Developer has resort plan for Brownville - Diana Bowley
That would be Brownville, Maine. Right down the road from Brownville Jct., Maine, pop. 900, where yours truly lived as a little boy. When I saw this headline I thought for a minute that it was some sort of wicked parody. The idea of a California developer being interested in a tiny hamlet in the Great North Woods of Maine is hard for me to grasp. But I'm all for it. A while back I was reading that if the Canadian Pacific Railroad closed the spur that runs through Brownville Jct., the town would disappear. Now maybe it has a new lease on life.
BROWNVILLE - Could it be that Brownville will become home to a 550-room, four-star hotel, 45,000-square-foot convention center, spa facility, 25,000-square-foot conference center, golf course, golf school and clubhouse, three restaurants and 400 time-share units? That's the concept plan that a California developer has for a 3,500-acre parcel near Norton Pond in this Piscataquis County community. Jim Dennehy of Palm Springs, Calif., doing business as WHG Development, envisions building a premier destination resort called The Reserve at Norton Pond. The majority of its patrons would arrive via passenger rail at a proposed train station.
2 comments:
I live within 1 mile of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Norwich CT and also have a camp north of Brownville Junction. My experience in Norwich has been that the idea of "resort development" is good when you say it fast, but the reality is far less attractive. The jobs the casinos have brought to this area are mostly unskilled low paying ones you would not wish your children to fill. Along with those jobs came a large influx of ethnically diverse workers many of whom rely on our town's and state's assistance programs to afford housing in an area where property values and taxes have soared. At last count, 22 languages were being spoken in our public school system. We are mandated to provide resourses for the education of all students. The burden on the local infrastructure has been disaterous. I hope Brownville will visit Norwich before encouraging such development.
Obviously you don't still reside in Brownville. The Canadian Pacific railroad that you refer to employs very few people. There were severe cut backs serveral years ago. Very few people are currently employed by the C.P. Get your facts straight. Perhaps the railroad you are refering to is the Maine Montreal and Atlantic, which, by the way, is quite prosperous. The resort is unwelcome. Most townspeople still think it is just a joke. Who in hell would sink $500 million in Brownville? The last thing my town needs is another tourist attraction that will ruin the very essence and heart of my town. If this resort is indeed built, Brownville would not be the same. It would be just another tourist trap (like all of southern/coastal Maine). Developments such as this and the Plum Creek development threaten the very identity of central/northern Maine. If you were a true Mainer you would understand this.
Post a Comment