In an emotional and tense meeting at the Edgecomb Eddy School Dec. 15, members of the urgently reconvened Midcoast Bypass Taskforce voted to continue working with the Maine Dept. of Transportation to find a practical plan for a Wiscasset bypass.
By a vote of 9-5, with one abstention, the motion effectively allows DOT to continue exploring an alternative to the recently shelved N8c bypass route, a decision based on the discovery of a Bald Eagle nest on Davis Island in Edgecomb.
“For all practical purposes, N8c is off the table,” said Gerry Audibert of the DOT.
The other option, abandoning a bypass entirely, did not sit well with some members of the taskforce.
“I’ve spent many years of my life working on the concept of a bypass and I’m not sure how many years I have left. We need to continue our efforts,” said committee member and Lincoln County Planner Bob Faunce.
Although the meeting was billed as “informational” in a Nov. 30 press release by the DOT, the taskforce members were instead asked to decide if research should continue or if the members wanted to scrap the concept entirely, a charge that came as a shock to many of the 100 or so attendees.
Prior to a motion by Faunce to support continued bypass efforts, Edgecomb Selectman Jack Sarmanian erupted from the front row of the audience, delivering an impassioned plea for “time” to properly digest the consequences.
“Am I hearing this correctly? We as a community have not had proper time to evaluate the decision this committee is about to make,” said Sarmanian.
Emotions continued to run high during a brief 30-minute public comment portion, as Lincoln County residents accused DOT of everything from lack of basic human decency to ignoring common sense in favor of endless “process.”
“To call this an informational meeting is wrong. Why is the DOT not giving fair notice to residents whose lives may be permanently changed?” asked Edgecomb resident Diane Eacobacci.
Wiscasset resident Dan Bigley, who had recently purchased a house on Clarks Point said he “went to the bank” after learning of the finalized N8c bypass route.
“I know this is just my one little sad story. I put my life savings into this home. What do I go to the bank with now?” said Bigley, drawing applause from the roughly 100 members of the audience.
The relatively slim margin of victory for the “yes” votes had some committee members shaking their heads. In a prepared statement made after the meeting, task force member Donald Jones of Wiscasset said he’d “never seen such a human propensity for parochialism.”
“Wiscasset will by far bear the greatest burden of human displacement and tax loss over a bypass. Yet the town cast three votes in favor of a bypass while Newcastle and Boothbay opposed it. To me that is unfathomable,” wrote Jones.
DOT officials began the meeting with a presentation on the history of the project and outlined a series of challenges facing the agency including new “political realities” and transportation funding issues. Challenges, said Faunce that were not supposed to be considered by the task force.
“We were told money was not a consideration,” he said.
With a bypass back on the table, DOT will present the issue to the incoming Governor-elect Paul LePage’s administration in January.
The DOT hopes to work relatively “quickly” said Audibert to resolve the considerable anxiety surrounding the project.
After it was first proposed some 50 years ago, the future of the Wiscasset bypass continues.
