York Town News
One year in York: before, during and after the flood
By Jennifer L. Saunders
It has been a year of change for York Beach, from spring floods to an autumn renaissance that included the end of a 78-year tradition of movies at the York Beach Cinema. Pictured is Troy Williams, who managed the theatre, showing the historic Peerless Magnarc projectors in the weeks before the cinema was demolished to make way for a new multi-use commercial building.
File photos
YORK - In this community by the sea, 2006 is likely to long be remembered as the year of the freshwater floods.
It may also be remembered for many other events as well - including the beginning of what has come to be known as the York Beach Renaissance.
The past 12 months brought with them efforts to bring a new arts center to York High School and plans to address the town's municipal needs. York had one of its teachers lauded as a finalist for two top state honors and saw an unprecedented local sweep of medals for every team that competed in the 2006 Maine Odyssey of the Mind competition.
As this year comes to its close and 2007 looms on the horizon, here is a look back on just a few of the key happenings of the past year and where they stand now.
The Mother's Day Flood
Do you remember how you spent Mother's Day this year? Regardless of whether we've ever been called "mom," we probably all remember where we were on May 14, 2006, as incessant rains brought with them rising rivers and streams, overflowing culverts and damage to local roads, bridges, homes and businesses totaling $15 million.
The York Beach business district was literally underwater. Innumerable residents faced flooding in their homes and basements. Many roads were closed, with Route 91, the Passaconaway Bridge, Logging Road and Clay Hill Road bearing the brunt of the storm's fury.
As Town Manager Rob Yandow said in the days after the flood, "We've been the victim of some extraordinary circumstances. … We've suffered a substantial amount of damage in our roadways and some of our businesses."
State and federal officials arrived in York Beach, promising to do all in their power to see businesses open again for the tourist season that was so soon to begin, and an emergency declaration came, along with support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Small Business Administration.
Even with the shock the community as a whole felt at the destruction of what many have dubbed a 100-year storm event, there was also hope.
As York Police Chief and Emergency Management Director Doug Bracy said at the time, "The measure of anything is how safe our populace was, and we've had no injuries to date that we've known of. … That's something we can't replace."
In the end, it was a story of a community coming together: the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce, volunteers from area schools and all walks of life and staff from the town's various departments worked together to help clean up York Beach, and to help residents in need of aid in the days and weeks following the storm.
Route 91 is, at least, open for the winter after a temporary fix. Construction on the new Passaconaway Bridge is underway. And the greatest success story was that of the York Beach businesses - all of which were open before the height of the summer season began on July 4.
From the Bostons at The Goldenrod to the Biagionis at The Candy Corner; from Joe Lipton at Inn on the Blues to Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cathy Goodwin, the message from York Beach was one and the same - even in the first days after the flood.
As Jim Biagioni put it as work began to rebuild The Candy Corner, "Now that this has happened, we're thinking of how we can make the store better. You can't feel sorry for yourselves. We want to make it better than before."
That is just what they did, with crowds packing the store from its Father's Day opening through the summer months.
Kathy and Rick Boston pledged to be ready for the season at The Goldenrod in spite of the flood - and they were.
Lipton posted a sign at Inn on the Blues: "Down but not out. Please send tourists."
And the chamber shared a message, spoken first by Goodwin, with the community and beyond: "York Beach is open."
Four months after the storm, however, the town got some bad news about flooding for the future.
In September, the year-long study of York's drainage woes was presented by the Portland-based firm Edwards and Kelcey with an estimated cost of $37.7 million to fix the town's problems in the beach and beyond.
The study focused on the town's current drainage system to deal with stormwater and other runoff and examined all aspects of the problem, including the continued development of open space parcels integral to slowing the flow of waters from the villages to the beaches.
While the total cost of the project may seem prohibitive, town officials have been advised on ways they can begin to address the problem in upcoming budget referendum cycles - including drafting new ordinances; the use of temporary barriers in the York Beach business district during the winter to protect the parking lot and the businesses and other areas beyond it; obtaining access easements around water courses and conservation easements around wetlands; the creation of a possible stormwater utility fee based on the amount of impervious surfaces created within the area; upland systems upgrades, and stream, culvert and control structures, for an estimated $2 million bill for the town.
The remaining funds relate to reconfiguring and rebuilding the outflows along the town's beaches.
The York Beach Renaissance
The floodwaters have receded, but York Beach has remained in the headlines throughout this year of change.
In fact, change has been the theme for this quaint village by the sea, as business owners - even before the flood - came together to work on ways to revitalize the York Beach business district with a vision for the future.
Since September, that effort has begun to take shape in a very tangible way with the end of an era for the York Beach Cinema and a new lease on life for the historic Atlantic House.
Labor Day weekend saw the final moviegoers to ever fill the 19th-century building that had housed the York Beach Cinema since 1928. And was it crowded.
