Cabela’s decision to drop its efforts to seek a state sales-tax exemption and move forward with its Haigis Parkway store has prompted another major sporting-goods retailer to consider a Scarborough location.

Gander Mountain, based in Wisconsin, was in the middle of negotiations to come to Scarborough a year ago when Cabela’s applied to Maine Revenue Services for the sales tax exemption on its catalog and Internet sales, Mike Ayers said Tuesday. His Minnesota-based company develops projects for Gander Mountain. Ayers said Gander Mountain put its plans on hold until the tax decision was made.

Now, said Ayers, while he hasn’t received the official go-ahead to rekindle plans for Scarborough, the company is still interested in the town.

“I would expect that there would be an interest on their part,” said Harvey Rosenfeld of the Scarborough Economic Development Corporation. “Competitors want to stick together and feed off of each other.”

Typically, he said, Gander Mountain prefers moving into an existing building rather than constructing a new building. Wal-Mart will be vacated when the new superstore opens, he said, but the town had tentatively decided to take it over and tear it down for redevelopment. He said locations on Route 1, Payne Road and Haigis Parkway are potential building sites.

Cabela’s, the Nebraska-based sporting goods giant, withdrew its request about a half-hour before it was to be reviewed by the planning board.

At the meeting, Gene Beaudoin, the developer who is working with Cabela’s, read a letter from Mike Callahan, Cabela’s senior vice president, saying the company is “presently reevaluating its expansion strategy in the Northeast, which may result in (Cabela’s) modification of our approach in Maine.”

The company did reiterate its plans to come to Scarborough. “We look forward to opening a Cabela’s retail store in Scarborough,” Callahan’s letter said.

Beaudoin had said previously the store would not come to Scarborough without a favorable ruling from the state. Now, said Beaudoin, after the meeting, plans are moving forward on the development.

“I think it’s great news for the town,” said Town Manager Ron Owens. “We think it will be an excellent attraction to the Haigis Parkway.”

The project, said Owens, still has town processes to go through, including the contract zoning approval to allow for the 130,000-square-foot Cabela’s store. The maximum size for buildings in that zone is 20,000 square feet. All other buildings in the proposed development would be 20,000 square feet or less.

Beaudoin hopes the planning board will grant preliminary approval at its next meeting. At the end of the review on Oct. 24, Susan Auglis, chairwoman of the planning board, told the developer that the board would need more information about traffic impacts, lighting, the architectural design of each individual building, landscaping, buffering and the details of the signs, including a Cabela’s sign that would be visible from the Maine Turnpike.

Eventually, said Owens, the development will bring in around $900,000 in taxes annually for the town. “But that’s just one piece of the Haigis Parkway,” said Owens. As more development comes, he said, they bring more taxes for the town’s general fund.

The problem that Maine Revenue Services had to solve was the issue of what constituted a nexus – in other words, where Internet, catalog and store sales connect.

It was unclear if there was enough of a connection to establish whether there was a solid relationship among Cabela’s three divisions. If the state ruled there was no connection among the three divisions, then those items ordered from the catalog and Internet would not be subject to tax. However, if the state ruled the three divisions were connected, then Cabela’s would have to charge state sales tax on all items.

Returning items to the retail store that were purchased on the Internet or from the catalog could prove that there is a connection among the three companies. For example, if a customer purchased an item from the Internet without paying sales tax and then returned it to the retail store, there is a question about what to do regarding sales tax.

Some speculate that Cabela’s already had received an unfavorable verbal ruling from the Maine Revenue Services, but hoped to have it reversed when the department issued its more formal advisory in a so-called letter ruling.

Becky Wyke, the governor’s finance commission, said privacy laws dictate the office can’t talk about any details of a taxpayer’s request for a ruling. She did say it is typical for an individual or a company to come in and ask in advance of a ruling what their tax liability would be.

While the letter from Cabela’s made clear its intentions to withdrawal the application and go forward in Scarborough, the company did not say how it is modifying its plans.

“As far as nexus goes, we’re in a period when we’re reviewing that, so we can’t comment,” James Powell, a Cabela’s spokesman, said last Thursday. “The good news for all involved is that we’re still planning on coming to Maine.” He added that with such a large project, many things are still being decided.

According to state Sen. Lynn Bromley, D-South Portland, one potential solution Cabela’s is considering is creating a nexus in Maine. Bromley has been working with the state to ensure that Cabela’s continues to go forward with its plans for Scarborough.

A way to create a nexus, said Bromley, could be as simple as setting up a catalog kiosk in the store, or actually building a call center in Maine. With the physical presence of either the catalog or the Internet in the state, Maine customers would then be required to pay the 5 percent sales tax on all purchases.

“This is everything they’ve been fighting,” said Bromley. “When it started looking like the ruling wasn’t going to go the way we all wanted it to go, a bunch of us started talking and said if the state is going to say there’s a nexus, which we still think there isn’t, why not just make a nexus?”

Though Bromley said Cabela’s hasn’t made any decision about this plan, she believes it makes sense. Turning something like the Brunswick Naval Air Station, which is to be closed, into a distribution site, said Bromley, is one of many ideas.

This option gives both the state and Cabela’s a way out, said Bromley. Now the state would not have to come down on one side of a highly politicized issue and Cabela’s would not set a precedent for other states to follow.

“The issue for Cabela’s has never been that it would be a problem to charge the taxes, the disadvantage was that it would have set a precedent for other states,” said Bromley.

The fear, said Bromley, was that if Cabela’s charged Maine customers sales tax on its Internet and catalog sales without a physical presence of either in Maine, the other states that have given Cabela’s a favorable ruling in the past could decide that the company must begin charging sales tax for customers in other states. By creating a nexus in Maine, said Bromley, the Maine store would be different enough that other states wouldn’t be able to reverse their rulings.

As for why the state took so long to deliberate, Bromley feels that the agency was caught up the politics and fairness of the issue.

“I think Revenue Services got very interested in doing what they thought was fair and they forgot that their job isn’t to make policy, their job is to make a legal interpretation,” said Bromley. “It’s up to the Legislature to make policy. Good people got caught up in having a discussion of what’s fair, and the only authority they have is to say what’s legal.”

Sen. Phil Bartlett, D-Gorham, who has also been involved in the issue, said there should be an answer to the nexus question on the national level.

“We need to implore Congress to clarify the nexus issue,” said Bartlett.

Currently, he added, the federal law allows each state to have its own interpretation. “At the state level, we could direct Maine Revenue Services to take a liberal or conservative interpretation, but ultimately it’s a federal law,” added Bartlett.

In the meantime, said Bartlett, the state needs to come up with a “clear and formal” review process and time line for companies requesting similar rulings. “My big concern all along has been that it makes Maine look like it isn’t eager for business,” said Bartlett.

Richard Donaldson, a spokesman for L.L. Bean, said Friday the Maine retailer welcomed the competition, but was against the tax exemption.

“We have every reason to think this is very good news,” said Donaldson. “If it’s good news for Scarborough it’s good news for the state which is good for competition in Maine.”

Cabela’s, based in Nebraska, is in the midst of a large expansion, with 11 stores opening soon all over the country and in Canada. In New England, one store is opening in East Hartford, Conn., and the company is currently working on plans for a store in Hooksett, N.H.

Gander Mountain is a sporting goods outfitter based in Wisconsin. With Cabela’s withdrawing its request for a sales tax exemption on its catalog and Internet sales, Gander Moutain may renew efforts to build a store in Scarborough.