Norway businesswoman to residents: You can't get there from here

NORWAY — Michelle Campbell, owner of Hair Plus, wants people to know that she is not trying to be difficult.  She does not want to alienate anyone.  She is not looking to create controversy.  However, the local businesswoman does want local motorists to become acutely aware of one seemingly small, but vital, detail: the parking lot for her Paris Street hair and tanning salon is not, she points out, an entrance for Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers.

Complaints associated with the Paris Street entrance to Wendy's are nothing new.  Norway found itself embroiled in traffic problems at that location almost as soon as the fast food chain opened locally for business.  In the past year, especially, attention has been focused on 'Do Not Enter' and 'No Left Had Turn' signs that bar those heading into Norway from using the Paris Street entrance.

"If we had it to do all over again," said planning board chairman Dennis Gray, in a telephone interview, "I don't think I'd allow two entrances for Wendy's in the first place."

Still, the damage is done, and since opening her business in April, Campbell estimates that "a half dozen" vehicles per day pull into her parking lot, turn around, and then drive back up to the Wendy's entrance.  This, she feels, is evidence of local residents trying to circumvent the 'No Left Turn' sign by using her lot, which is, as the next curb cut, a convenient off-street location for a quick u-turn.

"The sign that DOT (Maine Department of Transportation) put up is of little value," acknowledged Norway Town Manager David Holt.  "You don't know where you're not supposed to take a left turn.  It [the sign] doesn't seem to help much.  It probably meets the letter of the law that was agreed to at the time, but it doesn't seem to be very practical."

Holt makes it clear that the town wants to be supportive of Campbell's' concerns, and of her new business.

"That building that she has built there is very pretty.  They've done a nice job with it, " said Holt.  "It fits in nice with the buildings on the street.  They took pains with it.  It's too bad that she's having troubles."

Campbell too is very happy with the location, noting that her attempt to bring a "stand-alone" salon to the Oxford Hills area has met with solid public support.  Business, she says, has been "phenomenal," with all three chairs full, and all three stylists booked almost constantly.

"We're mobbed," she said.

That burgeoning success means that her small parking lot, with room enough for only ten cars, is full most of the time.  This leaves little room for rapid turn-arounds, even if, as Holt noted, the practice is not, technically, illegal.

However, those zipping in and out of her lot are only a small part of the problem, observed Campbell.  There are also those who, judging by their rate of speed, seem to think that the Hair Plus parking area is actually the entrance for the Wendy's drive-thru.

"You would think that they'd realize Wendy's would not have a dirt entrance," said Campbell referring to the yet unpaved lot.  "I've seen dust and gravel flying from people coming in so fast."

But the vehicular atrocities do not stop there.  Apart from the rate of speed with which some drivers enter her parking lot, Campbell refers to more serious problems.  She estimates that, since opening her doors, approximately 25 to 30 motorists have not bothered to correct their mistake upon realizing that the Hair Plus parking area does not connect to the Wendy's lot.  These drivers, she said, have simply chosen to drive across the expanse of newly landscaped grass that separates the two businesses.

"One lady said 'Oh, I didn't realize it until I hit the curb,'" recalls the petite 30-year old Campbell, who had rushed out of her business to confront the offender.  "I was like, 'Did you see the grass?  Grass is not an entrance, honey!"

Campbell is quick to point out the irony created by those who are, at least nominally, obeying posted signage when using her lot as an alternate route.  Many commuters, Campbell said, simply ignore the signs and illegally turn into the Wendy's entrance anyway.  While interviewing Campbell last Thursday, at her salon, this reporter was among a dozen witnesses who observed a Wendy's delivery truck — with large blue lettering declaring it to belong to Willow Run Foods — make the prohibited turn.  This is a common occurrence, said Campbell, who cited Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings as the most likely times to view the spectacle.

But Campbell's biggest concern is for safety.  Her agreement with the town requires that she maintain a public easement, allowing local students at the Oxford Hill Comprehensive High School to traverse her property.  Campbell fears that, if corrective action is not taken soon, one of the motorists charging through her lot is eventually going to hurtle headlong into a group of kids walking home from school.

Campbell believes that alterations to signage in the area might alleviate some of the issues.  The large Wendy's sign on Paris Street, along with the access road to the restaurant, actually predates her business.  Both are on her property, and were included as part of an existing easement when she purchased the lot from Tony Morra.  Morra still owns the property where Wendy's is located.

Gray was not able to recall why the planning board allowed Morra to put in this easement, or why it had been deemed preferable to simply having him convey to the Wendy's lot a portion of the lot he would later sell to Campbell.

Campbell says that she understood the easement was there when she purchased her property, but that she did not think it would become "this big of a problem."

Apart from the fact that Campbell receives no financial compensation from Wendy's for the easement on her property, the sign that beat her to the corner has created certain other issues.  Because Norway only allows one sign per lot, and since Wendy's already had a sign on the lot when Hair Plus opened, Campbell has not been able to erect a sign for her own business.

"Every business should have their own sign, it makes perfect sense to me," said Holt.

However, Gray stated that Campbell was aware of the easement when she purchased the property, and that she would have to follow local ordinances which would require her to pay a fee to erect a second sign announcing her own business.

And, because Campbell's husband Randy, who is a contractor, was forced to put the building "right up against the setbacks" in order to accommodate her parking lot, the Wendy's sign actually comes close to being directly in front of her salon. 

Campbell noted that "a half dozen people" have actually come into her salon inquiring if they were in Wendy's.  At that, Campbell silently gestured around her establishment, where three women sat in various stages of remodeling.  It was an expression meant to convey her frustration.  'Does this look like a fast-food joint?" her raised eyebrows seemed to say.

Barring an agreement to move the Wendy's sign closer to the corner, Campbell's other proposed solution would be to give in to those who insist on making the left hand turn into Wendy's.  She stated that she would be willing to enlarge the easement for Wendy's if it meant widening the access road enough to allow the entry of cars coming from both directions. 

"The way they have it laid out now is just ridiculous," Campbell  said.

Unfortunately, this solution is unlikely to fly with the planning board.  According to Gray, when the access road for Wendy's had first been proposed, a traffic study had been conducted.  The result was that MDOT declared Paris Street would have to be widened to create a new turning lane.  That requirement led to the current configuration compromise and would, Gray said, still apply.

Still, Gray noted that the planning board would be willing to listen to any other solution that might come along.  Campbell currently has her attorney seeking a dialogue with representatives from Wendy's, who could not be reached by press time for a comment.  Depending on the outcome of those discussions, Campbell does then intend to address the planning board.

In the meantime, Campbell has an important message for drivers who prioritize hunger over hairstyle.

"People just need to be careful," she said.  "They need to know that the middle of my parking lot is the right-of-way for students."