Food, but no financial relief

Fort Williams vendor fees won’t offset maintenance costs

  published in the Current   

CAPE ELIZABETH – There may be no more perfect place on the planet to eat a fresh Maine lobster roll than in the shadow of historic Portland Head Light.  Beginning this summer, visitors to Fort Williams Park will have the opportunity to do just that.

However, Cape Elizabeth Town Manager Michael McGovern cautions that revenue from fees paid by five vendors will do nothing to offset routine maintenance costs, which are slated to spike $80,000 this year, to $244,015.

“We weren’t keeping up on maintenance. It’s like everything else, things were let go for a little bit because revenues were declining,” said McGovern, referring to the 51.7 percent price hike, which will pay for fencing repairs at tennis and basketball courts within the park, as well as for “a lot” of stone wall work.

“The vendor program doesn’t offset any of that $80,000,” said McGovern.  “That’ll come out of taxes.” 

Instead, the $11,000 raised by the new vendor program – which was unanimously approved by the Town Council at its March 21 meeting – will be funneled into capital works.

“All of the revenue generated in the park goes to bigger items,” explained McGovern, “such as, right now, we’re fixing one of the old military batteries, where the concrete had fallen off.  It [vendor fees] goes to big projects like that.”

Given the need to fund these capital projects, along with the cost to run Portland Head Light ($506,480 in FY ‘11), it’s perhaps unsurprising that the town has been on the hunt for any extra dollar it can find. Park maintenance has averaged $144,925 through the last five years, and with this year’s $80,000 catch-up, will approach $250,000 for the first time.

In February 2010, the Town Council voted to impose a $5 parking fee at the park, it’s second run down that revenue stream since 2006. However, following public outcry, it allowed a citizen vote on the matter, which rejected the fees by a better than 2-1margin.

“So, then, because people don’t want their taxed raised either, the council said, let’s look at some other ways to raise money,” said McGovern.

One way was to charge a $25,000 fee to organizers of the annual Beach-to-Beacon road race.  Another was allowing food vendors on site for the first time.

“We need the [vendor] fees because we need to be doing these [capital improvement] things,” said McGovern. “When the potential for [parking] fees went away, the needs didn’t go away.”

It’s an idea that’s reared up repeatedly in the 47 years since Cape Elizabeth assumed ownership of 90-acre park. However, until now, the concept has met general resistance.

“Everything’s been thought of,” said McGovern. “The thing about Fort Williams is that everybody feels like they own it, it doesn’t matter if they live in town, or they don’t. Everyone just loves it so much they feel as if they own it.”

Of course, things do change, said McGovern, noting that several buildings on site were torn down when he first arrived in town more than 30 years ago, creating open space viewed today as one of the park’s primary attractions.

“What people forget is that the park is constantly changing,” said McGovern. “Nothing stays the same at the park, although everybody wants it to stay exactly the same way as it is today.”

Allowing the vendors no longer seems crass to most, said McGovern. It’s simply an idea whose time has come.  In fact, the town manager cites studies showing that bus tours are less impressed by the park’s trail system, preferring amenities closer to the lighthouse.

“This is something that adds to the memory,” he said.  “I don’t see it as that big of a deal.  It’s like a lot of things that we do – there’s resistance at first, but then, once people get used to it, it’s like, ‘How could you even think of taking this away?’”

With the council vote in place, McGovern, in his role as purchasing agent, picked five vendors from a pool of 14 applicants.  Also involved in the selection process were Bill Brownell and Erin Grady, from the Fort Williams Advisory Commission, and Public Works Director Robert Malley.

”We looked at food experience more than anything,” said McGovern, explaining the selection criteria. “Another thing that was big, was just balancing off who said they’d be willing to do a half-season.”

Vendors will take up spots on either side of the circular drive in front of Portland Head Light – although not so near that they will interfere with photographs.  Another will offer up wares from a spot “nearer the flagpole.”

Four vendors have paid $2,000 each for half-season permits.

From May 1 to Aug. 31, Frank’s Franks of South Portland will sell hot dogs, kielbasa and “smart dogs,” along with other sandwiches and snacks.  Meanwhile, a second-year startup, Gordo’s Lobster Cakes of Cape Elizabeth will offer its fresh-baked cakes, finished on the grill. 

“We’re excited to be a part of the program,” said Gordo’s owner, Carolyn Smith. “We’re really happy to have a chance just to work at Fort Williams.”

