Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I I N O. X I M AY 3 0 , 2 0 2 2 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E moves would increase development near the lake, resulting in more stormwater runoff and other harm to water qual- ity. e civil complaint asks the court to declare that the Auburn Water District does not have the authority to change the definition of the watershed or its boundary. e lawsuit also asserts that any increased development caus- ing pollution to the lake goes against the water district's charter and its agreement with Lewiston. N O T E W O R T H Y C E N T R A L & W E S T E R N Eye Care of Maine moved to 349 Wilton Road in Farmington. Aroma Joe's opened a location at 791 Kittyhawk Ave. in Auburn. JAX readies employee housing complex A 24-unit employee housing complex developed by Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor is expected to be ready to lease by Sept. 1. e Bar Harbor Housing Authority will be the property manager of the Hemlock Lane complex. e development is expected to help address the critical need for year-round housing for employees working on the institu- tion's Bar Harbor campus. It will have 24 units of one-, two- and three-bedrooms. Housing availability ranks as one of the top issues for JAX employees, faculty, postdocs and graduate students. Bangor Savings opens Boothbay location Bangor Savings Bank, the largest Maine-based bank, opened a full-service branch in Boothbay Harbor, marking its 59th location in Maine. e branch opened May 23 at the Meadow Mall at 185A Townsend Ave., close to Route 27, the main road into Boothbay Harbor. It is a main crossroads that also includes a Hannaford Supermarket. It was a former KeyBank branch. Bumper crop for wild blueberries Maine's wild blueberry industry har- vested 105 million pounds of the crop in 2021, beating projections. e 2021 wild blueberry harvest was initially projected to total 85 million to 90 mil- lion pounds. e U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service said the harvest tops the previous high, in 2016, of 101.8 mil- lion pounds. Maine growers harvested 21,000 acres, up 1% from the previ- ous year. e average yield was 5,000 pounds per acre, a 118% increase of 2,710 pounds from the 2020 yield. N O T E W O R T H Y M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T Bath Savings announced that Sherry Tremblay, executive vice president of retail lending, is retiring, concluding a 35-year career with the bank. Allen Insurance and Financial in Camden launched a podcast called Navigating Life's Risks and Rewards. U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King announced that Acadia National Park was awarded $500,000 for an ecosystem restoration project for the Great Meadow Wetland. ORPC to work with Millinocket firm ORPC, a Portland-based developer of renewable power systems that harness energy from rivers and tidal currents, said it selected Millinocket Fabrication & Machine to manufacture the turbine shafts for its portfolio of products. e portfolio includes Modular RivGen devices expected to be assembled, tested and showcased later this year at One North, a Millinocket industrial park that was once a Great Northern Paper mill site. Earlier this year, ORPC, also known as Ocean Renewable Power Co., announced its plans to create a testing center at One North to sup- port design and development of the next-generation Modular RivGen. ORPC has 26 employees in Maine. e company is headquartered in Portland B R I E F GWI set to build out broadband in three Maine towns B y J e s s i c a H a l l GWI was awarded more than $9 million in grant funding from the ConnectME Authority to build high-speed internet networks in Hebron, Sumner and Northport. The company was one of a handful of applicants to receive grants from the ConnectME Authority, Maine's agency for the promotion of broadband, in the most recent round of funding. The grant funding will allow GWI to build nearly universal service to three municipalities that are in need of fast, reli- able internet infrastructure. Some neighboring towns will also reap the benefits of the network construction, though they were not directly involved in the project. The grant award will be coupled with contributions from all three of the towns as well as GWI's private investment to construct networks that will cover over 200 route miles and pass roughly 2,000 potential customers. "We are enormously proud of receiving the grant award from ConnectMaine and are incredibly excited to fulfill our obligations to bring gigabit fiber optic infrastructure and ser- vice to the communities," said Kerem Durdag, GWI president and chief operating officer. "We believe internet access and affordability is a human right and as such, as a B Corp-certified company, continue our work endlessly to ensure the future generations of Maine have one of the elemental building blocks of civilization at hand," Durdag added. GWI is currently working with the ConnectME Authority on the details of the grant and is expecting to have an updated timeline for the project's start and associated construction and service availability milestones soon. Biddeford-based GWI is a B Corp, which is a for-profit company that meets certain requirements for social and environmental performance and accountability. The ConnectME Authority was created by the Maine Legislature in 2006 to develop a secure, reliable and com- petitive broadband infrastructure and to make broadband service universally available in the state. The authority is funded by a small assessment on landlines and broadband services to customers in Maine. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Kerem Durdag, GWI president and COO, says "internet access and affordability is a human right." We believe internet access and affordability is a human right. — Kerem Durdag GWI M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T N O R T H E R N & E A S T E R N

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