Lifelong York resident Connie Small, seen here on his family farm on Chase's Pond Road with one of his horses, is one of those who could lose his home and land to make way for a new Maine Turnpike Authority York Toll Plaza.
Photo by Tori Rasche
A plan to move the York Toll Plaza could mean the end to picturesque scenes like this one at Connie Small's farm on Chase's Pond Road.
Photo by Tori Rasche
YORK - "Next to your family, your home is your most precious possession."
That was how Rep. Windol Weaver, R-York, described the plight of York and Cape Neddick homeowners who are facing displacement if one of four potential sites to replace the existing tolls with a 22-lane, high-speed plaza wins approval from the Maine Turnpike Authority and, ultimately, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Residents of Chase's Pond, Greenleaf Parsons and North Village Road whose homes, farms, land and quality of life could be impacted by a relocation of the toll have been hard at work creating a grassroots effort to fight the plan.
And, they are the first to tell you, they are not alone in the fight, and in addition to concerns about impact on local residents, they are also worried about impact on the environment and the town's drinking water supply.
Local resident Robert Rubin recently approached the Board of Selectmen to inform the town of the work of "Think Again," a citizens group comprised of those whose homes will be affected and many other citizens who just want to help.
According to the MTA website, the York Toll Plaza "site selection process began more than a year ago with an engineering survey of the entire stretch of highway from mile marker 3 in Kittery to mile marker 19 in Wells. The survey sought to identify any and all sites that could accommodate the footprint of the proposed toll plaza. That initial screening produced 16 potential sites."
That number was narrowed to four sites in York, located at mile markers 8.7, 9.9, 11.3 and 13.2.
When the issue was first brought before the Board of Selectmen by residents in March, Randy Small, who is well known in town as a local resident and varsity football coach at York High School, told the board, "there are other sites that will not take people's homes. ... This is going to take farmland; this is going to take families - including myself - out of this town."
Local resident and teacher Kent Kilgore shared a similar sentiment.
"The state treats us terribly. ... They take advantage of us, they don't support us - they take anything they want," he told the selectmen, adding, "I only want to build one house, I only want to be in one spot, and that's where I am."
Many of Think Again's members have stressed they are not trying to stop the project itself, but believe the MTA should either find a way to renovate its existing site or find a location where people's homes and lands are not lost.
When the Board of Selectmen met on March 31, former Selectman Torbert Macdonald, Jr., referenced the past case of Mount Agamenticus and a plan to convert it into a real estate development. The fight that kept that from happening, he said, began with a nonbinding referendum supported by the majority of York residents, and he requested the Board of Selectmen include just such a question on the May ballot, asking York's voters, "Do you approve of the Maine Turnpike Authority's proposal to relocate the MTA Toll Plaza to one of four locations in the town of York."
The selectmen agreed with the idea, but questioned whether enough time remains to include that question on the ballot. If there is not time, the board is considering including it on the June ballot for the state election.
"The principle of it has attracted more support than anything I've seen in town for a long, long time," Macdonald said.
Rep. Dawn Hill, D-Cape Neddick, said she does not believe the process has been transparent enough.
Hill agreed with the members of Think Again, saying, "I am concerned that their ‘entire' agenda has not yet been rolled out. Questions need to be answered by them on all aspects of each and every one of the 16 sites studied by their engineering firm. I also encourage my constituents in all four towns that I represent to review MTA's 20-year plan for the turnpike corridor. The taking of homes is absolutely not an option and any plans by MTA that would do this now or in the future need to be out on the table and stopped."
The full board of selectmen was planning to attend the April 3 meeting, as were several legislators.
Sen. Peter Bowman, D-Kittery, and Weaver were among those who attended a meeting on March 30 at Norma's Restaurant on Route 1, where hundreds packed the local café to show their opposition to the MTA plan.
Bowman, who attended the meeting, described it as inspiring.
"I think this is far from a done deal," he said of the proposed sites. "It would have been a done deal if everyone just rolled over, but I think the turnpike authority has the message that there's a strong local opposition, and it's growing."
Among the questions Think Again is raising is whether the law governing the toll location project was followed, prompting a hearing in Augusta on April 3 before the Legislature's Transportation Committee, which occurred after press time.
The members are presenting a unified front - whether they live in the vicinity of mile marker 8.7 or 13.2. Their assertion is that any plan that requires Maine residents to lose their homes or property is not the right one.
And they have the support of their town leaders and legislators on that front.
"The people of York are coming together on this big-time," Weaver said. "We will together fight this to the very end. I don't think the York people are going to let it happen."
Hill, too, applauded the effort, and urged others to join in the fight.
"Every resident needs to bring the attention of the Legislature to this. ... These are real people who own homes and property. The residents need to appeal to the Legislators' sense of values and pride in their homes, communities and long-term traditions. We need Legislators to start thinking, how can we help? What if it was our communities and homes? What would we do? Legislators make laws and change them and that is what we need to be working on here. The Maine Turnpike is the gateway to Maine - to helping the state to grow its businesses and bring in tourists - but this should not be at the cost of taking homes from Mainers."
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, weighed in on the issue after a visit to the area where she heard from residents about their concerns.
"While this is a state matter outside of my jurisdiction as a federal legislator, I understand and sympathize with the concerns that these local residents have raised about the potential impact that these proposals could have on them, their homes and the surrounding environment," she said. "I urge the Maine Turnpike Authority to take these concerns seriously and to work with these concerned residents to ensure the best possible outcome."