During the second half of the season, from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31, Fort Williams will host the Atlantic Cookie Co. of Cape Elizabeth and Kennebunk-based Dory Dogs, which serves hot dogs, crepes and fresh fruit from a refurbished dory.

Karl and Sarah Sutton of South Portland are the only full-season vendor, paying $3,000 for the privilege. They plan to offer “Mainecentric” foods, including lobster rolls and, as beverage of choice, Moxie.

Budget rebuttal

Council, school board discuss test scores, surplus in South Portland

published in the Current

SOUTH PORTLAND – Although called as a workshop on the proposed $42.8 million school budget, Monday’s special session of the South Portland City Council turned into a protracted debate on test scores, information school board members seemed at first reluctant to release in that venue.

In fact, the only budget item discussed at any length was a reported $4 million surplus, a favorite target of Albert DiMillo Jr., a retired CPA and occasional Current columnist, who has dogged school directors for much of the past three years.

“The big picture is this,” he said, following the workshop.  “South Portland spends way more than anyone on schools, and their test scores are bad.”

School Superintendent Suzanne Godin, took “exception” to DiMillo’s claims, and while city councilors seemed satisfied by meeting’s end with her explanation of test scores, they have yet to give their final word on the budget. That will happen at their next meeting, on Monday, May 2. Voters will then get their say at the polls on May 10.

For his part, DiMillo claimed South Portland spends 71 percent more on system administration that neighboring Scarborough, and could save $2.9 million just be slashing itself to a similar size, Godin championed the opposite view.

“We have a very, very small administrative structure for the size district we have,” she said, adding that the school department “continues to struggle” with cutting a curriculum coordinator position five years ago.  

Who’s right is hard to say, as Councilor Maxine Beecher made clear. Armed with a boatload of budget documents, and a page of questions posed by DiMillo, she called on another CPA, she said.  The results were not edifying.

“For normal people, it gets deeper and deeper (until) it’s like, I don’t even want to know,” she said.

Chief among Beecher’s questions, and DiMillo’s complaints, is the school department’s $4 million surplus, a carry-over fund recently allowed by special legislation to exceed the usual maximum – 3 percent of the total budget. 

That cap was lifted, said the district finance director, Rafe Forland, because state officials realized school districts need to set aside money now for when the well runs dry on federal stimulus and jobs-bill funds. In South Portland, those federal dollars cover $1.6 million that would otherwise have to be paid by state and local taxpayers. The school department will draw $1.2 million from surplus this year and next, said Forland, leaving it with just enough in 2013-14 budget to pay for what federal emergency funds are buying now when that money runs out.

Godin said hikes of 8 and 9.6 percent, respectively, in regular instruction and special education since 2010 are illusionary. The 2010 budget was written at a time when the school was under a state curtailment order, along with its own freeze on spending. The 2012 budget seems like a large increase, she said, only because the economy is beginning to improve.

“We’re trying to return to pre-curtailment (spending) levels,” she said. “We are in a place where if we don’t continue to move forward in terms of the professional development, the staffing and the resources that we need to be providing for our students, we are not going to be able to move forward academically.

“I continue to be concerned when year after year we are being held to the standard of the last two years,” said Godin. “Those were very anomalous-type years for South Portland.”

However, DiMillo would not truck to that explanation. He gained some notoriety writing essays in 2009, in which he picked apart an overhaul to Maine’s tax code, and which some credit with helping to spur a citizen’s initiative that repealed it, and he appeared intent of doing the same for South Portland.

“The surplus is not there because they did such a good job,” he said, claiming to have found numerous auditing errors. “It’s there because they screwed up, and they’ve screwed up three years in a row.”

“I continue to think the budget has errors,” he said.  “All we hear about is them slashing positions, but if these numbers are real – and I don’t think they’re real – why does the school budget have such huge increases in costs?  Let’s stop pretending they don’t have any money.”

But that was about as far as he got. Two minutes in, his time was called by Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis. The balance of the two-and-a-half hour workshop was devoted not to financial numbers, but to test scores.  Here, too, Godin found an opportunity to “take exception.”

Before she could do so, however, she had to wait out a staring contest between the council and members of the school board, who seemed reluctant to turn over the requested data.

“I’m saying this as respectfully as I can,” said school board Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr., “but I am concerned about where we go with this information.”

“I’m not sure how these (test) numbers change your decision-making as to the budget,” said school board member Richard Carter. “Would we get more money because we’re doing a good job, or less because we need to do better?”

“I’m going to answer your question with a question,” replied De Angelis. “Does the answer determine whether you share the information?”

