Paul Coulombe, owner of the Boothbay Harbor Country Club, Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort and several other properties in Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor, began signing purchase and sale agreements on some Atlantic Avenue parcels last winter. Now, he has decided to withdraw all potential plans for development on the east side of Boothbay Harbor.

On Friday, shortly after what he described as a positive, upbeat informal meeting at his country club with around 30 local citizens, business owners and fishermen, Coulombe said he got wind of something that prompted his decision to pull out of any further business dealings in Boothbay Harbor, and cancel closings on Cap’n Fish’s Motel and Lobster Dock.

At a Boothbay Harbor Planning Board workshop  Coulombe, attorney Rick Shinay and Gorrill Palmer planning project manager Dan Bacon, attended Nov. 15, a proposed zoning initiative for the east side of the harbor had been discussed.

Coulombe spoke about his hopes, and presented renderings for potential plans that included hotels and restaurants, and a new public pier with public docks “for the people of Boothbay Harbor.” He suggested zoning changes and ordinance changes and his hope to lift constraints of the working waterfront zone to allow for extensive updating and reinvestment.

Ultimately his vision was to update and reinvigorate Atlantic Avenue. “There’s a great need to revitalize the eastern side of the harbor,” Coloumbe said in an email. “We need it for tourism, jobs, aesthetics and overall economic sustainability. I want to help make this a more economically viable community to attract tourists and to create more jobs.”

At that workshop, Planning Board Chair Tom Churchill spoke up and said it would be “inappropriate for zoning language to be drafted by anyone but the board, especially interested parties.”

No decisions were reached that night.

Coulombe said he is “pulling out of Boothbay Harbor. I have become extremely frustrated with the planning board and selectmen of Boothbay Harbor. We wanted to rezone the eastern side of the harbor because all non-working waterfront businesses are non conforming. All the motels, retailers, bed and breakfasts, etc., are in decline and outdated.

“We were asked (at the Nov. 15 meeting) to donate private land for public use and access – admirable, but public figures cannot legally or morally request or demand that private land owners give away their own private land.”

Coulombe went on to say he has volunteered town ordinance experts and attorneys to work with town officials, their planners and attorneys, to draft the new zoning. “In that regard we have given the town thousands of dollars, and they would still have complete control of the process and the outcome.”

Coulombe said he has spent the last 10 years on the Boothbay peninsula trying to revive the economic plight of the region, and has volunteered a five percent development fee to support the fishing industry and the infrastructure of the community. “I was planning on spending 25 to 35 million dollars in the next two or three years. That would have meant 1.25-1.75 million dollars to the town of Boothbay Harbor.

In another recent development, an application for an extension on a 30-foot dock at Oceanside Resort was denied by Boothbay Harbor selectmen, according to Coulombe. “It had been approved by DEP, Army Engineer Corps, 5 Tribes, FEMA, and the harbor master.”

“I’ve spent close to $100 million to bolster the economy and support public institutions, and my goal was to invest on the east side and make it a contemporary version of what it has always been, including the historical working waterfront.”

Lobsterman Larry Knapp was at Friday’s gathering at the country club. He said he believes Coulombe is earnest in his goals to help local people. “I think he was looking for suggestions, and for us to steer him a little bit. I see an opportunity to create new fisheries, as the old ones don’t exist anymore – they’ve been regulated out of business. With his help we might be able to do that. I’d like him to get something out of it too – as Paul is a man who likes restaurants – we could have the best seafood restaurants in the world here. I think there was an opportunity to start something good, and this will be a big loss, for him, and us. It would have helped the next generation of fishermen. I really think he wants to help people. Some of my friends who fish out of Cozy Harbor (Southport) are very grateful for what he’s done there.”

Local businessman Mark Gimbel was there, too. He said he’s sad about Coulombe's decision. “It would take someone of special financial resources, desire and vision to improve those properties and enhance the east side of the harbor. I know that Mr. Coulombe has met with some of the fishermen and listened to their concerns and desires to help them prosper and maintain the current working waterfront. Those fishermen have told me they would look forward to his involvement.”

Boothbay Harbor native Lisa Hallinan said she left the luncheon with a good feeling. “The reason I went was to educate myself about what Paul’s intentions are. The room was full of Boothbay Harbor natives, and Paul listened to what we had to say. He really listened. Paul isn’t the problem. We need to start paying attention to our town. We need to get younger, more local people on our boards. I wish he’d have more of these gatherings. Maybe if he changed a few people’s minds we could get a snowball effect going.”

“I hope all parties can figure out a shared solution if he changes his mind. This opportunity to bring about some needed private property improvements on the east side may never come around again,” Gimbel said.

Coulombe said he’s not willing to assume the unnecessary risk of moving forward on what would have been a major redevelopment in Boothbay Harbor. “And unfortunately there’s no one else who will come along in our lifetimes willing to do what I am willing to do in order to promote tourism for the entire peninsula.”

“I want to let the town know they threw a great opportunity out the window,” Hallinan said.

Churchill could not be reached for comment, and Selectmen’s Chairman Wendy Wolf declined to comment, saying that as neither the town manager nor the selectmen have received any information or correspondence from Coulombe regarding changes in his proposed business dealings, it would be inappropriate.

“I would say that I personally feel anytime an individual or business entity chooses to either leave Boothbay Harbor or not do business here is disappointing to me,” Selectman Michael Tomko said in an email.