Philanthropist and seasonal resident Robert Fuller, who owns the vacant lot at the corner of State and Winthrop streets in Augusta, is proposing to build a park at the site, near the Capital Judicial Center, left, and Lithgow Public Library, right. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — A proposal from a landowner could turn the prominent former YMCA site at the intersection of State and Winthrop streets in Augusta into a park.

The proposal takes the place of a previous plan of the site’s owner to develop the same location as a museum housing a statue of the owner’s relative, who was from Augusta and served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, presiding over a ruling that maintained racial segregation.

The new plans, from philanthropist and seasonal resident Robert Fuller, do not involve the statue of Melville W. Fuller, who served as the eighth chief justice of the United States from 1888 until his death in 1910. Instead, it would feature flower gardens, landscaping, a playground, picnic tables, benches, a parking lot and walking paths on a site across the street from the Capital Judicial Center and Lithgow Public Library, in an area of the city where parks are not allowed currently.

The proposal for the 1-acre vacant lot at 33 Winthrop St. generated significant discussion last week when it went to the Augusta Planning Board. Debate included the pros and cons of parks in the city, and whether city zoning should be changed to allow more of them, or, alternatively, if they should be discouraged because they take up land that could be used for tax-paying commercial development.

Planning Board members voted unanimously Feb. 11 to recommend the City Council create a contract zone to allow the parcel to be developed as a private park, even though it is in a part of the city where parks are not listed as an allowed use. The city’s land use rules only apply to public parks, the board said, with no provisions for privately developed parks.

Robert Fuller’s representative, Jim Coffin, of Coffin Engineering, said Fuller wants to develop the site as a park and give it to the city, with an endowment of an unspecified amount to help cover maintenance. Coffin confirmed that the plans for the park do not include the statue of Melville W. Fuller, unlike a previous proposal from Fuller to create at the site the Maine Judicial Heritage Society Memorial Museum, featuring the statue.

Robert Fuller had donated the statue in 2013 to Kennebec County to mark the 125th anniversary of Fuller’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was placed on the lawn in front of the Kennebec County Courthouse at 95 State St.

Fuller later agreed to take back the statue after  controversy arose over the chief justice’s role in the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, which codified the “separate but equal” doctrine.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court sent a letter to the Kennebec County Commissioners in August 2020 to ask that the county consider removing the statue. There was also a demonstration calling for the statue to be removed.

That reaction prompted county officials to give the statue back to Fuller, who in 2021 bought the vacant former YMCA site at 33 Winthrop St., across the street from the statue’s former location on the courthouse lawn, for $750,000, according to city assessing records. Fuller then proposed the museum, later withdrawing the proposal after it faced backlash.

Coffin said the statue remains in storage.

Planning Board member Alison Nichols said she was glad Fuller came back with the park proposal, and said it would be a good location for people doing business at the county courthouse to take a break for lunch and escape the “hubbub of the courtrooms.”

The park would be surrounded by a wrought iron fence and, as proposed by Fuller, be closed for the winter months.

It would have parking for 11 vehicles off Oak Street and include a small building where items needed to maintain the park would be stored.

Betsy Poulin, the city planner for Augusta, said city staff members have reviewed the proposal and found discrepancies in the city’s land use rules, including that the rules only allow public parks in a few areas of the city. She said multiple parks exist in zones that do not allow them.

Philanthropist and seasonal resident Robert Fuller, who owns the vacant lot at the corner of State and Winthrop streets in Augusta, is proposing to build a park at the site, near the Capital Judicial Center and Lithgow Public Library. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The Planning Board is now considering whether to recommend changes that would have Augusta’s land use rules apply the same for public or private parks. A staff proposal also recommends considering allowing parks as conditional uses in most of the city’s zones.

Planning Board members debated whether the city should allow more parks. Cathy Cobb, a member of the board, said Augusta should allow parks in more residential areas, especially neighborhoods where children who do not have a yard need a place to play.

Board member Ben Bussiere disagreed, saying the city has enough parks, and the city no longer receives property taxes when private land is converted to a park and given to the city.

“How many more parks does Augusta need?” Bussiere said. “I don’t want Augusta to become a wealthy person’s (tax) write-off. We need businesses. We need jobs for young people right here in the city.”

Coffin said Fuller does not want to wait to see if the city changes its land use rules. Fuller wants to begin construction by August.

The contract zone proposal, which would also have to be approved by the City Council, would allow a park to be developed on the property now owned by Fuller. Detailed plans for the park would have to be reviewed and approved by the Planning Board.

Planning Board members said they expect to discuss at future meetings whether to recommend changes to the city’s land use rules regarding parks.

The board has asked staff members to provide it more information on the recently debated City Council goals for the year, maps showing the location of every park in Augusta and information on how other municipalities regulate parks.