Baxter said he felt a budget workshop was not the appropriate venue in which to review test data, adding in retort that, in any case, testing data are “not new news.” All the information was released to the public during a State of the School address last November, he said. 

While Councilor Thomas Coward did not deny this was true, he describe the school website, where the data is archived, as a “bottomless pit of information.”

“My question is,” said Carter, trying again, “ what would you do with the information? Not, why do you want the information – it’s good information – but what would you do with it in a budgetary context?”

“I don’t understand how this data is going to drive the budget.  That’s the question,” agreed Baxter.

De Angelis let the question hang in the air for several beats before giving her reply.

“I’m not going to speak for the council,” she said.  “Rather than go down through the council and try to get answers to that, I think it just might be helpful if you’d answer the questions.”

The resulting review of test scores featured a protracted debate between Godin and Councilor James Hughes on the varietal classification of “apples and oranges.”  Godin claimed SAT scores posted by South Portland juniors cannot be compared to those logged by their peers nationwide, because Maine is one of the few states in which taking the test is not optional. Hughes agreed, but said he was trying ferret out any trend in the local scores.

Godin said that, too, was apples and oranges, because each graduating class has its own unique character.  Hughes disagreed.  “It may be Macintoshes and Galas, but it’s still apples,” he said.

When several councilors questioned a decline in growth within each class, as it progresses through the grades, outgoing Assistant Superintendent Steve Bailey stepped in to say students don’t show as much progress in later grades because, as they get older, “the questions get harder.”

By the time the meeting wrapped up, the two boards appeared to have reached some level of détente. Councilors thanked school officials for sharing. Hughes, in particular, said the information exchange makes him “more sympathetic” to views expressed by the administration.

Still, there remained some reservations, if not for the budget proposal now being considered, then for future budgets.

“I hear a lot of people saying they are scared for the next couple of years,” said Councilor Patti Smith. “It’s tough. One of these years, some really tough decisions are going to have to be made between (funding) professional development for teachers and other things. 

“In years to come, it’s going to get tougher and tougher,” she predicted.

Seed planted for farmers market

published in the Current

SOUTH PORTLAND – The Portland Farmers’ Market opens next week, but, if all goes according to plan, by late June there will be an option on this side of the stream as well.

At a City Council workshop session on Monday, plans were put in motion to bring a Thursday farmers market with up to 20 vendors to Thomas Knight Park, in the shore-side shadow of the Casco Bay Bridge.

The announcement was heralded as an “awesome, awesome thing for the city,” by Crystal Goodrich, one of two citizens who stood during a public comment period.

The other was Leah Lippmann, chairman of the Knightville/Mill Creek Neighborhood Association.

“I think everyone is really looking forward to this,” she said. “Since the new bridge has been put up, it’s become a really sleepy place.”

However, based on the number of people who throng to the park for prime Fourth of July fireworks viewing, traffic won’t be an issue, Lippmann predicted.

For their part, councilors expressed no reservations about traffic, and few of any other logistical nature. Their primary concern seemed to be for the vendors, based on the fact that a farmers market was tried in Knight Park once before, without lasting success.

Caitlin Jordan, who runs the Alewives Farm in Cape Elizabeth, and who also manages the Scarborough Farmers’ Market, said the problem with the previous attempt was too few farmers for too many markets staged on the same day. To counter that, she said, the South Portland market will run on Thursdays, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Penny Jordan, co-owner of the 60-acre Jordan Farm, on Wells Road, in Cape Elizabeth, said the market will offer agricultural education, to make the site a draw for families, along with enough variety that shoppers can provision an entire, balanced meal on a single visit.

Only two sites were seriously considered for the market, Penny Jordan said. The other, Mill Creek Park, was determined to have too many issues, not the least of which is the potential for farmstands to be overrun by roving hoards of hungry ducks. Besides, Thomas Knight Park already is zoned for a market.

The next step, per city manager James Gailey, is a Planning Board hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, May 10, followed by two official readings before the council.

According to Tex Haeuser, the city planning and development director, the Planning Board will deal with necessary amendments to Chapter 14 of South Portland’s code of ordinances. Chief among those will be the setting of a permit fee.  Gailey said the fee to vendors will be $100, with $25 going to the city and $75 to an as-yet-to-be-created market association.

Haeuser said the council will deal with required amendments to South Portland’s zoning rules – items he characterized as “little changes” – primary dealing with timeframes, definitions and the maximum number of allowable stalls.

