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By Shelagh Talbot - GREENVILLE- Members of the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) met on Wednesday June 9 at the Ready Workers building in Greenville and unanimously agreed to make the necessary zone change which would open the door for a state-of-the-art dimensional lumber sawmill to be constructed in Sapling Township north of Greenville. Edward “Ted” Marra, president of the SMIS Group LLC, the company behind the project, was at the meeting. He said he was happy with the LURC decision and would seek a permit for development in the near future. “We are really pleased with the outcome of this meeting,” Marra said. “And if all goes as planned, we should start construction sometime this season.” Marra hopes to install the machinery for the mill during the winter months and sees production starting sometime in June or July of 2005. “It’s a very aggressive schedule,” Marra commented. More than 50 percent of the spruce and fir harvested in the state is transported to Canada for processing; Marra hopes to cut that percentage down with the new mill and keep those jobs in Maine. The newly rezoned property, which sits north of the East Outlet of the Kennebec River in Sapling Township, is about 90 acres of a 300-acre parcel owned by Plum Creek Maine Timberlands, LLC. The ability of the company to access a rail spur from the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railroad will make it easier to reach markets along the East Coast. The mill complex will produce approximately 200 million board feet of lumber per year and would create about 100 new jobs for the area. Even more jobs will be created during the construction phase. Catherine Carroll, Director of LURC said that the unanimous agreement on the part of the board signals their desire to work with SMIS Group LLC. “Ted Marra has a very ambitious schedule regarding the start date for construction, and we await his application for development which he said we should receive in a few days,” she said. “We will try to expedite approval to allow him to stick to his plan to begin sometime this summer.” Greenville town manager John Simko praised LURC’s decision saying that the construction of the mill will not only help the area tremendously, but could spur the development of additional businesses that are involved with wood. Some of the projects that are happening at the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites (AEWC) at the University of Maine in Orono could be likely candidates. Previously Marra had said that he sees a great future in the composites industry and his mill could complement those new companies. Greenville Steam is also expected to benefit from the new mill. Chips could easily be transported down the road and provide a fuel source for the biomass plant. General manager, Scott Hersey said he was pleased that SMIS Group LLC had received the zoning change. “The biomass industry in general has seen a lot of sawmills close,” he said. “Our primary fuel comes from these mills so this sort of change is just what we need.” Marra, who discovered Greenville through a process of complex analysis of the region, said that he and his family plan to move to the area soon so he can be around to address permit and devopment issues as they arise and make sure that construction is done smoothly and in a timely fashion. |