PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 8, 2026
The city of Biddeford is appealing to Maine’s highest court as it challenges a permit that would allow the University of New England to build a controversial research pier on the Saco River. The appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which the city announced Wednesday, comes weeks after a York County Superior Court justice dismissed the city’s complaint for review. The city alleges that the 2024 decision ignored a long-standing 250-foot vegetative buffer zone on the Saco River. The city also recently denied UNE’s permit applications to cut down trees near the proposed pier site and for a proposed renovation of Decary Hall.