Mason Station will get a temporary fence and first responders will have access to a key, a developer told Wiscasset selectmen Oct. 15. Yard work is planned this fall, with a goal to take out no trees, only brush, Mason Station Redevelopment Company LLC President Ryan Gahagan said.

MSRC has been working with Mason Station owner Mason Station LLC; the town; Maine Community Energy Redevelopment Program; and Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Gahagan noted the importance of that last one. “Our biggest concern is the environmental conditions of the site, as you can imagine, and should we step into the role of owning property ... working that out, making sure we've got a VRAP (Voluntary Response Action Program) that can manage this, is essential for us."

According to DEP's website, a VRAP lets applicants "voluntarily investigate and clean up properties to the Department's satisfaction, in exchange for protections from Department enforcement actions."

Gahagan said more "no trespassing" and "danger: asbestos" signs have been added. He said MSRC and Mason Station LLC are working out who pays for what and when, including addressing remaining asbestos. 

Gahagan said it was good the public is hearing about the "yard work" of moving brush and rubble because, he said, when people see tractors or a dump truck and other equipment in use, they are curious. "So I wanted to be fully transparent ..."

MSRC is in its second year of a three-year option on the site, once a coal-fired power plant.

At masonstation.com, MSRC states it formed to explore options for the plant and, while it was still early, the site has features making it a strong candidate for "a low-impact renewable energy campus and marina."

Gahagan is working with Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Emily Rabbe toward MSRC's submitting a site plan to the town. Under a contract with the town, LCRPC helps the planning board field requests. 

Also Oct. 15, Selectman Pam Dunning said the Wawenock building on Main Street is "starting to look better." It definitely is, Chair Sarah Whitfield agreed. She said more windows have gone in.

The progress follows masonry and other work after hundreds of bricks fell from the building in 2021, leaving the sidewalk partly blocked with scaffolding until a few months ago.

Fielding questions from the lone resident to speak at a hearing on the local questions voters face Nov. 5, officials told Ed Polewarczyk the total cost to the town for a change in police officers' retirement plan is $470; and the vote on moving the sewer plant to the public works site, and moving public works to the transfer station property, will not be the only town vote on this. 
Another will be needed to fund the moves, preliminarily pegged at about $50 million altogether; approval of the Nov. 5 question would let the town pursue grants toward that cost, Town Manager Dennis Simmons explained. 

On another ballot item Polewarczyk asked about, Simmons said the proposed pulling of ordinance language on non-residents' committee service would retain the selectboard's control over appointments. 

"If somebody comes from Westport Island and brings nothing to a committee other than they just want to be on it, the selectboard has the option to say 'No, thank you ...' But ... if somebody ... could actually ... bring something to the town," i.e., a background helpful to that panel and the town, Simmons said, "Then we have that option to say, 'Sure.'"

And after an executive, or closed door, session, the board, on Dunning's motion, nodded the Maine Yankee assessment deal tentatively reached Oct. 7, and authorized town counsel "to complete negotiation of the legal documents."

The town announced Oct. 8, the tentative agreement would value the Maine Yankee Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation and its Bailey Point land at $80 million.