Skowhegan planning board approves Phase 1 of Main StreetSkowhegan Whitewater Park
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Summary
The Skowhegan Planning Board voted unanimously to approve Main Street Skowhegan's Phase 1 site plan, shoreland zoning permit, and floodplain hazard permit for a downtown whitewater feature; Main Street will operate and maintain the facility under a 10-year lease and plans to begin construction pending fundraising.
The Skowhegan Planning Board voted unanimously to approve Main Street Skowhegan's major site plan application, shoreland zone permit and floodplain hazard permit for Phase 1 of the Skowhegan Whitewater Park, including a set of requested waivers. The board approved the package with the application-fee waiver made contingent on Select Board approval.
Main Street Skowhegan President and CEO Christina Cannon told the board the nonprofit is leading the project under a 10-year lease with the town and will take responsibility for construction, fundraising, operations and maintenance. "Main Street is taking full responsibility for construction and for all fundraising and project management and operations and maintenance of the park," Cannon said during the public hearing.
McLaughlin/Merrick Whitewater product manager Dan Shea presented technical plans showing an access road and 12-foot asphalt maintenance trail from Mount Pleasant Avenue, a concrete plaza and emergency vehicle turnaround, and a series of sculpted concrete and bedrock-excavated pools and drops designed to create surfable and kayak-able hydraulics. Shea said the wave-shaper system uses a torque tube actuated by hydraulic cylinders and that the control shed housing the pump and valves will sit above the 100-year flood elevation.
Shea described the hydraulic fluid as food-grade vegetable oil and estimated the system would contain roughly 10–20 gallons plus a small reservoir. He said minor leaks would not be reportable to the state DEP and that Main Street's operations and maintenance program would include routine checks and debris removal as needed.
Board members asked about safety and maintenance. Shea said the design incorporates downstream debris racks to prevent people from reaching under the moving plate and that the wave-shaper and exposed plate use heavy-duty steel with a protective rubber coating. Cannon said Main Street plans to absorb operational costs within its recreation budget (which she said is about $500,000) and to employ AmeriCorps members as part of staffing; she confirmed Main Street will hire a wave technician and that operation will typically require two to three part-time staff.
The application included four waiver requests: the application fee (previously waived but now contingent on Select Board approval), a medium-intensity soils survey (waived because the project is primarily on bedrock), a vehicle trip estimate (no standard trip generation exists for this use; the board may require an event traffic plan for large events), and a performance guarantee (requested to be waived because the project is publicly funded and benefits the town). The board approved the waivers as part of the motion.
Christina Cannon said fundraising is continuing and, if successful, the team hopes to start access-road construction in mid-April, begin in-river construction in mid-July, and complete tuning the following summer, with a target grand opening in 2028. She named Sartner Corporation as the construction manager at risk.
The board's approval was announced at the meeting and members were told how to appeal the decision; the motion was moved by a board member and seconded and passed unanimously (the transcript records the vote as unanimous; the record did not specify the numerical roll-call tally).
