After placing a moratorium on “glampgrounds” to stop the construction of more than 100 fancy geodesic camping domes, the town of Lamoine is poised to vote on whether to ban such projects permanently, the Ellsworth American reported.
The vote will be held at the town’s annual meeting, 6 p.m., March 31, at the Lamoine Consolidated School gym.
CPEX LLC, which operates Clear Sky Resorts in Arizona, submitted a proposal in January 2023 to erect 103 domed luxury cabins on 12 acres of a 230-acre parcel on Partridge Cove Road.
Ninety of the fully furnished structures would have been used for guest lodging, with the remaining 13 used for staff housing, restaurants, a laundromat, and “activity domes” for stargazing and bird watching.
The resort, named “Clear Sky Acadia,” drew strong opposition from residents. Local nonprofit Growing Lamoine Responsibly petitioned for a moratorium, which was overwhelmingly approved at a special town meeting last summer attended by close to a quarter of the town’s residents, the Maine Monitor reported.
CPEX has since withdrawn its application, according to the American. But residents will be voting on whether future developments should even be considered.
The March 13 meeting will include a vote on whether to update the town’s zoning ordinance to ban glampgrounds and resorts in addition to motels and hotels, which are already barred. The ordinance amendment also includes definitions of glamping, glampground and glamping unit.
Sweeping reactive bans on ambitious development plans are not uncommon in Maine. Most recently, the town of Bradford temporarily banned campgrounds and several other types of shelter to stop a nonprofit from building a rural commune for homeless people.