Of all those who spoke in favor of the market Monday night, there may have been no greater champion than Mayor Rosemarie De Angelis, who made its return a centerpiece of her campaign.

“I’m dying for a ribbon cutting,” she said. “I’ll buy the ribbon. “I’ll do anything. I’ll dress up as a cucumber at the intersection and just flag people down there.”

“Somebody’s taking minutes, right?” asked Jordan, with a laugh, apparently intent on holding the mayor to her promise.

At Scarborough beaches, it’s butt out

No-smoking ordinance wins approval, but some details remain up in the air.

published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH – After a two-week reprieve, the hammer finally fell last week on smokers in Scarborough.

At its April 20 meeting, the Town Council voted 4-2 to enact an ordinance outlawing the use of tobacco products within 25 feet of any public beach. 

Healthy Maine Partnerships has offered to supply no-smoking signs, and to pay for public education, in hopes of securing “voluntary compliance.”  For those who don’t comply, fines will start at $100 for each offense, up to a maximum of $500.

Councilors Jessica Holbrook and Richard Sullivan voted against the ordinance, although both raised hands earlier in the meeting for a resolution declaring town beaches to be “tobacco-free zones.”

“To go as far as making this an ordinance with fines and penalties, I just don’t see that it’s in the benefit of most of the public, or the police department, as far as enforcement goes,” said Sullivan.

The resolution was designed to mirror a similar anti-smoking stance taken by the council in December 2004, when it banned tobacco products from town athletic fields, playgrounds and “assembly areas.”

Council Chairwoman Judith Roy allowed the competing measure, she said, “to give credence” to councilors who preferred a more light-handed approach, “to have their opinions heard.”  Roy voted for the resolution, although she noted it was nullified immediately upon adoption of the ordinance. 

Like Roy, Councilor Michael Wood voted for both the resolution and the ordinance. The important thing, he said, was to accomplish something on the topic that night.

“I don’t want to be in the place where we were at the last meeting, where we left with no message [for the public],” he said.

However, two councilors, Karen D’Andrea and Carol Rancourt, appeared to favor the big-stick approach.

“[The resolution] has no weight of law behind it,” said D’Andrea.  “It’s sort of meaningless.  We’d be essentially asking people nicely not to smoke on the beach.”

“Most people are not lawbreakers,” said Rancourt, the only councilor who held office when the 2004 resolution was adopted.  “But if someone is blatantly breaking the law, with an ordinance, we would then have the teeth to take care of that person.”

Under questioning from Sullivan, Police Chief Robert Moulton – on hand as acting town manager while Thomas Hall was on vacation –intimated that his department’s teeth may snap shut only sparingly.  The beach-patrol officer, he said, is not equipped to carry a summons book, meaning assistance would be required from a regular-duty officer whenever a smoker is seen.  Spotting offenders also may be sporadic, he said, because recent changes in other ordinances will necessarily focus the beach patroller’s time on traffic concerns.

“There’s no question that the officer is going to be really busy,” said Moulton.

During public testimony, Toby Simon, the Cumberland County tobacco coordinator for Healthy Maine Partnerships, pooh-poohed the enforcement angle.

“As somebody who is doing tobacco control every day, this is the one issue that comes up repeatedly,” she said, citing similar shoreside smoking bans from California to South Portland.  “People think there will be major issues around enforcement. I can tell you it’s imaginary, that never turns out to be the case.

“All it takes is visible signage, accompanied by some public education,” said Simon, who called the ordinance “self-policing.”

“Most people will respect and abide by these laws, when you put them in place,” she said. “Even smokers do not have a problem coming along with these laws. They’re used to them. They’re everywhere now.”

“I think the time has come,” agreed Wood. “I think this is not an unexpected initiative, certainly.

“I’m convinced that enforcement really won’t be an issue,” he added later, just prior to the final vote.  “I’m willing to take that chance.”

What Wood was not willing to chance, however, was the possibility that the town might be required to build designated smoking areas.  On his motion, several lines in the ordinance citing “the designated smoking area” were changed, by unanimous vote, to “a designated smoking area.”

This “simple amendment,” Wood said, changed the ordinance’s “encumberment” from “shall build” to “may build.”  And that, he stressed, allows town planners time to design smoking areas, without forcing it to shoehorn them in to places like Higgins Beach, where private property lies within the 25-foot setback.

Private proximity prompted one other amendment, made at the suggestion of Holbrook. One passage, added to appease Higgins Beach abutters – at least one of whom was reported by Roy to be a smoker – created language that seemed to confuse, if not contradict, other sections.

