It’s been over 27 years since Maine Yankee shut its doors, but Wiscasset may soon be home to a new major operation – a data center.
Town officials said the proposed site on Old Ferry Road could strengthen the town’s tax base and establish new tech jobs at the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 16.
In 2014, Wiscasset requested $240,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from the county for a housing development on a 300-acre parcel on Old Ferry Road.
During the Sept. 16 commissioners meeting, Wiscasset Economic Development Director Aaron Chrostowsky said the town is in “nascent” talks to have a data center at the site.
“If we’re able to do this, it’s a win-win for everybody,” said Wiscasset Select Board member Bill Maloney. “You’re going to get something equal to Maine Yankee paying taxes back in the old days.”
Wiscasset officials approached the commissioners on Sept. 16 to ask if the town could resubmit its request for the funds. Town Manager Dennis Simmons said the town’s new proposal would outline a workforce housing development on Bath Road.
“We were wondering if we could use the ARPA funds for that,” Chrostowsky said.
According to the original application, the Old Ferry Road development would have included 110 units to accommodate a range of needs including affordable, workforce, and single-family housing.
After the town was approved for the ARPA funds, Wiscasset was selected for the Maine Community Energy Redevelopment Program, which helps communities find uses for under-utilized energy infrastructure.
Chrostowsky said the town is a “poster child” for the program because of the decommissioned Maine Yankee nuclear plant and Mason Station power plant.
In the past month, the town entered talks with data center developers. Chrostowsky said he could not disclose the interested company at this time.
“They’re talking about a $5 billion facility,” Chrostowsky said during a phone interview. “It would be an AI hyper-scale facility, so it’s a large, large center.”
Based on preliminary findings, Chrostowsky said the data hub could add 150 to 200 tech jobs as well as thousands of jobs during the center’s construction. The town’s mil rate could also go down because of the added value, according to his current estimations.
Even though exploring the opportunity for a data center is a priority, Chrostowsky said the town would still like to create new housing, just in a different location.
The commissioners expressed support for the project, with Commissioner William Blodgett calling data center is an “exciting opportunity” for the town, but had questions about the pivot away from the Old Ferry Road housing project.
“We’re in no way trying to discourage you from the (data center) project at all,” Blodgett said, but the commissioners’ main concern is what happens to the ARPA funds.
“It just seems like quite a change from your application to where we are today,” Commissioner David Levesque said.
As the funds were already approved, Blodgett said it’s unclear if the county could even accept a new application. He said County Administrator Carrie Kipfer will review the federal regulations for the funds and inform Wiscasset town officials if a new application can be considered. If so, Blodgett said, other towns may have a chance to submit as well.
“We’re trying to run on two tracks here,” Simmons said. “We want to … accomplish two goals here.”
The next meeting of the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Lincoln County Courthouse.
