The business license application for a Harbor Peer and Wellness Center at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Wiscasset has been pulled by the nonprofit Amistad Inc. to search for a location elsewhere in the county after a two-month tabling by the Wiscasset Select Board.
Executive Director Brian Townsend said in a Friday, July 28 letter to the board that the decision was made primarily because the process was taking too long and its outcome remained uncertain.
He also cited resident resistance, which he called “an organized and mobilized opposition, working tactically to derail the plan to offer this resource.”
The site would have offered peer support, mentoring, and community events in a former office room for people in recovery from drug addiction, according to proposal materials. Amistad Inc. is in the process of changing its name to Commonspace.
It was first contracted by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to provide a center in Lincoln County in 2018, joining drug recovery centers and housing services it has provided Portland and Bath over the last several decades.
Amistad operated that center in Boothbay for the past five years, which Townsend said the organization closed to find another location that would reach the entire county and operate with lower overhead costs. Since then, its services have been provided virtually.
The Wiscasset center was proposed separately from a workforce housing apartment project on the site, which is still in progress. An architect is developing designs to come before the planning board.
The Rev. Tom Junkert, priest-in-charge at St. Philip’s, said in a phone interview on Tuesday, Aug. 1 that the church will hold an informational community meeting for the apartment proposal at a time and date to be announced.
St. Philip’s vestry voted to approve partnerships with the nonprofit for both projects as outreach ministries in April. The organizations partnered this winter to provide a warming center at the church, which faced similar opposition.
“It was really unfortunate what happened, in a lot of ways … there are people who were, and are, very supportive of a recovery center in Wiscasset,” Junkert said. “The most important thing is that there will be a recovery center somewhere in the county.”
Public comment at the July 18 business license hearing included concerns about diminished property values, increases in drug use and crime, changes in the character of the village, and increased demands on emergency services.
Several residents spoke in favor of the project, saying that drug addiction already exists in the town and county, and the center would help residents who need it.
Aside from the proposal itself, comments also included concerns about communication and openness from both the nonprofit and the church.
Board members stopped public comment to say that they were not ready to vote on the application yet, citing “misleading statements” and a need for more information. Member Bill Maloney said at the meeting he proposed this period to give the organization time look at other locations.
The board also asked Commonspace to provide a detailed plan for its operations, which Townsend told the room felt like a campaign to stop the project. He said he had never received a negative response like in Wiscasset, and that the center would already have been open if not for this resistance.
“In a general way, that request is completely logical and could have been asked from us,” Townsend said of the plan requirement on Aug. 1. “In the context of the meeting we were in … it reveals the extent to which the opposition that was in the room really did their work well.”
He was also surprised by the requirement for a license in the first place, and by extension the public hearing, which Commonspace has not needed in other towns because it is a nonprofit.
Wiscasset Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the town’s business license ordinance requires all businesses to apply for one, including nonprofits.
Townsend called the decision very difficult, and said the organization had invested too much time to continue in good conscience.
Junkert said the church’s partnership on the project was guided by its value of being “a place where people can find help and hope,” and that it was pursued because the vestry found it worthwhile and needed.
He said he understands resident concerns about both projects, but does not feel they need to be fearful.
“While we want to be good neighbors and we want to listen to the concerns out there, there is also a mission and a purpose for what we’re doing,” he said. “We hope the town will approve the (apartment) project so that we can continue.”
Commonspace is presently in talks with several locations in different towns in hopes to establish a central office for its peer and wellness center, with satellite locations due to transportation challenges in the county.
Townsend declined to name the towns under consideration but said a site may be identified and even begin operation this month.
