Airport plan passes, 3-2
The crowd continues to build before the start of the July 22 Wiscasset selectmen’s meeting. The draw was the board’s consideration of an airport master plan that, among other things, addresses a safety issue with the runway’s airspace. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
The crowd continues to build before the start of the July 22 Wiscasset selectmen’s meeting. The draw was the board’s consideration of an airport master plan that, among other things, addresses a safety issue with the runway’s airspace. SUSAN JOHNS/Wiscasset Newspaper
Wiscasset now has the airport master plan it needs to launch negotiations with Chewonki Campground. Selectmen’s narrow approval of the plan inside a packed meeting room on July 22 cleared the way for those talks, but a lawyer for the campground said the talks would only succeed if more studies are done on how to resolve issues with the runway’s airspace.
Some of the campground’s trees are sticking into the airspace, raising a safety issue at the town-owned airport, while also sparking strong concerns about what the trees’ removal could do to the longtime family business.
Tuesday night’s turnout of about 50 people included pilots, airport neighbors, longtime campground patrons and others.
The airport and campground are both assets for Wiscasset, several speakers agreed.
Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish predicted a win-win outcome for the campground and the town over the airspace issue. He said he didn’t know what that outcome will look like, and it won’t be easy to get there. But he thinks the community can do it, he said.
The biggest issue during talks is likely to be the possibility of an easement on campground property, according to Gerrish.
Campground co-owner Pam Brackett has spoken against that prospect. She reiterated her stance at Tuesday’s meeting. “An easement is not just or right,” Brackett told selectmen.
Selectmen’s Chairman Pam Dunning and members Tim Merry and Jeff Slack put the master plan through, with changes the town’s consultants recommended; Vice Chairman Ben Rines Jr. and member Bill Barnes opposed passage.
The safety issue with the airspace could result in someone getting hurt or killed, Merry said.
If the campground doesn’t agree to an easement, Rines doubted the town would take one by imminent domain. “I don’t think the town has the stomach to ...,” he said.
Dunning emphasized that the master plan’s approval frees up funding to let the talks go forward, but the board can always change the plan.
“A week from now, (selectmen) can vote that they don’t like the plan and throw it away and start over,” she said.
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