A civil appeal, now nearly two years old, involving a Wiscasset couple who object to a storage facility containing fireworks near their home, has been transferred to a new judge and a new courtroom.

Even so, two months into the change, the case is still under review and no information about the case has been sent to the parties or the originating courthouse, Lincoln County Courthouse in Wiscasset.

On July 6, the case was transferred to a judge in Portland. It is not known why Justice Daniel Billings in Wiscasset gave up the case after reviewing it for a year and ten months.

The appeal is by Thomas and Kathleen Bryant, whose property abuts a storage facility owned by Al Cohen and his wife Melissa. The Cohens operate Big Al’s Super Value Odd Lot Outlet, as well as the adjacent fireworks outlet on Route One. In the summer of 2014, the Cohens received planning board approval to construct an addition to their storage facility to keep fireworks on JB’s Way in Wiscasset. The area is zoned rural, and firework storage was an approved use in the area. Wiscasset has few regulations for rural zones.

The Bryants and some of their neighbors appealed the decision, and the Appeals Board returned the case to the planning board, which approved it again in the autumn of 2014. In January 2015, the Bryants presented a petition containing the names of 48 people who opposed the siting of the storage facility on JB’s Way. Once again, the planning board reviewed the proposal and approved it again.

The Bryants filed their appeal in Superior Court against the Cohens and the town of Wiscasset, asking for a review of the town’s actions on the approval process. The appeal claimed the town broke state law and the Maine and U.S. Constitutions in handling the proposal. The Bryants asserted that Cohen, a member of the planning board, had a conflict of interest in the case, and that they did not receive notice of planning board meetings where the issue was to be discussed.

Cohen responded that he did not try to influence the board’s decision. The town said public notice had been given for the meetings and that the couple had an adequate chance to be heard. A lawyer for Cohen has said Cohen recused himself from the board’s decision.

Stan Waltz, the codes enforcement officer in Wiscasset, said Aug. 25 that because the neighborhood is zoned rural, none of the arguments the Bryants have been making about residential zones apply. He added that the State Fire Marshal reviewed the storage facility and said it provided adequate protection.

Tom Bryant appeared at a Board of Selectmen meeting Aug. 2, saying there were unpermitted storage containers on the property containing fireworks.

The two portable shipping containers are located at the same facility on JB’s Way, and are labeled as containing fireworks. On Monday, Waltz said the  containers are not in violation; the town has not been issuing permits for those types of containers, he said.