Approval for a training, living and rehabilitation facility on Route 27 for veterans may at least partly hinge on density rules, Wiscasset Code Enforcement Officer George Chase said Monday night. The pre-application talk with the planninğ board was Ed Harmon's first sit-down with the panel whose nod he'll seek after he gets a survey and wetlands study done on Allen "Big Al" Cohen's 19-acre parcel. Cohen wants to donate the land for the project.

No one spoke against the project.

"We don't do enough training in this country for the trades," board member Ervin Deck said.

As Harmon also shared recently with Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper readers, the Boothbay man, founder of the all-volunteer nonprofit, Boothbay-V.E.T.S. (veterans emergency temporary shelter), told the board Monday, the facility in Wiscasset would help veterans who are, as he was, lost after finishing their service: Not ready for the workforce, but they do know how to follow orders. He and architect David Landmann said the facility would meet veterans' range of needs, including detoxification, training in a trade, help getting and keeping a job, and housing as long as they need it, for $600 a month; and could be a model for more facilities across the country. 

Chase told Harmon and Landmann, "I don't think there's anybody that thinks it's not a great idea. It's just a matter of, can it be configured on that piece of property ... Will it fit ... or how much of it can fit?" It might turn out, less housing will fit, but maybe still enough to make the project possible, Chase said.

Landmann emphasized the plan is very preliminary, in part because the wetlands' extent is a "big unknown." He based his interpretations on aerial photographs. "The wetlands could cover a lot more territory, which would force a major revision to this plan." A certified wetlands delineator is being hired, Landmann said.

According to the discussion, the facility might end up providing some impetus for local utilities to extend along Route 27, and grants, potentially, could help fund that.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Harmon was feeling encouraged by Monday's discussion and said it will let him talk further with people who can help make the project happen. "There was nothing negative, it's all positive ... I'm not going to stop," or slow down, he said.