PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 25, 2023
A lawmaker wants the state to allocate $4 million to the new owner of Union Wharf to offset the value lost because the owner has agreed to forgo development there. State Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, said the financial help would aid the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, which bought the 230-year-old wharf in 2021. The Poole family, which had owned the wharf outright since the 1950s, said it chose to sell to the institute rather than other potential buyers because it offered the best opportunity to preserve the wharf for marine uses. Adding an easement to protect Union Wharf from future development “is critical and was part of our strategy,” Poole said. “We didn’t buy the wharf to become wharf owners, we bought the wharf to protect it.”