An attempt to assure folks who live within 25 feet of a beach that they can smoke on their on land was simply unnecessary, the council ultimately agreed.

“I think this ordinance in and of itself is clear that it does not affect private property, that it only affects town-owned property,” said D’Andrea.

That left Sullivan to make two final assaults on the ordinance.  On the one-hand, he said, the lack of a designated smoking area from the onset means that, in some places, people will not even be able to return to their vehicle for a smoke, if it is parked too close to the beach. Roy was quick to shoot down that argument.

“Those people who do smoke, they have some rights as well,” she said, “but certainly they can’t subject their smoke on other folks.  That’s the designated area issue, but they’ll live without a cigarette for two hours.  They’ll live longer without a cigarette.”

Sullivan also railed on the addition of snuff, dip and chew to the list of banned substances. 

“I’ll tell you what, it looks like we are trying to control people’s behavior, instead of protecting the public,” he said. “I thought this was all about second-hand smoke, but whatever.”

Asked by Wood if he wanted to put his complaint into the form of a motion, Sullivan declined.

“I’m not going to make an amendment, I’m just making a statement,” he said.  “I’m not voting for [the ordinance] anyhow.”

Instead, it was Holbrook who championed the cause, which failed 4-2 after Rancourt described, with accompanying editorial sound effects, what happens when birds and children find nicotine-laced expectorate buried in the sand.

That misuse of public beaches seemed to be what drove the evening’s debate. Terri Eddy, staff adviser to the high school environmental club, described how students found “more than 1,000” cigarette butts during a recent cleanup event at Pine Point Beach. Each one, she claimed, takes up to 15 years to decompose.

“Scarborough needs a serious ordinance for this,” she said, pointing out that smoking has been banned from state beaches, including the one in Scarborough, since 1999.

Although the smoking ban is settled, where the public can puff remains up in the air. Holbrook addressed that concern during her closing comments at the end of the council meeting.

“I really, really hope that we get those [designated smoking] areas in,” she said. “I hope that’s it’s not two to three years, or never.

Still, the final word may have come from Wood, who quipped just after the local law was adopted, “The ordinance goes into affect at midnight – smoke ’em if you got ’em.”

Scarborough budget cuts $18K for agencies

published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH – A public hearing on Scarborough’s 2011-12 municipal budget was scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, after the deadline for this week’s Current. However, at the April 20 council meeting, Councilor Michael Wood, speaking for the finance committee, said both school and town budgets had been cut by “equally, in the $250,000 range.”

Wood also said the finance committee has recommended that all requests from nonprofit agencies be rebuffed, saving “about $18,000.”

As detailed in the agenda for the April 27 hearing, the municipal budget will ring in at $27,681,770 – a 1.89 percent increase over current spending.

The largest increase (16.59 percent) is in debt service, which jumps from $4.25 million to $4.96 million. Other increases are in fire protection (up 3.46 percent, to $3.62 million), policing (up 3.46 percent, to $6.41 million) and community services (up 1.6 percent, to $2.15 million).

The school budget is slated to go up 2.58 percent, to $35,877,462. However, the share to be paid out of local property taxes is proposed at a 5.04 percent hike, from $27.98 million to $29.39 million.

The $1.98 million tax to be paid to Cumberland County is up 2.7 percent.

According to Wood, the hit to the tax rate – which stood at 3.1 percent in the original budget draft – was hovering around 2.7 percent as of April 20, “on current recommendations.”

“I think I can speak for the finance committee as a whole in that they would really like to see that reduced further,” said Wood.  “A tax rate increase at 2 percent, or less, is what we are hoping to achieve.”

Council to weigh $4.7M bond sale

published in the Current
 

SCARBOROUGH – At its May 4 meeting, the Scarborough Town Council will consider the issuance of $4.7 million in municipal bonds to pay for a bevy of capital improvement projects.

About half of the revenue raised from a $4,428,265 municipal bond sale would go toward a $2.2 million project to improve the intersection at Haigis Parkway and Route 1. 

Other capital improvements on the 2010-2011 budget calendar include: Three miles of "mid-level road rehabilitation” ($441,000), site and parking improvements to Higgins Beach ($300,000), redesign and repair to library parking and sidewalks ($255,000), culvert replacement at Martin Avenue and Broadturn Road ($115,000), high school field lighting ($85,650), fire department station repairs ($85,000), work to the traffic calming island on Payne Road ($35,800) and directional signs to be placed across town ($20,000).

