In 1999, Poland Spring Bottling Co. proposed building a bottling plant amid the marshes and hayfields of Hollis in southern Maine. Nearby residents were apprehensive about truck traffic, noise and environmental effects.
Five years later, the plant is a reality, and the trucks are rolling.
In June of this year, Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission approved Poland Spring’s plan to construct a water pumping station in western Maine at the end of Long Falls Dam Road in Somerset County. Nearby residents voiced concerns similar to those in Hollis. Trucks are scheduled to begin hauling water out of the location within the next four weeks.
With the search on for a site for a new Poland Spring bottling plant in Franklin, Somerset or Oxford county, here’s an update on how Hollis is getting along with Maine’s king of spring water.
Hollis residents once dreaded the bottling plant. Some views have changed.
HOLLIS – When talk of a Poland Spring bottling plant in Hollis started, Dave McCubrey was vocal in his opposition.
McCubrey lived on Killick Pond Road, the main truck route to and from the plant. He bought the property because of its peacefulness and was concerned about truck noise.
When Nestle Waters North America – the parent company for Poland Spring – gained approval from the town to build a bottling facility, the company agreed to several conditions to minimize the impact, such as limiting truck traffic to state-mandated numbers and along specific routes.
Len VanGaasbeek, a Hollis resident, served on the town’s advisory committee for the project. Now a selectman, VanGaasbeek said the company worked with the townspeople to ensure that they would be satisfied with their new neighbor.
Driving down the 2-mile-long road paved by Poland Spring, McCubrey – the former opponent – points out earthen berms, banking and trees installed by the company to screen traffic noise and lights. At least one existing home was relocated farther from the road, he said, a move funded by the company.
Also, prior to paving, there was at least one rollover accident a year on the road. McCubrey said he knows of no accidents there since the road was improved.
Truckers never use engine braking by his house, are courteous and drive the speed limit, he said. Traffic levels change with seasonal demand: In a 40-minute period one recent Friday, about eight trucks rumbled past his home.
And there has been another bonus for McCubrey: When he lost his job in industrial sales two years ago, he landed a job at the Poland Spring plant.
Rebuilding, conserving
Rita Anderson lives on Route 117 along the designated trucking route. She opposed the bottling plant because of truck traffic on roads not ready for it.
She said rebuilding the route to accommodate the additional traffic took two years. In order to make the road safer for trucks, the state straightened and widened it, bringing the traffic about 5 feet closer to her doorstep, she said. She was vigilant in her attempts to ensure the construction was done properly and was quick to alert transportation workers of the need to replace two nearby culverts.
“If you’re going to have those heavy trucks (using the road), you want to fight like hell to get those roads rebuilt,” said the 75-year-old lifelong resident.
Though she and McCubrey both say they can no longer sleep with roadside windows open, they are also glad for the company’s presence in town.
Anderson told of a 450-unit housing development proposed for the former potato farm several years ago. Now the plant occupies 285,000 square feet in the middle of 1,400 acres of marsh and forest, an area the company intends to protect as wild.
The company also has talked about creating a trail around the perimeter of the property for public use.
“It’s a balancing act,” said McCubrey, who grew up in Westbrook next to the S.D. Warren paper mill.
“If we’ve got to have manufacturing, it’s a good, clean one to have.”
Trucking problems
VanGaasbeek said there is no doubt that traffic has increased due to the bottling plant and that not all trucks remain on the designated trucking route.
Some trucks heading to northern New England, for instance, head west from Hollis rather than back along the route to Interstate 95.
Some truckers bypass the route in Saco at a forked intersection of Routes 112 and 117 and end up driving on roads not designed to handle that much heavy truck traffic.
Stephen Landry of the Maine Department of Transportation said the department can only regulate traffic to a certain extent. Anyone who pays gas taxes in the state can drive on state roads, he said. The 48-foot-long trucks are permitted to travel on the disputed section of 117, he continued.
VanGaasbeek says residents with complaints need to be specific when talking with Poland Spring. They need to provide truck numbers, descriptions or license plate numbers so the company may identify the offending drivers, many of whom work for other vendors.
“Poland Spring is a very good company in terms of getting people to drive properly for them,” Landry said.
Several drivers have been barred from traveling to the plant.
VanGaasbeek acknowledges that, four years after the plant opening, truck traffic is still a major issue in Hollis.
“The area isn’t really used to it yet,” he said.
Good neighbors
At Don’s Market, lunch patrons eat burgers, fries and chicken fingers while millions of bottles of water roll by, coming from the plant a few miles away.
Joe Hanson, a Hollis resident since 1977, said truck traffic in town has increased, although the trucking route was improved and widened. He feels the state did a nice job retaining the road’s rural character.
He spoke, too, of the company’s generosity.
“I’ve seen a soccer mom head up (to the plant) in a minivan and return with 10 to 12 cases of bottled water (donated to a local team),” he said.
VanGaasbeek cited several instances of the company’s civic-mindedness in addition to its contribution to the tax base: thermal imaging cameras for the Fire Department and start-up funds for a nonprofit organization.
And though the trucks roll by her home 24 hours a day, occasionally shaking it, Anderson is glad for the company’s presence.
“I think they’ve been good for the town,” she said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
