Norman Luce can’t seem to catch a break as he tries to replace two huge culverts that carry a finger of the Great Salt Bay into Oyster Creek under Belvedere Rd.
Now it looks like Mother Nature is against him too.
Monday, for the first time, neighbors praised him instead of complaining about his work.
Saturday and Sunday’s rains flooded the Oyster Creek area he had just pumped dry on Friday as he prepared to set the 92-foot long culverts this week.
Under state issued permits, he was required to set the culvert’s base in dry ground to ensure it was level and stable.
State officials had ordered him to construct a mini dam around the upstream side of the road. Then he was ordered to pump in salt water and pump out fresh water to protect the animals in the water and mud.
He was ready to go after working Saturday. It rained that night. When he drove to the site Sunday morning, the creek was full and the water was almost over his mini dam.
It has been a chore for the contractor to complete this $400,000 Maine Dept. of Transportation project funded by federal stimulus funds.
His problem began two weeks ago, when he first drained Oyster Creek.
An irate neighbor and amateur ecologist, Keith Plummer, complained to state officials because Oyster Creek, a protected waterway, was drained. Plummer said he feared for the animals in the creek.
On Aug. 14, officials from three state agencies, the Departments of Transportation, Marine Resources and Environmental Protection, agreed Luce was doing his job according to the state issued permits, but they ordered him to stop working anyway, until they could figure out what to do next. In the meantime, they ordered him to pump water back into the creek.
Luce set up a pump and left for the day. Sometime in the night, someone breached the downstream dam and construction materials were sucked into the pump blocking the water from being pumped back in to the stream.
On Aug. 17, state officials huddled again and decided that Luce should construct an upstream dam. They said he could pump water out until he constructed his dam, then he was to pump sea water back in and fresh water out until the creek was back up to a proper level.
Last Thursday, Luce’s crew left for the day with a pump again draining the creek. Sometime during the night, vandals shut off the pump.
This action let the creek fill up again, so Luce, again, started pumping it out.
On Friday, it was nearly dry, and he worked on Saturday removing one of the old culverts and preparing to set the base of the first culvert to be replaced.
Saturday and Sunday’s showers provided enough new water to fill the creek back up and delay the project again.
On Monday, Luce’s crew set up the pumps again and began the slow process of draining Oyster Creek.
Luce just shakes his head when asked about the job.
Bill Bryant, the owner of a nearby farm bordering Oyster Creek, offered his condolences to Luce.
He called it a typical case of government projects gone bad.
“If they had let him (Luce) do his job in the first place, he would have been done by now,” said Bryant.
As Luce started to walk away, he turned and offered a bit of good news.
This morning, someone, Luce didn’t get his name, drove up and brought Luce and the crew coffee and donuts, Luce said.
“He said he wanted to show us that all the folks on Belvedere Rd. were not (idiots),” he said using a much stronger term.
“It was kind of nice,” he said.
Then he walked back to the ditch to check on the pumps.