According to Finance Director Ruth Porter, all but four of the municipal projects are already under way.

New equipment funded with the bond sale includes various items for the library ($145,175), a new plow truck and a backhoe for the public works department ($291,000) and fire alarm repairs ($20,000).

The bond sale also would pay $400,000 toward the commercial pier project from the 2006-2007 capital works plan.

At the May 4 council meeting, a separate $451,000 bond sale is scheduled to be ordered for capital improvement projects at Scarborough schools.

Revenue raised from school bonds would pay for laptop computers for teachers in Grades K-5 ($144,000), desktop computers at Wentworth Intermediate School ($137,000), storm windows and roof restoration at Wentworth ($72,000), district-wide energy conservation programs ($45,000), district-wide roofing projects ($30,000) and purchase of a utility tractor ($23,000).

Restrictions on tap for aquifer areas

published in the Current 

SCARBOROUGH – The Scarborough Town Council is on track to impose new limits on homeowners and businesses within 10 newly proposed "aquifer protection districts."

The largest of the restricted-use areas, all based on Maine Geological Survey maps, is in North Scarborough, between Gorham and County roads. Smaller protection districts lie on both sides of Broadturn Road, off the Haigis Parkway and near Mussey Road, with slightly larger districts in the areas of Pleasant Hill and Black Point roads.

"There's higher stormwater management standards than current DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and town standards for these aquifer areas," said Dan Bacon, town planner.

If Scarborough's zoning ordinance is amended, no new gas stations would be allowed in any of the protected areas. Also zoned out of existence would be any ability to expand existing storage of "petroleum-based products."  Although the proposed amendment does not specifically prohibit gas stations, it does limit storage of any fuels not meant to be used on site to 100 gallons.

Council members appeared to react warmly to the proposal at their April 20 meeting – "I think this is wonderful," said Councilor Karen D'Andrea.  Final reading and enactment of the zoning update is scheduled for the next council meeting, at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4.

According to Bacon, the changes will apply to new construction and building permits.

"This ordinance is really trying to prevent future contamination," he said.  "It's not aimed at mitigating existing issues. If there are any existing issues, DEP would take the lead on any remedy.

"It's really intended to be a preventative ordinance," said Bacon, "to prevent contamination through things such as heating oil from fuel tanks in individual people's homes, commercial chemicals and petroleum products, and larger septic systems that serve, say, restaurants and multi-family housing in un-sewered areas, as well as untreated stormwater runoff."

According to Bacon, the aquifer protection districts were born in the Comprehensive Plan Implementation Committee (CPIC) earlier this year.

"In the comprehensive plan, it highlights the need to protect both the quality and quantity of town drinking water, given their vulnerability due to porous soils," he said, noting that homes in the newly restricted areas are not served by town water and sewage services.

"When the (CPI) committee was rezoning in the North Scarborough area, there was concern about new development impacting this important ground-water resource," said Bacon.  "After reviewing state regulations, it was felt that they were somewhat 'scattered' and, also, they were not locally enforceable.  So, it began work to prevent any contamination in those areas."

In addition to the ban on new gas stations and expanded petroleum storage, the aquifer protection districts also would feature higher standards for home fuel tanks (including a requirement for double-linings), new rules on the storage and use of chemicals, and permit denial on any septic system of more than 1,250 gallons until the owner proves nitrate concentrations will not exceed 5 mg/L.

Also, with the exception of sump pumps, any new floor drain will have to be registered with the state, and any geothermal heating unit designed to draw more than 2,000 gallons per day will not be allowed without proof that it will not "adversely impact" the quality or quantity of groundwater. A stormwater treatment plan will be required of anyone disturbing more than 10,000 square feet of land for non-agricultural purposes.

Finally, any commercial use of manure or fertilizers would require adherence to best management practices of the DEP "and/or" the Department of Agriculture.

This last requirement drew criticism at last week’s meeting from Councilor Richard Sullivan, who wondered aloud if citizens would be buffeted between the two departments, and which one would prevail in any dispute over whose best practices really were best.

"Before the second reading, we can clarify that," said Bacon.

Also ripe for clarification, Bacon said, either in time for final adoption or as an additional amendment shortly thereafter, are even "better treatment standards for runoff" and a greater delineation on allowable standards for residential, versus commercial, uses.

What does appear to be set in stone, however, are the borders of each protection district.

Asked by Councilor Michael Wood if the districts would become a "moving target" over time, Bacon replied, "There may be minor adjustments based on new information, but not dramatic changes."

