Kat Beaudoin, Chief of the Bureau of Transportation Systems Planning for the Maine Dept. of Transportation, said the latest developments in the search for a Rt. 1 bypass brought the town, “the closest we’ve come in 50 years to having the ability to move forward.”
Beaudoin detailed the developments at a June 1 meeting of the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen. Although the Maine DOT initially recommended “the long route on the northerly side,” or Route N2a, the Army Corps of Engineers will only approve the “long bridge option,” or Route N8c option. The Corps’ choice, Beaudoin said, “essentially is the final decision.”
Many hurdles remain for the project, however. “We have to find the funding,” Beaudoin said. Funding, she said, will be “a major issue in this environment.”
The project will displace some landowners, and Beaudoin said the DOT will “work with them to acquire those properties sooner than later.”
Selectman Phillip DiVece asked Beaudoin to provide, “a firm number on how many homes and businesses are going to be displaced,” as soon as possible so Wiscasset can calculate the loss of property taxes.
Don Jones of the Wiscasset Transportation Committee, said the announcement took him by surprise but, “the decision seems to be what it is,” he said. The committee will discuss the development in their next meeting, Mon., June 7.
Later in the meeting, selectmen and members of the public expressed surprise and dismay at the drainage of an artificial pond above the Lower Montsweag Brook Dam.
DiVece said he visited the area earlier in the day. Where there was a “19-acre lake” days ago, he said, is now “down to a trickle.”
Pearl Skillin, who owns land on the Wiscasset side of Montsweag Brook, and her son, Dale Skillin, protested the drainage.
“It’s a great travesty to the town,” Dale Skillin said. “30 million gallons of fresh water went down the river.”
Skillin mourned the loss of habitat for fish and other animals that have lived in or around the pond since it was created by the dam’s construction in 1968. “The tide ain’t coming back in,” he said.
The Chewonki Foundation took ownership of the dam in 2008 as part of an agreement between Maine Yankee and the State of Maine to restore natural resources damaged by the decommissioned nuclear power plant.
The Montsweag Brook Restoration Project represents their effort to return the brook, the banks and the surrounding land to their pre-dam state. Most importantly, according to Chewonki, it will permit passage for multiple species of fish native to the brook.
Some of those gathered struggled to see any benefit in the bare, muddy riverbed. “At two feet wide, two inches of water, there isn’t a minnow going up that stream,” Dale Skillin said.
In a June 1 phone interview, Project Manager Dan Creek said the dewatering was necessary to evaluate the condition of the dam and to begin revegetation on the exposed banks of the brook.
Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish promised residents the town would look into the issue. “We need to get some answers,” he said.
For more about the Montsweag Brook Restoration Project, see “Chewonki Drains Pond, Moves Closer to Removal” in this issue of The Lincoln County News.
