VASSALBORO — Some residents are speaking out against a proposed sidewalk project on the Nov. 8 ballot that they say will raise taxes and infringe on the properties of businesses and homes.
However, state and town officials say that a tax increase isn’t set in stone and that the sidewalks would be constructed within the state’s right of way.
Also, a former town official is claiming that the wording of the ballot question is “misleading to the public.”
The project would add sidewalks to the East Village in tandem with state plans to rebuild Route 32 from South China to Winslow. The Department of Transportation is willing to enter into an agreement with the town to build sidewalks along part of the road in addition to the 5-foot shoulder it plans to build.
The department’s plan to rebuild Route 32 is budgeted at a little over $800,000, according to Patrick Adams, bicycle and pedestrian program manager for department, and is expected to be finished in 2018 or 2019. The majority of the money is coming from federal grant — about $600,000.
The state is willing to work with the town to build sidewalks at the same time it rebuilds the road. The project’s total cost is estimated at $293,000, about 80 percent of which would be paid for with federal grant money.
Vassalboro would pay $58,600, about 20 percent of the cost of the project. The town would be locked in at that price and wouldn’t be asked to pay more than that, Adams said.
The sidewalk would stretch from the China Lake boat landing area to a point past the Vassalboro Grange hall, on the east side. A second piece is proposed for the Bog Road heading west toward the Vassalboro Public Library.
If the state and the town find that parts of the road to the Grange Hall on the east side won’t accommodate a sidewalk, according to Lauchlin Titus, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, there is flexibility to switch to the west side of the street. If the expenses for the project go over what the town committed to pay, the piece on the Bog Road probably would be eliminated.
Mike Vashon, a former town manager, said he thinks the way the question is worded on the ballot is “misleading to the public” because it mentions the approval of the application and implementation of the federal grant at a June 2011 Town Meeting. He said it doesn’t mention the town’s rejection of a different sidewalk and pedestrian safety project in 2014.
Titus disagreed, saying that the board needed to remind people that the town’s grant application was approved, so it wouldn’t have to pay the full cost.
“When you’re trying to move forward with something, you don’t dwell on the negative; you dwell on the positive,” he said, adding that this proposal is different from the previous one.
RIGHT OF WAY
Steve Jones, who owns a post office on Route 32, said in an interview that he fears the addition of sidewalks could take away his parking.
If a 5-foot-wide sidewalk was added to the already planned shoulders, Jones said, “it would be marginal at best, whether there would be parking available.”
If he didn’t have parking for his customers, Jones said, he would have to close up shop. Opening up somewhere else now could be costly, as he would have to make sure he was in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
But according to Adams, the state doesn’t expect to affect the parking available outside the post office.
“We know that at least a portion of that space is going to be within our right of way, but we have no intention of creating a situation where there’s no parking in front of the post office,” Adams said in a phone interview Friday.
Homeowners who will be affected directly, however, might have to do more negotiating.
Adams said the state will stay within its right of way, but he also said he’s seen cases “where homes are actually in the right of way.”
“Sometimes people think their property extends out to the road, when it doesn’t,” he said. The widening of the road alone, regardless of the additional sidewalk project, will create the perception that the state is affecting people’s property, even if it stays within its right of way, he said.
If the proposal passes in November, the transportation department and the town will hold a preliminary public meeting before the design process starts, at which time residents can speak out about their problems, Adams said. Further public meetings and meetings with direct abutters to the project will be held as the process continues. The state will hold the meetings whether the sidewalks are approved as part of the project or not.
Titus said the selectmen have been assured that those affected will be involved in the development of the plan.
“Every case is going to be different,” Adams said, referring to how the state would treat residences that the project affects. “We do everything in our power to minimize those types of negative impacts.”
While there isn’t much flexibility on the width of the sidewalk in federal regulations, Adams said they could build some sections with narrower shoulders.
“And if we can’t find anything that makes anybody happy, if it isn’t going to work, we don’t have to proceed,” Titus said. The town would be paying the state for services it completes, so it would owe money only for the planning stage at that point.
EFFECT ON TAX RATES
The referendum question on the ballot proposes using money from the town’s surplus, which has a balance of about $1.1 million, to pay for the project. However, the town takes $150,000 from surplus every year to offset tax increases, and this $58,600 would be treated as part of that $150,000.
In addition to the project costs, the town would have to pay to maintain the sidewalks once they are complete. If not, the state would hire someone to maintain them and then bill the town later, Adams said at a public hearing held on Sept. 8.
The selectmen have not made any decisions on maintenance yet, Titus said.
Public Works Director Gene Field presented prices at a Sept. 22 board meeting, according to the minutes. Field contacted a private snow removal contractor, who gave an estimated price of $30,000 for a three-year contract. Titus said he hopes the board could find a less expensive alternative.
Titus said if the proposal passes, the board would have to “be very careful with our budgeting,” and that this project would represent between a 1-cent and 2-cent mil increase.
“There’s isn’t anyplace that anybody can say we could cut, because if there was, we would’ve cut it a long time ago,” he said.
However, Titus said, one way to save money could be to put off paving on some roads. He said that the possibility of a tax increase due to the project is not a “foregone conclusion.”
Vashon, the former town manager, said residents already have endured taxes increase two years in a row. “People can’t afford a tax increase,” he said. “And for what? Three or four people are going to use these sidewalks.”
Vashon said he walked along the section where the proposed sidewalk would be and asked residences and businesses if they favor the project. He conducted the survey in late August, when the proposal was estimated to cost $100,000.
Of the 33 people surveyed, no one was in favor of the project.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Proponents of the plan say the sidewalks are necessary in the area to “calm” traffic and increase safety for pedestrians.
“I think in any village center, the presence of sidewalks increases safety dramatically,” Adams said. “It creates an environment where people feel more comfortable and enabled to walk.”
Adams also said that raised sidewalks can reduce the opportunity for crashes.
“We know that people who are out walking … it does help drive economics in a village as well,” he said.
Titus also said the point of the project is to improve public safety.
“I have a job where I travel around the state quite a lot, and in the last couple of months I’ve been noticing a lot of sidewalks (in village areas),” he said.
But the opposition said there are walking trails in other parts of town, and that the added 5-foot shoulder would be enough to accommodate pedestrians safely.
“Don’t walk there if you don’t feel safe,” Vashon said, adding that he feels comfortable walking on Oak Grove Road, which has a higher speed limit.
Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239
mstamour@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @madelinestamour
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