Selectmen Vice Chairman David Marshall said the MTA decision-makers "need to put a higher priority on their impact on lives and land," when seeking the site for a new toll plaza.
Among those who stand to lose their homes and land is Connie Small, whose family farm on Chase's Pond Road is often cited as an example of what has been described in state governmental reports as indicative of the "quality of place" that makes Maine unique.
As his son Randy Small put it, the MTA plan could wipe out their entire family, taking his home, as well as those of his father and brother.
Norma Clark, owner of Norma's Restaurant, said her son and daughter, Curt Clark and Vicki Carr, and their families, stand to lose their homes - and in her son's case, that house is not yet even finished.
Vicki Carr's husband, Jeff, who attended one of many recent neighborhood meetings held to help residents mobilize in the fight against the plan, said he and his wife waited for years to build their home due to the town's growth ordinance.
"We just finished building the house two years ago," he said. "We thought we were going to live here for the rest of our lives."
Kathleen Loane said for her family, and many others, just what the impact will be remains to be seen.
"I don't know what I'm going to lose," she said, adding that even if her home should survive a location of the toll or its access road, the possibility of the loss of the Small family's farm or other homes is unthinkable.
Michael Waleck, of the Chase's Pond Road area, also has property in jeopardy at the historic home where he lives, which includes the cemetery where one of the area's first residents is laid to rest.
Norma Clark said her children and their spouses have been trying to protect their children from their fears, but that children understand what is going on.
"My granddaughter asked me, ‘Are these people going to take my home?' ...As a mother and grandmother, I am just sick over this," Clark said.
At recent meetings, the residents also pointed to the potential impact of locating a toll booth within the Chase's Pond or Cape Neddick River watershed, or in the midst of the preserved lands of Mount Agamenticus, as they said the proposed sites will impact those areas, and said they want facts from the MTA on why these sites are preferred within all the miles of road between Kittery and Wells.
MTA Public Affairs Manager Dan Paradee said the focus on these four sites is not haphazard.
"One of the facts lost in all this is that the turnpike authority is required by law to select the location that is the ‘Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative.' There is nothing arbitrary about the process. It is a highly regulated site selection process designed to minimize environmental and community impacts," he said. "In truth, the turnpike authority does not even make the selection. We propose the site that we believe is the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative, but the real decision is up to the environmental permitting agencies."
The proposed sites are also raising concerns at the York Water District, where a frustrated Superintendent Donald D. Neumann, Jr., confirmed reports the district has not yet been contacted by the MTA.
"This is a total surprise," he said, "and a possible great expense to the district and our ratepayers. ... We have about 1,500 feet of water main along 95 that may have to be moved! And because we have not been contacted, I assume that it would be at the district's expense. To relocate this main it could cost at least $400,000 (materials, labor, engineering, environmental permitting and legal)."
Neumann pointed out that the district just had its first rate increase in years go into effect on April 1, to the tune of 16 percent, due to the rising costs of fuel, chemicals and power, and has ongoing repairs and maintenance it must budget for.
And that is just the beginning, he said.
If the toll plaza requires widening near the treatment plant, it will become more visible, which causes safety concerns, as does the potential for a chemical leak or spill in the area of a toll booth, where more people could be exposed to it. Currently, he said, the district conducts annual drills and neighboring residents are all informed of the processes.
The impact on residents with the potential loss of homes and land is also of great concern to Neumann and the district.
"Our neighbors in the area have been our eyes and ears that help security," he said. "They would always pick up the phone if something was out of place."
And while one of the locations is outside of the York Water District watershed, that site is located in the delicate Cape Neddick River watershed, Neumann pointed out.
"Due to the fact the MTA has not totally informed everyone there is a lot of speculation and fear," he said.
Paradee said the authority is holding its public meeting in York on April 3, which was scheduled to begin after press time, to get accurate information to the public.
"We understand that people are anxious to ask questions and comment and we are working to make our presentation as concise as possible to allow plenty of time for that," he said. "But we also know that there's a wealth of misinformation floating around about this project and we are obligated to take the time necessary to provide factual information."
He also stressed the process is in the early stages.
"With respect to a decision time frame, the Maine Turnpike is planning to identify a preferred location before the end of May. But this is just the beginning," he explained. "At that point, we must submit our preferred location to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and they must review all of the work we have done, including all the possible 16 original possible locations, and confirm that we have in fact selected the least environmentally damaging practicable alternative."
He estimated that part of the process could take about three months, to September of 2008, and that if DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers do not agree with the MTA selection, "we go back to the drawing board."
If the site is approved, he said, the MTA will then begin the process of applying for the required environmental permits.
"The permitting process could take the better part of a year," he said. "We could receive permits by summer or fall 2009. Each one of these stages includes additional opportunities for public participation."
Local residents, meanwhile, believe there is no time to waste in urging the MTA to look for alternatives that will not result in the loss of homes.
Perhaps Randy Small's young son best summed up the impact such fears can have on every member of a family when he asked his father whether the Easter Bunny would be coming again next year.
Small told him he certainly would, and asked his son why he was worried about that.
"He asked me how the Easter Bunny would be able to find us if we don't have a home," Small said.
Residents from across the community, as well as the town's legislators, are pledging to make sure that question never needs to be answered.
As Hill put it, "The MTA's choice of locations for the York Tollbooth loses sight of the intense connection that Maine people have to their homestead. The government must treat the immense power of eminent domain with incredible respect, particularly when it comes to taking away someone's home. ... I support the residents of York 120 percent in this challenge to protect their homes and property from either a taking or devaluation. Maine and Maine people are about Davids, not Goliaths."