Manager Troy Williams opened the doors to standing-room-only lines for the final show at this theatre, which begin its existence as an ice house back in the 1800s, became an opera house and then spent 78 years as the town's cinema.
During the preceding months, the Union Bluff, which owns the property, received Planning Board approval to raze the theatre and make way for a building to house a function hall and other uses.
Williams and others readily acknowledged the building needed work, and that keeping a small cinema like this afloat was not an easy economic feat in a time when many homes have the latest in digital equipment for their movie viewing pleasure.
But, as Williams put it in the weeks before the cinema closed, the character of places like the York Beach Cinema cannot be found in a modern multiplex.
"You don't find people cheering and standing up to applaud at the end of a movie in most theatres," he said. "The audiences that come here can tell you it's not a regular movie theatre."
The last picture was shown at the York Beach Cinema on Labor Day weekend, and the building was demolished on Halloween. Just as crowds filled the theatre for the final show, they stood along Beach Street to watch the sun set on this part of York Beach history as work begins on a three-story building planned with retail and office space, a 250-seat function hall and eight hotel suites.
The multi-million dollar Atlantic House redevelopment project got underway almost immediately after its neighbor at the Union Bluff, and a formal groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 21 drew a throng of town officials, development team members and local residents to the center of York Beach to witness the rebirth of the long-derelict Victorian era hotel.
As the approved projects move forward, the York Beach Renaissance Committee and the town's Parking Committee continue to work on efforts to improve York Beach. And, in November, the voters overwhelmingly supported the creation of Tax Incremental Financing District for York Beach as a mechanism to fund future capital improvements in the area.
Another key project with implications for York Beach, a proposal by Oscar Plotkin of the Massachusetts-based Berkshire Development LLC, remains on the horizon.
Plotkin has come to town to host public forums twice in the past year, seeking input on future plans for the York's Wild Kingdom property to redesign the zoo and amusement park's 82 acres - and, potentially, surrounding parcels for a total of about 200 acres - into what a resident at one of the public forums described as a Quincy Market-style attraction.
Plotkin has said that his plan is to retain the zoo portion of the park in a reconfigured, upgraded form, but that the amusement park itself would be discontinued.
Reactions were mixed at the forums held in York Beach and York Harbor - with some residents strongly in favor of a complete change to the property and others advocating improvement to what is currently there. The majority, however, indicated support for the concept.
At the last forum, Plotkin said representatives of Berkshire will have plans in hand of their vision for the property when they return to town.
"Within the context of the whole, everything is possible," Plotkin had said of the project. "… We do responsible development, and that's what we want to do in York."
According to Town Planner Steve Burns' December report on upcoming Planning Board projects, no date for review at the town level has been set.
Also on that subject, Burns recently noted, "I received a call from a commercial broker inquiring about this site for a 300,000-square-foot indoor amusement facility, but nothing new from Berkshire Development."
Planning for the future
From the acquisition of almost six acres of land in the center of York Village for a new municipal complex to a plan for a new arts wing that still remains unresolved, from wetlands protection initiatives to development proposals, 2006 was certainly a year of planning for the future.
In some cases, that planning has moved forward toward fruition, while in others - like the York High School Arts Wing project - the future is unclear.
At the townwide budget referendum in May, voters turned down a request for a $5.85 million bond issue to fund an arts wing addition at York High School.
The plan included soundproof practice rooms, classroom spaces, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bathrooms and lobby areas, a new auditorium, a regulation-size stage, space for choir and band rehearsals and a versatile rehearsal space that could also be used as a small theatre for the schools and community.
Opponents of the project, including the majority of the Board of Selectmen, pointed to the town's Capital Improvement Plan as holding a place for a $1.2 million renovation of the existing auditorium, and not a project of the arts wing's scale.
Proponents of the plan, including the entire School Committee and the majority of the Budget Committee and music teachers from across the district, had a different view. They pointed to the need for the space to support York High School's thriving music classes and theatre program.
And, they noted, the arts are a state-mandated requirement as part of the York High School academic program.
Local resident Wayne Martin, who spoke in favor of the arts wing at hearings on the plan, put the funding question in the context of the average house in York. The project, he said, would cost $60 per year - $5 per month - for a house valued at $350,000.
When the request failed at the polls in the weeks after the May 14 flood, the School Committee vowed to delve into the issue, citing the acknowledgement of even opponents of the plan that the need is there - just not the funds.
Proponents have pointed out the need is not going away. Earlier this month, the York High School Choral Music Department had to travel to Portsmouth, N.H., with approximately 225 students to find a space large enough to hold its winter concert as the program has outgrown every venue in York.
The School Committee has hosted a meeting with members of the other town boards to discuss the plan and the School Building Committee has been looking at cost-cutting options with a goal of bringing back a proposal to the School Committee.
