WINSLOW -- FPL Energy has nearly cleared the final barrier to its plan to breach Fort Halifax Dam.

The Winslow Planning Board on Thursday night indicated that its approval of the energy company's dam removal application could come as soon as Feb. 28 -- that is when the board has scheduled its next meeting on the issue. The session is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at the Town Office.

"I think we are getting close," F. Allen Wiley of FPL Energy said Friday. "Whether that (meeting) ultimately will be the grand finale remains to be seen. We are certainly hopeful that they will take action on that date."

FPL Energy needs a permit from the board before it can begin to breach the hydroelectric facility on the Sebasticook River. The company already has received the OK from the Army Corps of Engineers, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FPL Energy's planned partial removal of the hydroelectric dam would allow the unimpeded migration of sea-run fish on that stretch of the river for the first time in 100 years.

Planner Elery Keene has been one of the more demanding members of the board in regard to requesting information and safeguards from FPL Energy.

But Keene said FPL Energy attorney Matthew Manahan did a good job in addressing the various concerns over dam removal in the document he provided the board.

"I expect we will approve (the company's application) with conditions," Keene said, "and then we will find out if they are willing to accept our conditions or not. They may not want to."

Keene said in most cases, the information and conclusions reached by the dam owner were valid and acceptable.

Still, Keene said he remains uneasy about some aspects of the project.

Chief among those concerns is the stability of the river bank by Dallaire Street. The fear is that breaching the dam could cause that bank to slump and fall into the river, jeopardizing homes on the south side of Dallaire Street.

In fact, the engineering firm the town hired to evaluate the stability of the bank recommended that some Dallaire Street residents evacuate their homes the day dam removal starts and to stay out of those homes for up to two days.

Keene said he favors doing more extensive soil studies to better determine the stability of the bank.

The planning board met for three-and-half hours Thursday night. During that time, planners heard from FPL Energy representatives, two consultants hired by the town and several residents.

Keene expects the next meeting may go just as long.

"At the end (of the next meeting), we will probably take a final vote," Keene said, "but I suspect we will be taking votes on the sub-issues as well as go through the findings of fact."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com