Election has statewide significance

Some see Dill-Maietta race as referendum on LePage, while others see only two solid candidates.

   published in the Current    
 

When voters in State Senate District 7 enter the polls May 10 to replace Democrat Larry Bliss, who’s taken a job in another state, the featured bout will be Cynthia Dill, D–Cape Elizabeth, vs. Louis Maietta Jr., R–South Portland. 

But the ballot may not tell the true tale. Since the Dill and Maietta entered the race, a debate has surfaced over whether it is between two strong candidates, both with State House experience, running on their own merits, or, as some liberal activists contend, an early indication of how Mainers feel about Gov. Paul LePage.

“This (election) will be a pretty clear indication of how people are feeling about the first few months of the LePage administration,” said Maine Democratic Party Chairman Ben Grant.

However, conservative radio commentator Ray Richardson of Westbrook calls the notion of this special election speaking to statewide politics "a media creation."

"The governor's ability to impact things is by passing his budget," says Richardson. "That hasn't happened yet, and even if it had, it wouldn't go into effect until July 1. For this to be seen as a referendum on Gov. LePage is an absolute joke. It's a farce."

Rockland architect Gerald Weinand, who runs the popular liberal blog DirigoBlue.com, said the stakes are high in a business where perception often leads reality. The race matters, Weinand said, for the same reason Dill says she wants a promotion to the upper chamber in the middle of her House term — a senator simply represents a lot more people.

“Unlike the special election held on March 1 for House District 11, this race between Rep. Dill and former Rep. Maietti will be a referendum, in part, on the LePage administration's first few months in office,” said Weinand. “Rep. Dill has made no secret of her feelings towards Gov. LePage, and she is strong advocate for liberal issues.”

Dill attempted to get the ball rolling on the creation of a recall process, based on what she says were “hundreds” of calls telling her LePage has got to go, barely 100 days into his first term.  The attempt failed, though it didn’t hurt Dill’s liberal credentials, and she reportedly assured caucus voters that she would not focus her campaign on ousting the governor. 

That, said Weinand, coupled with the fact that Bliss retained his seat by a slim 85 votes in the Republican wave that washed LePage into office last fall, means a Dill victory would speak volumes about the governor’s job performance.

“I think Gov. LePage’s behavior during his first months in office can only help Democrats,” agrees Jamie Wager, chairman of the Cape Elizabeth Democratic Committee.

But another prominent Cape resident sees it differently. Eliot Cutler, who, as an independent candidate, ran runner-up to LePage, doesn’t think the race holds any larger political significance.

“It’s very early to have a referendum on the governor first of all,” said Cutler. “Secondly, it’s hard to have a referendum on the governor when he’s not on the ballot. I think this is an election between two able people, both of whom have experience in the House.”

Dill, 46, a civil rights attorney, is now in her third term, having won election to House District 121 in 2006, soon after moving to Cape Elizabeth with her husband and two children following 10 years in South Portland. 

“It was in 2004, when President Bush was re-elected that I became very concerned,” said Dill. “I figured, well, I better stop complaining from the sidelines and get involved.”

A run at the Cape Elizabeth Town Council came up six votes short. The next year bore better fruit, leading the successful legislative run the next year.

Dill’s profile has grown in the last year, as she has become a loud critic of LePage, a blogger on the national left-leaning site Huffington Post, and a quotable source for news organizations looking for a liberal point of view.

Miaetta, 54, is a lifelong resident of South Portland who grew up in the family construction business, serving many years as vice president. A longtime firefighter and dispatcher who holds an associate degree in fire safety from Southern Maine Technical College, Maietta has more recently run a wireless store with his wife and a banquet facility with his three daughters. Currently, he focuses his time on managing two buildings he owns on Broadway in South Portland.

His political career began on the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals, leading to a term on the City Council in 1999 and election to the state Legislature in 2002.

He chose not to run for a second term in order to focus on the banquet facility with his children. However, twin tumults of a faltering economy and a bout with prostate cancer (ultimately successful) led to the sale of the business.

Maietta says his priority, if elected, would be on job creation.

“I’ve knocked on hundreds of doors in the sort amount of time in this campaign, and the number one thing I’m hearing is that people want their children to be able to stay in this state,” he said. “This district is starved for jobs.”

However, although he has made appearances with U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, campaign aid from the governor has been neither solicited nor offered.

