The Wiscasset Transportation Committee voted 4-0 to approve a draft letter asking the Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider findings in favor of bypass route N8c, or the “long bridge” option.
The letter, drafted by committee Chairman Don Jones, criticizes the Army Corps’ findings as “subjective” and asserts that the Corps ignored the results of an agreement made by the Midcoast Bypass Task Force.
Jones delivered the letter to the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen at their June 6 meeting. Selectmen did not immediately act on or discuss possible action on the letter.
“All of us really strongly hope the selectmen will take action,” Jones said.
The Army Corps determined route N8c as the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA) May 24.
According to the Transportation Committee’s letter, “[The Midcoast Bypass] task force met twenty times over a period of two years and ten months before reaching a unanimous consensus on the alignment designated N2a.”
The consensus, according to the letter, “was based upon the members’ conclusion that the only way to solve the transportation problems on Route One would be if Wiscasset and Edgecomb agreed to share the burdens posed by a new highway through their communities.”
In a July 8 phone interview, Jones said those burdens now rest solely with Wiscasset. “Edgecomb’s position has been that they want to accept no real burden for the bypass,” Jones said. According to Jones, the only Edgecomb property in the path of the bypass already belongs to the DOT.
The best route for Wiscasset was N2f, Jones said. Unfortunately, N2f was also “Edgecomb’s worst nightmare,” he said. The reverse is true of N8c, he said, leading to the compromise in favor of N2a.
The letter includes a firm admonition of the Corps’ decision. “[T]he USACE effectively threw away the agreement… and substituted it’s [sic] own subjective judgment.”
The apparent disregard for that consensus discourages hardworking volunteers and civil servants, the letter said.
Jones identified himself as one of the discouraged. “I first became aware of the issue when I was 10 years old,” Jones said. “I’m 62 now.”
Beginning in the early nineties, Jones served on multiple advisory bodies as an advocate for Wiscasset, including the Regional Transportation Advisory Committee and, most recently, the Midcoast Bypass Task Force.
Jones described the Corps decision as “insulting” and “an assault” on the years of labor by volunteers like himself. “I’m not complaining. Nobody forced me,” Jones said. “Do I feel like I somewhat wasted my time? …I feel like I labored somewhat under false pretenses.”
According to the letter, the committee takes issue with the Corps’ stated priority of environmental concerns over human concerns, but also argues for route N2a as having different, but not worse potential impacts on the environment.
According to the letter, “While N8c has less impact on forests, grasslands, and vernal pools, N2a has less adverse impact on marine worm and shellfish habitat as well as on tidal waterfowl and wading bird habitat. Wiscasset is a marine oriented community and the marine worm capital of the world. We in Wiscasset value and protect our marine environment.”