Developer Tony Casella is forging ahead with his plan to build a hotel in Edgecomb after finding no support July 3 for his offer to build elderly housing instead.

He was also offering the town a park on some of the land he said he had under contract; but no one at the joint meeting of Edgecomb selectmen, the planning board and the ordinance review committee was jumping at the idea. None of the other residents who turned out went for it, either.

In an interview later, Casella said he won't buy the land he had under contract. He'll go with his plan for a hotel on the same Route 1 lot where he has put his condominium rental office and a business plaza.

Casella said he wanted to thank the town for having the meeting. The input saved him a tremendous amount of money to buy the other land and plan a project that wouldn't fly, he said.

The elderly housing units would have needed a town vote on a zoning change for that tract of Davis Island. Zoning currently requires at least two acres per home in the location Casella was considering.

Residents said they worked hard on the zoning and didn't want to change it. Some also didn't want to negotiate over different projects when the housing one hadn't been formally proposed.

“To me, this isn't a poker table,” ordinance review committee member Skip White said.

“You're selling your soul with this compromise,” Fort Road resident Ted Sasala said.

Officials said they had made no deal with Casella. The meeting was to see what people wanted or didn't want, Planning Board Chairman Jack French said.

The meeting at town hall often turned impolite. There were call-outs;  interruptions of speakers, including Casella after officials had given him the floor; and a flow of side conversations in the audience.

Not only did the elderly housing idea draw criticism over the zoning issue, several people also eschewed Casella's planned hotel. They questioned its viability when the town already has other lodgings.

That's Casella's call to make, not the town's, officials said.

The two-story hotel will require planning board approval.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or sjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com