BELGRADE — After meeting with the Planning Board, Richard Tripp said it’s time to move on.

Tripp, whose property abuts the new Maine Lakes Resource Center on Main Street in Belgrade Lakes village, has complained about the size of the building, saying the new two-story, 3,500-square-foot building obstructs his view of the neighborhood.

Tripp and his neighbor, Bill Pulsifer, who abuts the other side of the center, asked to meet with the Planning Board to discuss the permitting process for this project.

After Thursday’s meeting, Tripp said he was somewhat satisfied.

“I and others had an opportunity to say our piece,” Tripp said. “There were some apologies made for things that didn’t happen. I think it was productive, all in all.

“There’s not a lot more that can be done anyways. The building is there. As far as I’m concerned, it’s time to move on.”

The resource center is an initiative of Docks to Doorways, a coalition of Colby College and conservation-minded groups including the Belgrade Lakes Association and the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance.

Tripp had complained publicly about how builders of the center were able to acquire permits for a project in such an environmentally fragile space. The backside of the center opens up onto Mills Stream, which runs between Great Pond and Long Pond. He and others also wondered why notifications were made to some abutters, but not others.

The town is not obligated to send a certified letter to abutters for a commercial development review by the Planning Board, according to the deputy clerk. But all abutters received notification for the project but Tripp, who was omitted in error.

Tripp said he thought things could have been done a little better in terms of notifications. He said the board Thursday was open and receptive in talking to abutters and gave them time to speak their mind.

“The meeting continued on at some length,” he said. “It was done in the spirit of willingness to listen and they did try to explain what they did and why they did it.”

He added, “But for me, it’s time to be moving on.”

Messages left Friday for Planning Board Chairman Peter Rushton were unreturned.

Pete Kallin, executive director of the Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance, said the village is zoned for commercial development and that the project met all the town’s ordinance requirements.

He said there were no “shortcuts in the permits” from the town or the state Department of Environmental Protection and that his organization did not receive “any special favors in the construction.”

Also, he said the town’s code officer periodically inspected the work.

The driving force behind the design was to insure that it fit into the village with the open post-and-beam construction similar to a traditional Maine barn, Kallin said.

Mechele Cooper — 621-5663

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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