Columbia Falls grappling with flagpole park project

Residents of Columbia Falls are grappling with whether they want to take on oversight of the $1 billion, 2,500-acre Flagpole of Freedom Park proposed by the family behind Wreaths Across America.
The park, with its eight miles of loop roads, six miles of gondolas, several villages, campgrounds, a hotel, theater, restaurants and shops, would be more akin to a small city. The company expects the development, which co founder Rob Worcester describes as "part national monument, art historical adventure, immersive tech driven museum and architectural wonder," to attract 6 million visitors and 5,000 employees, most of them year round.
That's substantially more than the number of visits logged at nearby Acadia National Park, which broke records at 4 million in 2021, and a workforce roughly the size of the year round population of Bar Harbor, where many of Acadia's tourist services are based.
The center of it all would be a flagpole, standing 1,776 feet above sea level, 300 feet taller than the spire of the Empire State Building. Three elevators inside the pole would sweep visitors up to glass observation decks boasting views for 100 miles in every direction.
If residents vote to incorporate the land on which the park is to be built, it would allow the project to avoid time consuming and more rigorous review by a state planning commission. That strategy would place nearly all of the planning responsibility in the town of Columbia Falls, population 476. That has some people worried.
"This is not a local or regional level project," says Dr. Yuseung Kim, chair of Policy, Planning and Management at the University of Southern Maine. "Their plan is a national level project that involves feasibility studies, environmental impact studies, transportation analysis and economic studies and forecasting," he says. "I don't think local level planning boards or the regional level planning agencies have that capacity or the expertise."
The Worcesters want to build on land currently under the jurisdiction of the state Land Use Planning Commission, which oversees planning and zoning in the unorganized territories. Rather than begin the permitting process with the LUPC, the Worcester family is seeking to take the land from the commission's oversight by incorporating 10,400 acres via annexation into the town of Columbia Falls, where zoning is much less stringent.
If voters approve the annexation, the family will be able to move through the permitting process more quickly, and Columbia Falls would be tasked with overseeing the planning, construction and governing of what amounts to a small city in the woods.
"The purpose of the annexation is to avoid the LUPC," Columbia Falls Planning Board member Jeff Greene said at a June 1 workshop. Greene was quoting Roger Huber, a Bangor lawyer hired by the town to help it evaluate the proposal.
"If the annexation does not happen, it's very unlikely that the project could happen," Greene continued, reading from notes Huber sent him in response to questions from town officials. Although the company would still have to get planning board approval, Greene read, "A vote for the annexation is sort of a vote for the project."
Lawmakers approved a bill this spring allowing Columbia Falls to incorporate the land as long as voters approve the plans in a referendum, which hasn't been scheduled. This law is unusual in several respects, including that it strips protections designed to ensure a municipality's ordinances are at least as stringent as what the LUPC has in place.
"We would not have that kind of role for the Columbia Falls annexation," Stacie Beyer, executive director of the LUPC, told the committee reviewing the bill this spring. The LUPC did not take a position on the legislation. Beyer told the committee that in its current form, the town's zoning ordinance would be unlikely to meet the commission's standards.
As resident David Perham put it on June 1: "We've been given this, whether we wanted it or not." If the town rejects annexation, the land will stay within the jurisdiction of the LUPC.
The permitting process, particularly if the LUPC is involved, would likely take years. That could push back the company's ambitious timeline of having the first phase of the park open by July 4, 2026, to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Marianne Moore, the state senator who sponsored the annexation bill, said she did so after being approached by the Worcesters. The family assured her it would still get the necessary permits, including from state agencies. Moore was pleased that Columbia Falls residents would get a say in the process.
"It was going to be harder if they were in the unorganized territory," says Moore. "If they can do it locally, there still will have to be permitting done but it will be a lot faster." Incorporating the land into Columbia Falls would also direct any tax revenue to the town, rather than the state or county, Moore added, which she describes as "a win win."
In testimony this spring, local and regional officials also expressed support for bringing the land into Columbia Falls, saying the town most impacted by the development should have authority over the plans and receive any benefits from the park. "Adding this taxable land into our town taxable property will benefit the existing taxpayers by lowering the tax requirements for all other property owners," Columbia Falls Selectman Tony Santiago wrote in testimony. Tax revenues would otherwise flow to the state and county. Park literature boasts that the development will bring in annual associated state tax revenues of $27 million.
Several proponents of annexation, including the Worcesters and Tim Pease, an attorney representing the company, pointed to the town's 2019 Comprehensive Plan as evidence that local officials have the capacity to evaluate and enforce regulations around the plans. Comprehensive plans, however, serve more as a foundation and guidance document for adopting a land use ordinance, says Charles Rudelitch, an attorney and executive director of the Sunrise County Economic Council. Such plans offer "a chance for a community to think through its values," but are typically not legally enforceable, says Rudelitch. "The ordinance is really the key."
