BRUNSWICK 

The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority has created the second advisory group in three months aimed at publicizing how the former Brunswick Naval Air Station is being transformed.

The NASB Redevelopment Community Advisory Group comes from public comments expressed Nov. 8 during the only meeting of the MRRA Community Relations Committee. 

The MRRA Community Relations Committee — itself only two months old — was created in October to field input from residents of Brunswick and Topsham.

The new advisory group is intended to give town officials a say in determining MRRA’s direction. 

Brunswick officials have complained they are not represented on the MRRA board and are left out of vital decisions about how to weave the ex-military installation into the town’s fabric.

Most recently, the subject came up during discussion of tax shelters for Swedish medical supply producer Mölnlycke’s new building on Admiral Fitch Drive. 

Before that, towns and MRRA sparred over what incentives to offer aircraft manufacturer Kestrel Aeroworks, which since has moved the bulk of its operations to Wisconsin. Brunswick and MRRA are now prepared for a legal skirmish over the collection of taxes at Kestrel’s facility at Brunswick Landing. 

Officials say the Kestrel debacle is exactly the scenario they hope the new board will help avoid. 

The NASB Redevelopment Community Advisory Group will include two Brunswick town councilors, two Topsham selectmen, a pair of MRRA trustees, town managers from Brunswick and Topsham, MRRA Executive Director Steve Levesque and state Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner George Gervais, who also serves on the MRRA Board of Directors.

“Direct communication is absolutely essential and key in moving forward,” Gervais said. “We certainly don’t want to create committee after committee. But we want to find the most beneficial way for MRRA’s board and the (Brunswick) town council to be as open as possible, to avoid some of the problems that seem to be played out in the press,” he said. “All that does is make it more difficult for (MRRA) to attract tenants and businesses to this development.”

Although its presence has been announced, local municipal boards have yet to approve its establishment, their participation or a meeting schedule. 

Brunswick’s town council has received notice of the new panel but has not yet discussed it. Calls to Brunswick Town Manager Gary Brown and outgoing Town Council Chairwoman Joanne King were not returned Thursday.

During their meeting Thursday, Topsham selectmen noted they had received MRRA’s letter informing of the new board’s creation. Nothing further was discussed, but Topsham Board of Selectmen Chairman Don Russell said it would be brought up during a future meeting.

“I don’t know yet what (the new board) is going to do, but anything that will keep lines of communication open is a positive move,” Russell said. “Doesn’t mean it’s going to solve some of those communication problems, but anything helps.”

With a relatively small chunk of the former naval base — about 70 acres — Topsham officials have been less critical of MRRA. 

“But, then, Brunswick has been more involved than we have,” Russell said. “They have a lot more at stake than we do.”