Members of the Wiscasset Transportation Committee firmly denounced the recent Army Corps of Engineers decision to approve Route N8c, the “long bridge option,” as the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA) for a bypass at a June 7 meeting.
Committee member Sean Rafter advocated immediate action. “We need to get a letter off to Congress, to the President… They don’t care what the community thinks. They care about worms and deer yards.”
Other members expressed frustration with the process and doubt over Wiscasset’s level of control. “I’m aghast at the Army Corps nullifying the work we did on the [Midcoast Bypass] Task Force,” said Committee Chairman Don Jones.
According to Jones, the Task Force, a group consisting of members from area towns and non-profit organizations like The Chewonki Foundation and the Sheepscot Valley Conservation Authority, was asked if any member had “strong opposition” to Route N2a. No one spoke up, he said. Although some members were far from enthusiastic, N2a presented the only workable compromise. “I call that a real consensus,” Jones said.
Rafter agreed. The Task Force came to “a fairly amicable agreement” in favor of N2a, he said. “Five years we’ve put into this,” he said. “It’s as if they ignored it completely… Now, at the eleventh hour, comes the Army Corps and says, ‘there’s only one we’ll allow to be built.'”
Committee member Lois Kwantz said the Army Corps’ decision left her disenchanted with the process. “Why would I, as a citizen, ever want to serve on anything?” she asked. “It boggles my mind that one agency has all the power.”
Jones expressed his displeasure with another governmental body – Wiscasset’s own Board of Selectman. “Our Board of Selectmen really let us down,” Jones said.
During the period of public comment following the Maine Dept. of Transportation’s (DOT) issue of their Draft Environmental Impact Statement, Selectmen “offered no official comment after lengthy discussion during three of their meetings.” Their failure to reach a consensus weakened the case for N2a, Jones said.
Rafter made a motion for Jones to draft a letter. The letter will “express our reaction and concern over the decision that has been made,” said Kwantz. The committee will send the letter to the Selectmen first to seek their endorsement. Later, the committee will send the letter to Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, as well as other, unspecified national figures.
The committee approved the motion, 4-0-1, with Seaver Leslie abstaining. Leslie said he supports the construction of N8c. Leslie also said he hopes bypass construction will lead to the removal of the current bridge. Removing the bridge, he said, will make Wiscasset a more attractive destination for tourists.
In the meantime, the committee will address construction plans for route N8c. Kwantz said she wants the community to weigh in on the design of the bridge as well as sound and lighting issues.
“We were promised a parkway. We have drawings on file,” said committee member Seaver Leslie.
“We were also promised that we would have a say in the process, and that was a bunch of BS,” Kwantz replied.
“We have to get started, right from the get-go, and be very organized,” Leslie said.
Members also expressed doubts about the inclusion of a bicycle lane on the bridge. If accommodations aren’t made, Kwantz said, “We have a dead end bike path.”
Other doubts surfaced regarding the likelihood of construction. Rafter said he has a copy of a 1954 letter from George Mitchell, then a student at Bowdoin College, requesting a bypass.
Rafter represents the second generation of his family to sit on the Transportation Committee. His late mother, Marguerite Rafter, was a member of the committee for “35 years or more,” he said. Before her death, she made her son promise to drive her ashes over the bypass, Rafter said.
