At the directive of Gov. Paul LePage and the Commissioner of the Maine Dept. of Transportation all work on Gateway 1 will cease indefinitely, effective immediately.
The suspension of work on the proposed interlocal coalition was announced in a letter sent to participating towns and individuals on March 1 from David Bernhardt, the Commissioner of the DOT.
Gov. LePage and Bernhardt “have come to the conclusion that while the project has been a very worthy effort, it does not correspond with the immediate priorities of this administration,” Bernhardt wrote.
As proposed, Gateway 1 would have created a coalition of representatives from towns along the 100-mile stretch of Rt. 1 from Brunswick to Stockton Springs. The coalition would have coordinated the distribution of any DOT non-maintenance, non-safety funds designated for projects in the region.
Originally, 20 towns were identified for possible participation. Two towns, Brunswick and Rockland had already signed on. Five towns had already opted out.
Towns along the corridor were poised to vote on whether or not to join the effort at their town meetings this spring. The project would have required the support of at least 12 towns, most of which require a vote from residents to sign on.
To date, DOT has spent between $2.2 million and $2.4 million on Gateway 1, according to DOT Project Manager Chris Mann. An additional $1.3 million had been set aside for towns that joined Gateway 1, and talks were in place to establish a funding program for the administrative costs of the project, Mann said.
Gateway 1 Project Administrator Stacy Benjamin said it’s her understanding that DOT planned to cover the first two years of Gateway 1’s administrative costs – approximately $100,000 per year.
“We were working that out with DOT,” Benjamin said.
It’s also unclear what will happen now to the town planning projects already underway as part of Gateway 1.
“Some towns have contracts out for small projects they’re already working on, and we’re going to be looking at those on a case by case basis,” said Peggy Duval, DOT’s Acting Chief of Planning. Duval did not know the exact figures for how much money is involved.
Gateway 1 had been in the works for more than six years, and as it stood, it embodied the work of “hundreds of citizens and volunteers from up and down the corridor,” Benjamin said.
It originated at DOT’s request as a way to bring local representation into the process of distributing funds, with “the overarching goal being to preserve the desirable rural character of Route 1,” according to a description of the history of Gateway 1 on the project’s website, www.gateway1.org.
Last year, Gateway 1 received a national EPA Smart Growth award, and it has been used as a model of interlocal planning.
Nobleboro was set to vote on Gateway 1 at a referendum on March 18. Dick Spear, Chairman of the Nobleboro Board of Selectmen, said without time to look into the matter, he did not know exactly how the town will proceed, but if Gateway 1 is suspended, the town likely won’t vote on it, he said.
The stop order came at LePage’s request because he does not support the expenditure of state funds on the project at this time, said LePage’s Director of Communications, Dan Demeritt.
The Governor feels that “with such constraints on our resources, we need to focus on fixing potholes, making sure bridges are sound” and other projects directly related to improving infrastructure, Demeritt said.
The Governor feels “we need paving, not planning,” Demeritt said.
Bernhardt acknowledged the work that has been accomplished by Gateway 1 thus far, and wrote that it would be an asset to the DOT in the future.
“Over the last six years, MaineDOT has developed strong relationships with the Gateway 1 communities, and through this process, we have produced an action plan to guide planning on the Rt. 1 corridor in the Midcoast region,” Bernhardt wrote. “I am confident that we can continue to work together, outside the Gateway 1 process, on the many shared interests we have along the Route 1 corridor.”
For opponents of Gateway 1, the news comes as a welcome surprise.
“That’s music to my ears,” said Eden Spear, Nobleboro’s alternate to the Gateway 1 Implementation Steering Committee and a spokesman for local opponents of Gateway 1. “I have to say that I feel that this program really overreached the bounds of what government should be controlling. It never should have gotten started.”
Although Spear is pleased that Gateway 1 will not move forward with building the coalition to allocate DOT funds among the towns, she said some aspects of the plan could be useful to towns in the future.
“I hope we can take some of the good ideas and implement them in our town governments,” Spear said.
At the heart of Gateway 1 was an effort to coordinate planning between the towns on Rt. 1 and DOT to preserve the rural stretches of the highway and limit stress on the highway as usage increases in the years to come.
To that goal, Gateway 1 would have unified zoning and planning ordinances in participating towns to promote growth in existing downtowns and other developed areas. The proposal also entailed the addition of public transportation systems and bike/pedestrian paths along the corridor, as well as other programs to reduce traffic and limit development along the rural stretches of Rt. 1.
“Without Gateway 1, we might be looking at Rt. 1 becoming a four-lane highway through most of this stretch,” said Don White, Chairman of the Gateway 1 Implementation Steering Committee, in an interview on Feb. 28, prior to Bernhardt’s letter.
After receiving notice of the decision, White said he is “saddened and disappointed” at the administration’s choice.
White said many of the ideas are “still in play” and parties associated with Gateway 1 will meet soon to discuss what comes next. He’s unsure of exactly how work would continue, but hopes to investigate options such as creating an interlocal planning organization without state funding, albeit one that would not have the teeth afforded to Gateway 1 by control over DOT funds, he said.
In a letter addressed to participating Gateway 1 parties, White thanked everyone for their hard work and dedication and expressed his hope that “Gateway 1 will live on,” he wrote. “Its principles are the solution to the sensible future of land-use and transportation along Route 1.”
All previously scheduled planning meetings regarding Gateway 1 are canceled effective immediately, White said.
