Dear Editor:

On Aug. 31 at 6 p.m., the Boothbay Board of Appeals will hold the last meeting at which the public can speak about CMBG’s huge development. There are many questions Boothbay’s residents and visitors should be asking. Here are a few:

1. Why did CMBG refuse the Planning Board’s request to put its expansion plans before the entire town for a vote? The town voted on Bigelow Lab’s expansion and on the roundabout. CMBG’s Disneyland plans for 350,000 visitors will seriously impact Boothbay’s quality of life, and town residents should have voted on it too.
2. Why would CMBG pretend to be a school just so they can put half of their 850 parking spaces in the Watershed Overlay Zone and risk polluting Boothbay’s drinking water?
3. Why is CMBG ignoring the science which clearly shows that run-off from their Walmart-sized parking lot threatens Little Knickerbocker Lake?
4. Does CMBG think it understands Knickerbocker Lake better than the Water District? The District has been working for years to help lakefront residents reduce phosphorus levels in Knickerbocker. Now CMBG will significantly increase phosphorus levels.
5. Does CMBG think that money is all Boothbay cares about? They talk about tourist dollars (citing a questionable economic analysis from a company they hired) as if that’s all we need to hear from them.
6. Why has CMBG’s leadership made false statements (“sabotage” and “extreme weather events”) about the mistakes that led to their DEP violations, when telling the truth would have been so much more respectable?
7. Does CMBG assume Boothbay’s taxpayers will foot the bill for repairs to the Gaecklein Road because of increased traffic? CMBG promised the Planning Board that they would use the Gaecklein Road only for emergencies or extraordinary circumstance, but this is just another promise they’ve failed to live up to.
8. Has CMBG forgotten what it means to be a “public-benefit” nonprofit? Because contaminating drinking water, destroying 20 acres of wetland habitat, and ruining their neighbors’ quality of life makes CMBG a public nuisance, not a public benefit.

Please show up on the 31st. This is the last chance for the BOA to hear your voice. Encourage the board to deny CMBG’s permit and require the Gardens to start over.

Jason Anthony

Bristol