idea of down-to-earth hiker digs. I thought the NH AMC guys were bad with the Highland Center, but you Maine guys got it even worse. Wonder what comes after the sauna and bath house? Shopping concourse? Heated outdoor year-round pool? Five star restaurant with wine cellar? Golf course?
Remember AMC bought a 125-year-old sporting camp, already equipped with a sauna. They simply replaced what was already there and what previous customers had come to expect.

Speculate all you want. But I've attended all the planning sessions for a couple of years. I don't like all that they are proposing, but a "Shopping concourse? Heated outdoor year-round pool? Five star restaurant with wine cellar? Golf course," are not going to be built -- as near as I can tell.

Weary

smokymtnsteve
12-16-2005, 21:40
yea,,sweat lodge..Indians, moose...

Frolicking Dinosaurs
12-18-2005, 07:50
Development can't be avoided completely, but the impact it has on the trail experience can be minimized with proper design and planning.

Tha Wookie
12-18-2005, 07:58
Development can't be avoided completely, but the impact it has on the trail experience can be minimized with proper design and planning.

yeah - "sweat lodge..Indians, moose..."

Cookerhiker
12-18-2005, 10:56
Development can't be avoided completely, but the impact it has on the trail experience can be minimized with proper design and planning.


Development can't be avoided completely, but the impact it has on the trail experience can be minimized with proper design and planning.

Are you talking about this particular situation or making a general statement? I don't know what options there are concerning this resort (required permits, restrictions, etc.) but development can "be avoided" if those of us who care about conservation and preservation and don't want development despoiling wilderness (not that this is true wilderness) act on our convictions; where there's a will, there's a way. I realize the difficulties inherent in a national political climate where "property rights" are paramount (and powerful real estate interests keep the campaign contributions i.e. legalized bribes flowing to their supporters) but there are avenues to pursue.

One is through private sources. I sent my contribution to MATLT last month and to the PATC and Potomac Conservancy (protecting lands in the Potomac watershed) this week. I can't quote exact numbers but I suspect that if all WBers and ATC members contributed to land trust organizations, we'd save a heck of a lot of acreage from development.

And then there's the option of public ownership. From what I'm hearing, the timber industry in Northern Maine isn't economically viable to support sustainable logging anymore so any argument that "locking up" land deprives the region of jobs is a red herring. Why not a Maine Woods National Park & Preserve or National Forest?

Or why not purchase of easements/development rights by either public or private funds. One problem with public land acquisition for a park is disruption of landowners (e.g. some of the "wilderness" camps) who are good stewards. Perhaps they'd be willing to sell easements or donate them for a tax write-off.

The point is that every acre, every square mile, every mountaintop, every shoreline that's protected through one of these means is "avoided development." In any case, we shouldn't accept a paradigm that says development is inevitable. I'm sure there were those who scoffed at the creation of national parks 100 years ago. Let's think of what kind of legacy we leave to our grandchildren's grandchildren.

walkin' wally
12-18-2005, 20:23
.

And then there's the option of public ownership. From what I'm hearing, the timber industry in Northern Maine isn't economically viable to support sustainable logging anymore so any argument that "locking up" land deprives the region of jobs is a red herring. Why not a Maine Woods National Park & Preserve or National Forest?



.

Having worked in the pulp and paper industry for 35 years, and having been a river driver for Kennebec Log Driving Co. before that, I can tell you that the paper industry is far from its death bed here in Maine as some here at WB believe. There is still a strong demand for wood fiber. Things are done differently now. Like it or not, look at the amount of mailings that Victoria's Secret, Time, Newsweek,etc are doing for example. There is still a strong market from the people that want to hold a magazine or newspaper rather than use the net.
Actually some people might be surprised how little of a page in a magazine is actually wood fiber. Less than 50 percent.

walkin' wally
12-18-2005, 20:50
Today I took a trip up to Greenville, Maine above Monson. My family has owned land there for years. There is such an increase in development and house lots that the landscape is changing even along the highways as the woods along the roadsides are being high graded for the timber so that houselots can be sold there. These are not even on the waterfront. The Lily Bay road for example. This is not the Plum Creek development but just smaller scale operations. It seems like a tsunami is on it's way as far as development goes. The price of real estate in that region is skyrocketing with no end in sight that I can see. Some of the average camps along the water are going for $200 to $300 thousand dollars or more. I have been going up there since the early 1950's and it has never changed this fast.

One of the few bright spots, possibly, is that Plum Creek is revising their plan. Some local people want development closer to towns instead of the more remote areas. The revised plan is supposed to be known after the new year.

TJ aka Teej
12-19-2005, 10:18
It seems like a tsunami is on it's way as far as development goes.

There's a choice: Preserve on large scale or allow large landowners and developers to exploit at will. The thin strip of Appalchian Trail and the marginaly protected public lands across Maine might be all we leave the next generation. Yes, certainly support the MATLT and all the other 40+ Maine land trusts, but they're just guys with a garden hose fighting a house afire. With Baldacci, Snowe, and Collins standing on the hose, no serious large scale preservation will ever happen in Maine.

walkin' wally
12-19-2005, 18:55
I will say that there are so many 'conservation' organizations popping up in Maine lately that it is hard to keep track of who is who. So many agendas. Too bad they could not forget some of their differences and join together for the common good. The Audubon Society in Maine has seemed to come to that conclusion with some other groups. Maybe things would happen on a larger scale.