Budget Committee member Nancy Eaton, who serves on the School Building Committee, said last week that the group met earlier this month and no decision has been made at this time.
Meanwhile, York voters did approve the expenditure of $750,000 from existing town funds to purchase an almost six-acre parcel behind the historic Coventry Hall. The goal is to locate York's municipal offices on the site in the future, in keeping with the Comprehensive Plan goal that Town Hall remain in York Village.
The town has since contracted with the firm SMRT to plan for that site as well as to conduct a feasibility study on the need for a new police station, and has created a Municipal Building Committee comprised of selectmen, School Committee and Budget Committee members and others to work on the plan.
There was some contention over the summer months about the possibility of locating a police station at the Coventry Hall site - an idea that was not supported by the police chief.
In the past, Bracy said at the time, "We've had four building committees look at this, and that (the village) was the one place that I've said and others have said that it shouldn't be."
Selectmen Chairman David Marshall, meanwhile, said at the time that the priority is to find land for a public safety complex in the York Beach area "with Route 1 access, which is something we're still exploring."
At the Budget Committee's most recent meeting on Dec. 21, the members discussed the status of the Municipal Building Committee's work, with David Lincoln confirming that group is reviewing both the public safety complex and municipal facility issues, although no design for the public safety complex has come forward from SMRT as efforts continue to find the appropriate site.
Meanwhile, in response to a state mandate to reduce the number of Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) locations across Maine, the York Police Department brought forward a proposal to provide a regional PSAP at the York Police Department in preparation for the October, 2007, consolidation deadline set by the state.
Several area towns including Berwick, South Berwick, Kittery, Eliot and Ogunquit have indicated they want to share a PSAP managed through the town of York. A PSAP takes an emergency call and relays it to the appropriate agency whereas a dispatch center sends the emergency personnel directly from the intake site. In York's case, the PSAP would also serve as the town's dispatch center.
Meanwhile, members of the local surfing community continue to work with public safety and York Parks and Recreation officials in an effort to come to a solution on how to best provide space for this very popular local sport on Long Sands Beach in the busy summer months. Questions arose this summer as reports surfaced of surfers and lifeguards clashing over the size of the surfing zone, and efforts are currently underway to reach a compromise how to provide space for surfers while ensuring public safety at the town's popular public beach during the tourist season.
Heading away from the beach, discussions are also continuing on the Highland Farm Phase 2 subdivision application. After months, the plan's preliminary review phase continues as abutters voice concerns about wetlands and water quality impacts, and the Planning Board explores issues with the applicant's design team and attorney.
As Planning Board Chairman Glen MacWilliams said of the issues related to the proposal at the board's Dec. 7 meeting, "We have legitimate concerns about how we go forward with this, and it may not just be this project."
The board is scheduled to continue its review in January.
A development proposal of a much larger scale - 250-plus elderly housing units with a 75-room hotel known as Passaconaway by the Sea - is now off the board's table.
Denials of the application after the selectmen voted the Comprehensive Plan does not support sewer extensions to the part of Cape Neddick where the development would have been located prompted legal action that was later withdrawn by the applicant, Gulf Hill Real Estate Investment, LLC.
At that time, the applicant was considering seeking a local petition effort for a zoning change to allow the project to move forward in the future.
Burns confirmed last week, however, that the land in question is now for sale and no plan is before the board.
State and local
Without question, 2006 was one of those years when actions past and present at the state level created strong reactions locally - from the Public Safety Answering Point decision to the Tax Payer Bill of Rights initiative to legislation sponsored by former Sen. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, at the request of a local property owner.
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) was ultimately defeated locally and across the state at the November election. Placed on the ballot by petition, TABOR would have created a funding formula to be applied to all levels of government. It created great concern among local officials and advocacy groups across the state.
Although they did not believe TABOR was the right choice, and expressed relief when it failed, both Yandow and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione have said it is crucial for the state to address taxation.
Just as York is looking at funding issues locally with such initiatives as its Property Tax Task Force, Scipione said, "The next legislature heading up to Augusta is going to have to take this on."
Yandow agreed, describing York's efforts to abide by a funding guideline as a potential "model for other areas in the state."
Although not brought forward by petition, another issue with strong local ties was resolved at the state level in the past year with the passage of Legislative Document 816, a bill sponsored by Senator Andrews to allow property owners to seek redress through the court system in situations where their homes or land are damaged by abutters who divert the flow of surface water.
The year that was 2006 has been one of changes for York as a whole and for individuals like Audrey Miller whose Cape Neddick property is being transformed from a pond, as shown in the courtesy photo above, back to a yard. Voters approved the town's budget request to fix drainage issues on the site back in May, one month after Miller and Sen. Mary Black Andrews, R-York, were successful in their effort to amend state law to protect property owners from abutters who cause similar damage by changing the direction of surface water or other such actions.
