CARIBOU, Maine — As Troy Haney looks out over the land he owns on the banks of the Aroostook River, he thinks Kacie would have really liked it here. It’s the site of a campground Haney is in the process of developing, a place he hopes to name after his stepdaughter, Kacie Haney, who died in a car crash last year.
The plot just east of Limestone street is secluded by a thick wall of trees and dense underbrush toward the road. At the foot of the land, the Aroostook River rushes by. Even though it’s not too far from the highway, it’s quiet here — Haney said he’s seen bald eagles nesting nearby.
“[Kacie] loved going to the water: at the lake and at the river,” Haney said. “She would have loved this place.”
For the past few months, Haney has been developing the land for a future seasonal campground. The Caribou City Council approved an alteration to the land use code on June 14 to lower the total acreage needed to establish a campground, allowing Haney to move forward with the project.
The grounds will have spots for nine campers to be rented for the whole summer season, including electrical and sewage hookups.
Haney also has the go-ahead from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection — the land he’s developing floods completely for a short time every spring during the ice out. He’s planning to cap the sewer and plumbing lines every spring and build any electrical lines up on posts too high for the flood waters to reach.
For years, Haney said he’s lobbied the town to take advantage of the land next to the Aroostook River to develop recreational and small commercial businesses, maybe even a bike path — this is his move to prove that type of business can be successful in the area.
Waterfront property like that on Limestone Street should be the most valuable the town has, he said.
Instead, besides a few homes, the area is mostly industrial, with the town’s recycling plant and the now out-of-use train tracks being some of the most visible occupants. The land Haney is building his campground on used to be an auto salvage yard, and he’s still collecting the debris from that venture. During the short flood season each spring, he said tires and scrap metal used to wash out into the river.
Underneath all that, Haney hopes to uncover an oasis. A place for vacationers to relax and a spot worthy of becoming “Kacie’s Place.”
“It’s kind of like you’re anywhere in the back wilderness, and you’re only three minutes from town,” Haney said.
The development of the lot is well underway, and Haney hopes to open for next season.
CARIBOU, Maine — June 25, 2021 — The future site of Troy Haney’s seasonal campground, which he hopes to name after his late stepdaughter, Kacie, who died in a car crash last year. (Hannah Catlin | Aroostook Republican)
