Tensions ran high at the Edgecomb Board of Selectmen meeting Monday night, as close to 60 people filled the room to capacity to discuss the town’s broadband internet access and proposed Wiscasset bypass routes.
At issue were which of two proposed bypass routes the town’s selectmen actually support, and the somewhat less controversial but still pressing issue of securing broadband access for all the town’s residents.
Conversation was heated as residents tried and failed, and tried again, to ascertain the position of their selectmen regarding the two bypass routes currently under consideration by the Maine DOT and The Army Corps of Engineers.
The first route, known as “the inland route”, would cut through Edgecomb’s Englebrekt neighborhood, disrupting and possibly displacing home owners, a cemetery and more, while the second route, known as “the long bridge”, would expand the Wiscasset Bridge diagonally across the Sheepscot River, eventually reconnecting with the already commercialized Davis Island Route One strip, without disrupting residential neighborhoods.
It was clear from resident’s comments and the show of hands requested by Bypass Task Force member Amanda Russell, that residents are overwhelmingly in favor of the long bridge option, yet still, meeting participants were unable to secure commitment from two of their three selectmen for this option.
Selectman Stuart Smith was the only one of the three selectmen who expressed firm commitment to the long bridge option, with board chairman John Johnson raising the ire of the residents in attendance Monday night by his refusal to commit one way or another.
Englebrekt resident Diane Eacobacci was passionate in her arguments against the inland route, and was backed strongly by Russell’s arguments in favor of the long bridge option. Russell provided meeting attendees with a history of the Task Force’s actions and recommendations, including sharing the results of a survey that showed 650 of 770 residents surveyed are in favor of the long bridge option.
Russell further pointed to research showing that the long bridge option has better traffic benefits and less environmental impact, and that because it is the shorter of the two proposed routes, it stands a better chance of actually being used.
At various points throughout the meeting, at least five residents tried to get Johnson to commit one way or the other, asking him directly how he would vote, but each time, he demurred, finally saying, in response to Russell’s question about whether he needed additional information to understand the will of the town, “The only reason I haven’t answered your questions is because I don’t like being bullied that way”.
For their part, residents described themselves as feeling “threatened, frustrated, and confused”, and described the process by which they learned of their selectmen’s change in tone from being strongly in support of the long bridge to possibly supporting the inland option as “cavalier and insensitive”.
At one point, Eacobacci read back to the selectmen minutes from their own meetings, in which support for the long bridge was clear. Eacobacci said she had been appointed by a group of 20 or so residents to speak against the inland route, and that she’d be happy to provide names, “and social security numbers”, to prove that there was strong opposition to the inland route.
Guest speaker Carol Morris of the Gateway One Coalition was on hand to answer questions about the bypass, and the Gateway One Project, which is designed to improve traffic patterns along Rt. 1 from Brunswick to Stockton Springs. Morris suggested that residents use the 30-day public comment period, which will probably take place in September, to make their feelings known about the two bypass routes.
Russell and fellow Bypass Task Force member Jo Cameron will lead this effort, including a letter writing campaign, and will communicate with residents about how to make their feelings known to the DOT and Army Corps of Engineers, who will have the final say in selecting the bypass route.
In the end, most Edgecomb residents left with the feeling that two, if not three of their selectmen would support the long bridge option, and there was some agreement that innocent miscommunication had lead to the heightened tensions in the first place. However, judging from comments made during and after the meeting, few people left feeling fully satisfied.
Regarding the broadband issue, Smith presented the current situation, which is that Time- Warner will only connect areas in which there are 15 homes per mile, leaving long stretches of River, Middle, McKay Rds. and others out of luck.
Smith said the town was making a second attempt at a ConnectME grant, designed to connect 100 percent of residents by summer 2010. Residents expressed concern that after the first attempt had failed, they’d continue to be left out in the cold, with Joe McSwain of the River Road stating, “If the grant doesn’t connect the whole town, there’s going to be a revolution.”