Columbia Falls does have a land use ordinance in addition to its comprehensive plan. The land use ordinance, adopted in 1999 and updated in 2018, totals 15 pages. The ordinance resembles those of other rural towns, giving property owners broad latitude over what to do with their land. By contrast, the land use ordinance in Bar Harbor, home to Acadia National Park and one of the state's busiest tourist spots, runs nearly 400 pages.
"I don't think they have the expertise," Kim of the University of Southern Maine says of local authorities. It would be difficult, and expensive, to assemble outside consultants to review the plans, he adds, and the town would be tasked not only with analysis but with enforcing the regulations.
Washington County Commission Chair Chris Gardner pushes back on the idea that local entities would not be able to evaluate or manage a site of this magnitude, especially given that they could hire outside consultants. "Any state agency is only filled with people who drive back to their small community. Just because they have a title and an office does not make them any wiser," says Gardner. "You want the communities themselves actually making these decisions, rather than maybe an overarching state board like the LUPC."
Proponents of the park also point out that at least two state agencies -- the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Department of Transportation -- would be involved at some level, regardless of whether the land is annexed. The Federal Aviation Administration may also have to approve the massive flagpole. Those processes, they argue, and the planning board hearings in Columbia Falls would give residents across the region a chance to weigh in on the plans.
The project is also large enough that it will likely trigger increased oversight from the DEP in the form of the Site Location of Development Law, which is designed for developments expected to have substantial impact on the environment. Under that law, the agency expands its review to include stormwater management, groundwater protection, infrastructure, wildlife, fisheries and noise.
But the site law covers only issues directly related to the environment, says Kim in an email. It would not evaluate other aspects important to planning and development, such as "housing, employment, infrastructure, sense of community, scenic beauty, tourism and hospitality industry, commerce, population size, age structure of population, demands for education, traffic demands."
So far it's been a frustrating process for some town officials. At the June 1 workshop, officials said they asked the Worcesters for several studies, including surveys and information on the environmental and economic impact of the plans, but the company has yet to comply. Company representatives did not attend the June meeting. Huber, the Bangor lawyer hired by the town, cancelled his appearance at the meeting a day in advance because he had little new information.
Several residents raised concerns at the June 1 meeting about language in the newly passed law that holds Columbia Falls responsible for all planning costs associated with annexation. Although Morrill Worcester promised to reimburse the town for costs to hire professionals to review the plans, he has yet to sign the document the town sent him. It's unclear whether the law would preclude the town from forcing the company to pay -- nor are there estimates on how much the planning process could cost.
"The first time it was brought up was February 28," says Greene, "and every time he's said we're going to sign the paperwork and he hasn't done it."
Town authorities acknowledge that hiring outside consultants would quickly get costly. Greene agrees with a resident who suggested the town bring on a team of lawyers and other experts, given the enormity and complexity of the plans.
A lot of unanswered questions remain, particularly around infrastructure, services and workforce housing. The park would employ roughly 5,000 people, most of them year round, an arrangement the family hopes will be attractive enough to lure employees to an area that has struggled to find enough staff in the past. Water and sewer treatment operations have yet to be designed.
Columbia Falls does not have a sewage treatment plant and shares emergency response services with nearby towns. Housing for employees may prove particularly challenging. The company has not incorporated employee housing into the plans, says Worcester, although it is open to the idea. Campgrounds and cabins on the property could provide temporary spaces for the 8,500 construction workers the family estimates will be necessary throughout the building process, says Worcester.
It remains to be seen where the 6 million visitors would stay, with few hotels nearby. Those thousands of employees and millions of expected visitors will have a profound impact on the entire region, not just on Washington County, says Kim, the professor from the University of Southern Maine. "[Employees] will commute, that will increase the commuting traffic, that will increase the housing demand, increase the housing prices and rents. That much demand will have a significant impact -- new housing is not just new housing. It means more roads, more sewer lines, more electricity supplies."
Despite the hurdles, most residents and officials have expressed a desire to attract more year-round residents and families and expand the economy. "We've always really dabbled in the tourism based economy," says Gardner. "This is a chance, I think, to grow that a little further and to grow it in such a way that I think really attaches to a very strong branding that is Washington County."
Local officials are proceeding cautiously, assuring residents that a vote will not be scheduled on the annexation until they have all necessary information. "The primary goal, in my opinion, of these two boards is to acquire as much information -- environmental, economic, you name it -- and get it to you so that you can make a fully informed decision," Selectman Nancy Bagley told residents. If this goes through, she said, "there is going to be a social impact."
Gardner says those wondering "how [the Worcesters] can possibly pull this off" would have to wait for answers. "It's monumental, literally and figuratively," says Gardner. But "if they want to try to run this race, and use private money to do it, and attract investment to our county -- who are we to stop them?"
(This article, which has been edited for length, is by Kate Cough, a reporter for the Maine Monitor.)