The South Bristol Board of Selectmen plans to author a letter in opposition to the Department of Transportation taking of The Bridge House via eminent domain.
The selectmen are drafting a letter to DOT project manager Stephen Bodge “explaining that we do not support them taking that building,” Chairman Ken Lincoln said at the board’s Dec. 15 meeting.
Dianne Haas, the owner of The Bridge House, her Rutherford Island residence, adamantly opposes any attempt by the state to buy and remove the building to make way for the replacement of The Gut bridge.
Despite her opposition, Haas said she remains “99.9 percent sure they’re taking the building.”
Bodge, in a Dec. 20 conference call, said “all options are not off the table” with regards to The Bridge House, including the possibilities of working around the building or temporarily moving it.
Haas said she doesn’t want to delay the replacement of the bridge and remains willing to work with the DOT to find an alternate solution.
“I will vacate for years if they don’t take it down,” Haas said. “I’ll let them move in, let them do whatever they want.”
Haas, an architectural designer working in Cambridge, Mass., said she plans to retire to South Bristol in 2013.
Lincoln expressed disappointment in the agency’s apparent reversal since Bodge, at a July 14, 2010 meeting, told Haas and other residents the state didn’t plan to take any private property.
“I need somebody to look at me and tell me what changed,” Lincoln said.
Nearly 20 residents attended the selectmen’s meeting, several speaking in support of Haas and the preservation of The Bridge House.
Haas said she recently met with a half-dozen DOT officials, including an appraiser, an attorney, an eminent domain manager, a marine engineer, a relocation manager and a structural engineer at The Bridge House.
Haas has retained counsel, she said.
Haas said The Bridge House, built around 1900, survived the construction of two temporary bridges in times with less sophisticated technology available.
“I don’t understand why you can’t do it now if it’s been done before,” she said.
The selectmen, while expressing support for Haas’ cause, were frank about the limits of their influence. “We can’t stop them,” Selectman Chester Rice said. “We can try to. We can give them some opinions, local opinions, and hope they listen.”
Rice also stressed the importance of handling the matter “in a diplomatic way” in order to avoid scaring the DOT away from the project. “The bridge needs to be replaced,” Rice said.
The DOT has already dropped the project once, in the mid-2000s, officials said.
Bodge, in the conference call, took the opportunity to dispel several rumors surrounding the project.
While there will be “temporary construction impacts” on properties around the bridge, The Bridge House is the only property the DOT is considering acquiring, Bodge said. Haas, at the Dec. 15 selectmen’s meeting, said DOT officials told her they were considering taking additional properties.
Bodge also addressed rumors about widening Rt. 129 on the approaches to the bridge, building a significantly wider bridge and even widening The Gut, the narrow channel the bridge spans.
While the construction plan includes a slightly wider bridge and space for drainage and “a small shoulder” on the approaches, “there’s not going to be a dramatically wider road there,” Bodge said.
As for The Gut, it will be “a few feet” wider. Bodge categorically denied a rumor that the state plans to widen the slim channel to allow two boats to pass side by side.
Bodge and other DOT officials said the agency “has tried to work with the community throughout this entire process” and hopes to continue to do so.
The DOT plans another public meeting on the project, the first since Nov. 16, 2010, for the late winter/early spring of 2012, Bodge said.
The additional $30,000 is necessary to cover the cost of the Ann Wilder Stratton Award, a grant available to South Bristol’s college students, the selectmen said.
The earnings from the town’s interest in 16 natural gas wells has historically paid for the award, but the earnings have dramatically decreased in recent years as a result of lower natural gas prices and a decline in the wells’ production.
The deadline for award applications is Fri., Jan. 6, 2012.
Full-time students must submit a class schedule, tuition bill or other proof of enrollment in order to receive the award.
The terms of school board members Tim Dinsmore and Trudy Gamage and Selectman Lincoln expire in 2012.
In other business, the selectmen unanimously approved a permit for Osier’s Wharf to expand its existing commercial wharf. According to town documents, the addition will measure 53 feet by 53 feet, supported by 42 pilings.
