By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Last month the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation (SEDCO) board of directors decided the cost of bringing a racino to town wasn’t worth endorsing approval of Scarborough Downs’ $1 billion proposal to transform more than 200 acres of currently undeveloped land into a new “Scarborough Village” featuring senior housing, a community center, retail and commercial space and a Main Street atmosphere.

“This is a very controversial topic,” SEDCO Chairman Roger Beeley said. “We tried to emphasize to keep our personal opinions aside and look at [the Downs proposal] from an economic development point of view.” 

Scarborough Village Partners is the organization behind the proposed development, which is tied to Cabelas developer, Northeast Exposure.  Spokesman Gene Beaudoin said SEDCO denied a request to discuss the project and the board “acted prematurely.” 

The board’s letter sent to Town Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer outlining SEDCO’s decision “contained factual errors,” he said.

“We submit that if you have the chance to meet with our group you will be satisfied that the process we are undertaking and the plans developed to date ensure our proposed development will not be a ‘racino-centric model,’” Beaudoin wrote in a Sept. 2 letter to Beeley requesting another opportunity to discuss the project.

Beeley said most of the SEDCO board members were already familiar with the project from Beaudoin’s presentation last month and didn’t feel the need to see it again. He said while SEDCO largely supported the overall goals of the Scarborough Village project; such as increasing senior housing options, creating a community center and a central hub for Scarborough; the board felt it needed to be consistent with SEDCO’s opposition to slot machines as demonstrated when Scarborough Downs first proposed a racino in 2002.

“We have some serious questions about how a racino would bring high-quality development to Scarborough,” Beeley said. “If there was a racino there, could you envision Fairchild Semiconductor moving in next door? We want high-quality businesses which pay good money.”

According to financial information former Town Councilor and SEDCO board member Mark Maroon sent to the town council, wages at the Hollywood Slots facility in Bangor – one of the gaming facilities Beaudoin has compared to the proposed Scarborough Village – range from $14.62 an hour for “slot technicians,” to $3.75 an hour plus tips for “beverage servers.” While Maroon said he couldn’t speak for the entire SEDCO board, he believed while a racino may have some immediate tax benefits for the town, it would eventually become a dangerous tool for people with financial struggles.

“It’s a waste of time at this point to inundate the town council with reams of data that shows a racino in a negative light,” Messer responded to Maroon in an email. “The town council has no hand to play at this point concerning this issue.”

Messer encouraged Maroon to share his opinion with “the citizenry, not the town council,” and wrote he was neither “an opponent or proponent” of the project although SEDCO’s decision not to endorse the proposed development could have been “jumping the gun.”

“Any opinion, in particular a strongly worded negative opinion, needs to be supported by volumes of data,” he wrote. “We aren’t anywhere near that point in time from a council perspective.”

Town Clerk Tody Justice said a petition to place a question seeking approval for gaming facilities on the November referendum ballot was successfully submitted to the town clerk’s office at the end of last week, several days after Scarborough Village Partners announced they had received “nearly 3,000 signatures” in favor of the petition.

“They reached the 2,207 required signatures,” Justice said. “We stop [counting] at what we need.”

Maroon said he considered the petition a “push poll” considering the wording implied only the positive aspects of allowing a racino.

“They asked people ‘If it generated eight million in tax dollars, would you be interested [in approving a racino]?’ The other side to that is to ask people if they would mind a possible increase in crime and other problems,” he said. “Polls should be neutral.”

Maroon said he was concerned the same wording was being proposed for the ballot question seeking approval for slot machines in Scarborough, which he believed was “critical” to Scarborough Village Partners’ success.

Justice said a public hearing for the petition approval is scheduled for Sept. 17, after which the town council will vote to accept or deny the petition.