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Nonresident Lakefront Property Owners "Don't Have a Say"

April 27, 2008 - To the editor:

The key stakeholders in the Naples bridge controversy are the 1000 plus homes and summer places lining the shores of Long Lake and Brandy Pond, located in Bridgton and Harrison, as well as in Naples. Add to the foregoing, the numerous contractors, marinas, service and recreational businesses that provide jobs for many in the area. These stakeholders pay a disproportionate share of our real estate taxes yet place few students in our school system and require minimal public services. The majority of these stakeholders maintain a legal residency elsewhere. The proposed referendum, which I assume was encouraged by MDOT, is just a means of making sure those stakeholders "from away" don't have a say.

I had the opportunity to interview a fly on the wall at MDOT. An exact translation was difficult, but you'll get the drift. The following are excerpts of office chatter at MDOT. -- "Naples needs a new bridge -- that's a turning bridge, but we've already got some drawings for a neat drawbridge we were going to use elsewhere -- and although the drawbridge cost 20% more than the turning bridge it opens faster so let's do it! There's a bond issue coming up so we'll take $11 million from that and use the remainder for projects 2, 3 and 4." Plans were drawn, presented to the town, the bond issue was passed, and it was a Go!

Fast forward a year or so and my fly on the wall hears "WHOOPS -- that Naples bridge is going to be $18 million, not $11 million; not only that, but the cost of projects 2, 3, and 4 have also skyrocketed. Even if we just replaced the turning bridge it will cost $14 million. We don't want to have to go back and tell projects 3 and 4 there's no money, so let's dump the drawbridge, throw in a fixed bridge for $6 million in Naples and offer to fix the sea wall and railing as an enticement, and we'll have enough left over to do projects 2, 3, and 4. We'll have another meeting to get input from the locals." Well, that didn't work; a majority of those attending were upset at losing a 200-year-old historical waterway and concerned about the impact on tourism by closing the waterway to sailboats, the Songo River Queen II and working craft, e.g. the barge crane.

Back to MDOT and my fly on the wall. "We need more input, let's encourage a referendum because the "taxpayers from away" can't vote. Let's make it clear that Naples taxpayers will have to come up with $3 million if we replace their worn-out bridge that opens with a new bridge that opens." Augusta takes 8% of your income. They take a 5% sales tax on most things you buy. They take your gas tax and divert some of that to the general fund so the legislature can spend it on their pet projects. When they run out of money up in Augusta they reduce state funding to our schools requiring an increase in local real estate taxes.

Asking Naples residents to cough up money for needed repairs on state highways and bridges is nonsense. Route 302 is part of the National Highway System, a classification given only to 4% of the road miles in Maine. Roads classified as NHS roads carry 40% of the state's highway volume. MDOT can get the $14 million the same way they got the $11 million. They should have replaced the turning bridge in a timely manner and passed on the grandiose schemes. They now need to reallocate their priorities until they have the $14 million to do it right. Governor Baldacci has just given them a giant step forward by making another $160 million available over the next four years.

Traffic is the major complaint. No, the bridge does not open 1500 times a year. Naples has control over the amount of traffic it will tolerate. The selectmen can limit the number of openings to three times? -- 2 times? -- or whatever makes sense and not kill tourism on the causeway. Boaters will just have to live with it and it won't kill the pontoon boats to lower their Bimini tops. But once you nail the coffin lid shut with a fixed span, that's the end of the 200-year-old waterway. Vote for the opening span, and then go to town meeting and tell selectmen to only open the bridge once a day or whatever suits your fancy. But please don't let MDOT walk all over us.

A final suggestion to MDOT. If the bridge on the road to the governor's house collapsed, I'm sure MDOT would find the money to do a quick repair. Well, I have good news for you; his bridge is okay so you can use that money to fix our bridge.

Peter Hathaway
Naples

This letter to the editor appeared in the Bridgton News, April 24, 2008

Lakes: Brandy Pond, Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


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