Photo by C. Ayn Douglass
Although it does not remedy their own situation, Audrey Miller said at the time that she sought the action to protect other property owners after realizing she and her husband had no legal recourse for damage to their Pine Hill Road property.
In the years preceding, the Millers sought redress through the Code Enforcement Office and were told it was largely a civil matter, only to find there was no law protecting them.
At the same time that the bill moved forward through the legislature, the town proposed a solution related to any town fill on the Millers property, and local voters approved the expenditure of about $70,000 to fix drainage problems on Pine Hill Road at the May vote.
The work has begun on the property, though it was halted last week due to concerns raised by an abutter about potential damage to his property. Results of an inspection were not complete at press time, but Yandow confirmed the town will not begin blasting ledge on the site at this time.
"We are going to bring in a larger hoe ram next week to see if that will work," he said of the drainage work on the Miller property "Although we are convinced that blasting is absolutely safe, we are not going to pursue that option at the current time."
He said there will be no conclusion regarding the abutter's allegations until a structural report is received from the town's engineer.
"I believe one reason for LD 816's success was that the legislators could relate personally to a neighbor ruining their property and that they'd have no recourse in Maine for restoring their land to its rightful value," Miller said at the time LD 816 won the legislature's approval.
The legislation is expected to take effect in January.
Teacher of the Year
What a year it has been for Coastal Ridge Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Deb Bradburn.
She was a finalist for Maine Teacher of the Year - in fact, the only elementary school educator to be named as a finalist for this year's honor - and has been named as one of two Maine finalists in the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching.
For this award, candidates must first be nominated and then go through an application process that includes being videotaped teaching math to students, reflecting on best practices and providing a professional resume highlighting math-related activities.
Now that the field has been narrowed to two candidates, Maine's national finalist will be decided by a panel from the National Science Foundation.
When asked about this latest honor, Bradburn shared her feelings on the experience of being in the spotlight, essentially, for the past year.
"It's been a long year," she said, explaining she was nominated for this award in the fall of 2005 and faced the daunting review processes for both the NSF and Teacher of the Year awards simultaneously. "…I felt strongly about representing Coastal Ridge through the Teacher of the Year process, and my passion for math by accepting the Presidential Award nomination. Not many people knew about the Presidential Award because I didn't talk about it too much. I can honestly say I am flattered by these recognitions, yet wish that the teachers I work with day in and day out experience these same opportunities. They deserve it!"
Bradburn was nominated for the Presidential Award back in September of 2005 by teachers from School Administrative District 60 that she worked with for several years while providing staff development.
And while Bradburn's colleagues and students - past and present - have been quick to point out that they already believe she is the teacher of the year, Coastal Ridge Elementary School Principal Jane Stephenson added she cannot help but be excited for Bradburn in this latest honor.
As she said in a recent interview, Bradburn is a strong teacher across the board, but mathematics is her love.
"This is her passion," Stephenson said. "This is where she really shines."
The final selection for the award program is expected to come in March.
Grade "A"
From strong sports seasons to stellar performances and artistic endeavors by students in grades K through 12 to academic feats and community service projects, 2006 was certainly a strong year for the York School Department.
For example, the local scores on the state-required Maine Educational Assessment tests gave York educators something to smile about as, cumulatively, in every grade level and every test taken, the School Department exceeded the state average.
And, for the first time in the town's history, every local team that competed in the state Odyssey of the Mind competition last April came home with a top honor.
A total of five competing teams from Coastal Ridge Elementary School and one from York Middle School garnered top honors for the YMS team and two of the CRES teams, while the remaining three CRES teams each won third-place medals.
Looking ahead
As the old year ends and the new one begins, there is no doubt that 2007 will be filled with continuations of many of the stories from the year just passed, and that new ones will begin to unfold.
In the weeks ahead, the town will seek to finalize the hiring of a new shoreland protection officer. Plans to restructure the Code Enforcement Office, Planning Department and Geographical Information Systems under a new manager will move forward, pending voter approval for the new position in May.
Budget presentations are at the School Committee level in the first weeks of January, and the Budget Committee will begin its task of reviewing the town and school proposals at the end of the month.
York will see three new legislators - Windol Weaver, Dawn Hill and Peter Bowman - representing the town in Augusta.
Questions remain unanswered on the next step for the Town Farm property, the municipal complex, the police station, performing arts space, the location of the Long Sands surfing zone and the town's drainage woes.
York's future may not be known, but looking back over this year, perhaps the words of a York Beach business owner - in the midst of a disaster - best sum up what makes York special.
In the days after the flood, Kathy Boston of The Goldenrod said there is no doubt that York is a community where there are many, many people who care.
As she put it, standing just inside the restaurant on an overcast day back in May before The Goldenrod was even ready to open, "I wish I had documented the phone calls, the e-mails - even on Sunday, when it was still raining."
