Lawyer: Biddeford Downs project could come to Oxford County

OXFORD COUNTY — Ed MacColl, a lawyer representing the Biddeford Downs project, is basing a set of legal arguments on the supposition that the competing casino project could move to a site in Oxford County.

The assertion comes as part of ongoing legal arguments about whether the casino site proposed by Black Bear Entertainment (BBE) is legal.

Peter Martin of BBE says that the prospect of uprooting projects from that area to rural Oxford County is unthinkable.

"What they're attempting to lay out there is, 'we could come to Oxford County, take Scarborough Downs, pick it up, move it to this location in Otisfield ... and we're gonna apply for a casino license,'" said Martin. "... It's just ridiculous. ... That's what I call the smokescreen."

MacColl says that a relocation is indeed a possibility.

"There are many additional areas that would qualify for my client's racetrack," he said. " ... Her racetrack has a portable license. ... Mrs. Terry can locate her racetrack anywhere she can buy land. It wouldn't even need to be in Oxford County, it would just need to be within 10 miles of Oxford County to qualify."

The motivations behind MacColl's arguments are a matter of dispute. MacColl himself says that it is simply an effort to protect a possible future move for Biddeford Downs.

Oxford Town Manager Michael Chammings says that the Biddeford Downs project backers are trying to eliminate the 100-mile restriction, which could be a barrier to their own casino.

"Obviously Biddeford is less than 100 miles from Oxford, and they're looking to get BBE and others to be on board to not have that number," said Chammings. "That's the purpose in my opinion that they're stating this."

"They're using that, in my humble opinion as a public servant, as a card up their sleeve," said Chammings, "to try to get BBE to go along with a change in the distances that casinos can be from each other."

Peter Martin, of BBE, disagrees. He says that the mileage requirement is a non-issue when it comes to competing casino projects.

"This issue, whether it's determined to be road miles or straight line miles has no impact on the Biddeford Downs project, nor does it have any impact on the Lewiston project," said Martin, "because each of those petitions, if they're endorsed by the Maine public at a vote in November, removes the hundred-mile exclusion from Oxford. So it doesn't matter."

Martin says that the motivation behind Biddeford's challenge is simply a desire to gum up the works at BBE.

"In my opinion, this is nothing more than a stunt, a smokescreen by the Biddeford Downs people to slow this project down, stop jobs being created, when the issue has absolutely no impact on them. Zero," said Martin.

Martin is quick to offer the flip side of this unlikely outcome, which would leave a lot of Biddeford Downs supporters confused, to say the least.

"If I was a Biddeford resident that was supporting the Biddeford Downs project, I would be thinking, 'Hey wait a minute. What's going on here?'" said Martin. "Now these guys are saying they may apply in Oxford. Are they abandoning us here in Biddeford?"

Commisioner Samp said that the Gambling Control Board was not prepared to consider whether moving the racetrack is even legal. It "raises a whole different can of worms," she said.