05/10/2011

Council votes to complete funding for Shore Road path project

To cheers and applause from supporters, the Town Council on May 9, 2011 voted unanimously to use $75,000 in infrastructure-improvement funds to complete funding of the Shore Road path.

The council decision to use the funds comes on the heels of the Maine Department of Transportation award of $729,000 to help fund the project. The grant, combined with private and previously budgeted Town funds, left the project $75,000 short of full funding.

The motion passed 6-0 by the council May 9 formally accepted the MDOT funds, as well as $100,000 raised by the private "Safe Access For Everyone" organization. Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta, who has voted in favor of path-related issues, was not present at the meeting.

"I want to thank all of the folks who worked so hard on this project, this is a very exciting time for our town," said council Chairman David Sherman. "Even the folks who had been opposed and who have ultimately supported it, I appreciate that as well," he said.

A dozen speakers, some of them children, were on hand May 9 to support the vote. "My only regret is that my children are grown and will not enjoy walking to school or to Fort Williams," said Olde Colony Lane resident Mary Ann Lynch, who was on the Town Council when it appointed a citizen committee to formulate a plan for a Shore Road pathway in 2007.

While Lynch's view was shared by most of those speaking, others expressed the same concerns that have been voiced all along. Karen Holmes, also of Olde Colony Lane, said she agreed that Shore Road is unsafe for pedestrians and bikers, but doubted a path would solve the problem. As long there are people who drive too fast on winding corners, Holmes said, "I'm not certain Shore Road will ever be safe."

Another Olde Colony Lane resident, Nelson Silva, asked if the private SAFE organization could not be given until October to raise the $200,000 it set out to do last June when the Town applied for the MDOT grant. Town Manager Michael McGovern said that is an option, but the delay may cause MDOT to withdraw the funds. "There is a real danger with any MDOT project," McGovern said. "If you're not moving forward, there is a danger of it being pulled. The funding gap could end up being a lot more than $75,000," he said.

The $75,000 appropriation will come from the Infrastructure Improvement Fund, established in 2007 to help pay for municipal infrastructure improvements and funded by a percentage of building permit fees. The fund will have a projected balance of $105,000 on June 30. Any unused monies from the $75,000 appropriation would go back to the fund.

At the time of the grant application last June, officials hoped a $110,000 Town investment from a 2008 bond issue for town center improvements, plus a $200,000 pledge of private funds, would demonstrate a strong local commitment to the project.

The project will ultimately be funded this way:
MDOT Grant................................................ $729,000
Town Center Sidewalk Account ....................$60,000
Balance Remaining of 2008 bond Funding .. $26,000
PACTS Credit Program ................................ $40,000
Projected Local Donations from SAFE ........ $100,000
Infrastructure Improvement Fund ............... $75,000
Subtotal ................................................. $1,030,000

The total cost includes a 10-percent contingency, which could not have been funded at present without the $75,000 appropriation.

Sara Lennon, the councilor who made the funding motion May 9, said she looked at the Shore Road project as a bargain for the Town. "We're getting a million dollar, incredible pathway, that we've been trying to get for 25 years," she said. "I consider this the best bargain I've seen in a long time," Lennon said.

Also voting in favor of funding was Councilor Jessica Sullivan, who was one of two councilors voting against the MDOT grant application last June. "I did not support personally the Shore Road pathway, but I am sure it's going to be a reality, and when it is I certainly want it to be successful," she said. She had several questions about how Town funds being used for the path would affect other needs, including sidewalks on the Town Center. McGovern said fully implementing sidewalk improvement plans would cost more than $1 million. "There's always going to be sidewalks that need work," McGovern said.

The Shore Road grant was the only project statewide to be awarded the full amount requested in MDOT's biennial transportation improvement program, McGovern said.