Nordic Aquafarms, which has plans to build a large land-based recirculating aquaculture system salmon farm in Belfast, Maine, U.S.A., has lost its fight over rights to intertidal land the company planned to use to site its inflow and outflow pipes.
In a 16 February ruling, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court found the plaintiffs in the case – Jeffrey R. Mabee and Judith B. Grace – were correct in their original assertion they are the owners of the intertidal land.
The case reached the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on an appeal of an earlier ruling by the Maine Superior Court, which found that Mabee and Grace did not have a right, title, or interest to the land in question. That ruling had roots in a 2019 court lawsuit filed by Mabee and Grace.
According to the latest ruling, the deed that conveyed the land to prior owners in 1946 did not include the intertidal land that Nordic Aquafarms purchased rights to in order to run underground pipes. The lot, “Lot 36,” is owned by Janet and Richard Eckrote, but according to the court ruling that lot was never granted access to the intertidal land.
The case has roots back to 1935, when Harriet L. Hartley became the sole owner of property subject to the court case, including a number of adjacent lots and the intertidal land. In 1946, Hartley conveyed a portion of the property to Fred Poor, and the Hartley-to-Poor deed included language that made it clear the intertidal land was not included in the deed, according to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
That conveyance also included language that the parcel of land being conveyed to Poor was for “residential purposes only” and that “no business for profit is to be conducted there” unless Hartley or her heirs agree. The court also found that this “enforceable servitude” on the land remains, binding the property given to Poor – and to the successive owners – to that original “residential purposes only” requirement.
The court's decision was immediately celebrated by the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area, a conservation easement established by Mabee and Grace.
“Thank goodness justice has prevailed. We are proud to have been part of a large group of citizens who believe that our environment is worth fighting for,” Friends of Harriet L. Hartley President Sid Block said in a press release.
The land in question is also the subject of the potential use of eminent domain by the City of Belfast, which decided on 3 August 2021 to pursue the takeover of the intertidal area at the center of the court battle.
Andy Stevenson, the director of press relations for the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley, told SeafoodSource the court decision will have an impact on the eminent domain case. He said briefs have been filed by both sides in the ongoing dispute over the eminent domain case, but the Maine Supreme Judicial Court justices ruled that Mabee and Grace have a right to assert the conservation easement on the case.
“I think the City of Belfast is going to have to consider very carefully whether they want to press this appeal,” he said.
Stevenson said numerous prior decisions by regulatory bodies, including the Maine Board of Environmental Protection, were made with the presumption that Nordic Aquafarms had rights to the intertidal land.
“I think all of those are on the table now,” he said.
Nordic Aquafarms could not be reached for comment before deadline.
Image courtesy of Nordic Aquafarms
