About 13 Damariscotta residents attended the Nov. 17 meeting of the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen for a public hearing about the Bus. Rt. 1 sidewalk project.
The people in attendance were largely property owners or representatives of businesses in the affected area, which extends from the Damariscotta Region Information Bureau to the offices of Mobius Inc. at 319 Main Street.
The town, with $360,000 in federal and state grant funds, plans to construct 950 feet, or 0.18 mi., of sidewalk. The figure also includes costs associated with drainage and the widening of Bus. Rt. 1 to provide for a turning lane.
The hearing began with a slide presentation by Travis Pryor, a landscape architect with Wright-Pierce, an engineering firm and town contractor for the project. Pryor presented four options for the future layout of the road, sidewalk(s) and bike path(s) and addressed possible impacts to properties alongside the road.
“The realistic plan, really, at this point in time, is option A,” Damariscotta Town Manager Greg Zinser said after the presentation.
Option A, the only plan the town can afford with the $360,000 grant, consists of 11-foot travel lanes and, on the north (Coastal Marketplace) side of the roadway, a four-foot bike lane and a five-foot sidewalk separated by a three-foot esplanade.
The hearing focused largely on the turning lane and the esplanade.
“The charrette report recommends the addition of a middle turning lane,” Zinser said.
“There needs to be a left hand turning land into Yellowfront [Grocery],” Selectman Dave Wilbur said.
“It’s very common to have several cars lined up waiting to turn into Coastal Marketplace,” Dennis Hilton of Cheney Insurance said.
Although the project will not pay for the turning lane, the town hopes to ensure the width of the roadway provides for the future addition of a turning lane.
After ensuring general support for the eventual turning lane, the hearing turned to the esplanade – the three-foot grassy strip separating the bike lane, which, in Option A, would adjoin the roadway, from the sidewalk.
“The only good thing is, mowing won’t be an issue because nothing will grow there,” Chairman Dick McLean said.
Laurie Green, a Damariscotta resident and former member of the Damariscotta Planning and Advisory Committee (DPAC) spoke in support of the esplanade. “It provides a safety buffer. It’s an opportunity for pedestrians to get some distance from the road,” Green said.
Green suggested that individuals and/or businesses could “adopt” sections of the esplanade for maintenance and landscaping purposes. “Newcastle has done very well with adopting their esplanades,” she said. “The more we spruce it up, the better.”
Responding to an inquiry from the public, Zinser said the removal of the esplanade from the plan could save about $15,000.
Rick Salewski, a property owner alongside the sidewalk route, spoke in support of the sidewalk but expressed doubt about the esplanade. “I’d rather not see the extra width there,” he said. “I would like [the sidewalk] as far away from my basement as possible. I’m concerned about drainage.”
Despite the short distance from his property, Salewski said he currently drives to Yellowfront Grocery due to the danger of walking on the roadway. If a sidewalk is built, he would walk, he said.
“[The esplanade is] not wide enough to do anything,” Rory Craib, the owner of Maine Coast Surveying, said. Craib said vegetation wouldn’t grow on the esplanade and it would turn into an “eyesore.” Shortly thereafter, however, he recanted his statements.
“As the other half of Maine Coast Surveying, he’s outvoted,” Lucy Craib said. “I’ve seen grass grow in amazing places. It’s tenacious stuff.”
“We can probably expand [the esplanade] by a foot,” Zinser said.
“There’d by fairly minimal impacts, budget-wise,” Pryor said.
In an informal vote, only one resident voted against the esplanade.
Pryor will return for a second public hearing Dec. 15. Pryor will bring a final draft plan, including, according to Zinser, a “better understanding of property impacts.”
“I think whatever we do is going to be safer than it is now,” Selectman Vicki Pinkham said. “You see people walking down there with baby carriages.”