Upstream Watch Gains Ground in Nordic Fight

Score one for local citizen participation in municipal permitting decisions.

BELFAST, MAINE - Today Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Belfast Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) erred when it said that Upstream Watch had no standing to appeal the Planning Board’s decisions granting Nordic all the municipal permits required for its planned fish factory.

The Law Court’s decision dismantled the ZBA’s rationale for stonewalling Upstream’s appeal by declaring that: (1) At least one person among the Upstream members was “an aggrieved party” with a right to appeal; (2) Upstream itself had standing in the administrative law context; and (3) The ZBA must consider all the evidence of record in the hearing underlying the appeal…not just the short answers in the City’s appeal form.

“We conclude that the ZBA erred when it dismissed Upstream’s appeal for lack of standing because it should not have confined its review to Upstream’s application-to-appeal form. We further conclude that, as a matter of law, the administrative record sufficiently demonstrated that Upstream had standing to appeal to the ZBA. We vacate the decision of ZBA and remand to the Superior Court with instructions to remand to the ZBA for consideration on the merits of Upstream’s appeal from the Planning Board decision.” [Upstream Watch v. City of Belfast, et al. 2023 ME 43. Wal-22-298. Page 17.]

For more information, please contact Andy Stevenson at 703-407-2968 or andrewsteve@icloud.com.

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The Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area (FHLH) is a local, citizen-action organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of intertidal areas around Belfast Bay. Located in Belfast, Maine and working out of The Little River Center, “the Friends” advocates for the preservation, protection, and greater appreciation of shoreline areas and ecosystems throughout Penobscot Bay.