“I’m going in as my own person. I’m not going in there as Gov. LePage’s hand-picked guy,” said Maietta. “I’m my own guy.  I’m not a puppet on a string. I’m not going up there (to Augusta) to support the governor’s wish list. I’m going to represent the wish list of my district.“

  

That’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another, courtesy of Weinand: “That Mr. Maietta has not asked Gov. LePage to campaign for him is indicative of how much a political liability the governor has become.”

Regardless of who’s wishlist is being served, Maietta said the best way to secure jobs is to light a fire under state regulators. 

“They absolutely need to wake up,” he said, citing a Western Avenue development built by his brother, Vinnie, allegedly held up by regulatory review at a cost of “40 months and $350,000.” 

“He stuck it out and eventually put 250 people to work there,” said Maietta. “But that coming right at the very worst part of the economy, that could have cost him his business.”

“They (DEP workers) need to do their job – and I totally support the job that they do, being conscious of the environment – but they should be diligently working with developers to put people to work,” said Maietta.

“There’s no doubt that bureaucracy has been creeping at the state and local level,” said Dill. “I’m a firm believer in streamlining government and making it more efficient.”

However, Dill is dubious of Republican efforts to ease the path to development.

“I believe government plays an important role in reasonably regulating corporate greed,” she said. “Clearly people with legitimate concerns should have their concerns addressed. I’m open to that. Regulatory red tape should be cut at every chance, but at the same time, I think it’s foolish, as in the governor’s initiative, to roll back environmental laws and basically do the bidding of huge corporations.

“I don’t support so many of the measures he (LePage) has suggested,” continued Dill. “They do not reflect what people in this community want. They reflect what people from out-of-state manufacturing companies want.”

For his part, Maietta declined to address any specific regulatory proposals made by the governor, saying he could not do so, “until it crosses my desk.”

Instead, he falls back on his family history, saying he knows development issues “start to finish.”

Dill, on the other hand, touts her legislative experience, including her proudest accomplishment, creation of a broadband advisory council.

“I take very seriously my role in representing people,” she said. “And when I say people, I don’t just mean wealthy, special interests. I mean older people, I mean children, I mean school districts.”

In the end, however, despite what appear to be clear delineations in party and philosophy, at least one observer sees this as a toss-up between two strong candidates.

“I’ve met with both Cynthia and Louie and I like them both,” said Cutler. “I think they are both well-intentioned and I think South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and that little section of Scarborough in District 7 would be well represented by either one of them.”

Shore Road Path not set in stone

  published in the Current  

CAPE ELIZABETH – The dream of a two-mile walking path along Shore Road in Cape Elizabeth, connecting the town center at Route 77 to Fort Williams Park, took one step closer to reality last week, with the receipt of a $729,000 grant.

That’s good news for the project, which has floated around town in various states of planning since 1993. The bad news is that it might not be enough.

The Maine Department of Transportation grant covers 70 percent of the $1.04 million construction cost, but it also requires a 20 percent local match.

A local group, Safe Access for Everyone (SAFE), has raised $80,000 in private donations to date. Town Manager Michael McGovern says $26,000 remains of $100,000 the Town Council appropriated in 2009 for path design and surveying. Other available funds, he said, include $60,000 from a town center sidewalk fund and $40,000 in credits from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System (PACTS).

That leaves the kitty short by $107,000. Perhaps most galling to fans of the path project, what’s available so far will cover actual construction costs. The missing money, McGovern said, is almost entirely for contingency – money set aside for possible cost overruns.

“The project won’t start until we get that, or the council decides we don’t need any contingency,” said McGovern. “That’s going to be the controversy over the next month or so.”

“We have some work to do,” said SAFE co-chairman and treasurer Jim Kerney. “Many of our gifts have been $20 and $25, so it’s a long and arduous path to get to the numbers we are looking for, but I am confident that it will happen. That’s what our mission has been, to generate community interest.”

Town Planner Maureen O’Meara said Monday that all permits are in place. 

“Everything was designed to be in the right of way,” said O’Meara, “so nothing will be taken by eminent domain. We did ask for one drainage easement, and that was donated by the Barber family.”

The only thing holding up the project is a green light from the council. If that does not happen by October, O’Meara said, the grant could be in jeopardy.

McGovern says the path project will be on the agenda for the next council meeting. What happens, he said, is anybody’s guess, especially considering that when the councilors appropriated $110,000 last year at least one member said no more should come from town coffers.

Kerner noted that, once before, a grant was awarded to build a sidewalk and bike lane where the path is planned. The council, he said, rejected the money.