I am sure some of you have been wondering why we have not been blogging of late. Out of state land developers have been trying to close our business since January 2014 of this year. Actually this all started in the 2013, when these developers were going to the planning board to permit a subdivision on the property abutting ours.
Now that they own the property(ies) (under several different Incs and LLCs to make it confusing) they have started an aggressive campaign to close down our business. In May of 2014, with the help of an attorney, we were able to get a ruling that we were correctly zoned for our use, and could go forward with the Code Enforcement Officer for a use permit. All these proceedings were initiated by the land developers. In fact the zoning law does not list that our business use needs to file for a use permit. However, we have gone forward with that just to close the matter.
Now since the land developers did not like that we were asked to "cease and desist" with our business, they have filed with the Maine Superior Court. It's pretty clear by the tape of the Board of Appeals on 5/14/2014 that their points are bogus.
Here is the thing though, if you don't answer the charges, you can loose by default. I was not aware before that with enough money, anyone can go after anyone else even if they do not have grounds. And more importantly, that even if you are in the right, you need to do the foot work to prove that. It's not innocent into proven guilty, it's your guilty unless you have enough money and stamina to fight.
We have no choice but to fight at this point. This is our lively hood. If you are able to help in any way, even non monetary ways, we are asking for help in saving our business and home.
Thank you in advance for your support. We accept support in any way including but not limited to positive thoughts for us. This has been a trying year and winter with this issue looming over our heads! We can use all the positive energy that we can get!!
