Planning Board worried about existing Wal-Mart

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (May 5, 2005): Members of the Scarborough Planning Board worried Monday about the fate of an existing Wal-Mart, slated to be vacated after construction of a new 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter across the street.

At a hearing where Wal-Mart developers had hoped to get final approval, the board refused to grant that, saying there were state and federal permits outstanding and other issues remaining unresolved.

The board also indicated they might impose new restrictions on the project, which would put a 212,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, a 138,000-square-foot Lowe’s, four 75,000-square-foot “high-turnover” restaurants and a 75,000-square-foot retail space on 90 wooded acres between Spring Street, Mussey Road and the Maine Turnpike spur to Route 1.

The new restrictions could mean that Wal-Mart would face a penalty if the company’s existing store remained vacant for too long after the new store opens. The board did not mention any particular timelines.

Board member Susan Auglis raised the first concern, asking if there could be a “penalty” if the building were left vacant, as many former Wal-Marts have been around the country.

Town Attorney Chris Vaniotis said the board could grant a time-restricted approval to the existing Wal-Mart property, which must be modified to allow a new road to cross the parking lot if the larger project is to be approved.

Board member Bill Shanahan said he wanted a timeline as well. “So much effort’s gone into rebuilding this area” that it would be bad to have a large vacant lot amid Payne Road’s booming development.

Board member Mark Porada suggested the building be demolished “so that you don’t have an empty box sitting there for years.”

Board Chairman Mike Wood said he wants to “protect the town as to what this site might look like and how it might be used” after the Wal-Mart Supercenter opens, which is slated for mid-2006.

The board reviewed several elements of the project and tabled the entire set of proposals until sometime in late May or early June.

Editorial: Changing times

Published in the Current

(May 5, 2005): The problem with a legislative proposal pushed by Cape Town Councilor Mike Mowles and sponsored by Republican Rep. Kevin Glynn of South Portland is not that changing from Eastern Time to Atlantic Time would probably make us all feel better.

And Mowles is right to think that having an extra hour of daylight in the evening might be more fun, could be safer and would likely save us money on energy bills.

The problem isn’t that Maine is way out east of the rest of the United States and with different national boundaries might actually be in the Atlantic Time Zone.

It’s also an interesting point that the rest of New England, still on Eastern Time, would think it was the same time as Maine all summer long, when they would go on daylight-saving time and we would not.

While we’d be even more isolated in winter than before, perhaps the summertime adjustment would reduce some of the worst problems for the big tourist season.

The real problem is that the proposal doesn’t pass the straight-face test, a requirement if the issue is to pass a statewide referendum.

We were surprised to learn of the proposal from Mowles last week, when he was fresh from testifying for it in Augusta. And two people sitting nearby, who heard his exuberance in favor of the idea, immediately chimed in with the instinctive questions we all have:

What about the economy? Would putting Maine an hour ahead of the country make us even less of a place businesses would look at as a serious option? What about scheduling appointments with people in other states? What about making phone calls to family and friends elsewhere? Will other New England states go along with it? Should we change something that has worked for years, just to make ourselves feel better?

But behind this particular legislative request for extra daylight, something darker lurks.

The fact that the State and Local Government Committee members went for it unanimously paints a frightening picture of what really goes on in the Statehouse.

If lawmakers are so out of touch with actual Mainers that they believe we would all come around to their point of view if only we understood reality – we need “education,” as the public-relations folks say – they are hopelessly far from understanding what else might actually make life better here.

But then again, as we wake up each black morning to the foibles and whims of those elected to represent us, maybe we could use that extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day, to make us feel a little better about it all.

National pride

Bethany Roy should be very proud of herself, and her family, her school and community should be too.

Roy, known to many around Cape Elizabeth as a participant in more activities and groups than any of us can remember, has been named a Presidential Scholar and will be honored in Washington, D.C., though she may not be there because of a family trip.

The honor has been conferred on only two people from Maine this year, and is given to fewer than 150 of the most promising high school seniors nationwide.

Congratulations to her, and to those who have taught, helped and supported her along the way, and continue to do so today.

Jeff Inglis, editor

Senior center gathers steam

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (April 25, 2005): A Scarborough town councilor is teaming up with local seniors to back a $1 million referendum to build a senior center on the old drive-in property.

The bond would pay for a 5,000-square-foot building that would be constructed on the property named Memorial Park last week.

A draft of the proposed building is expected to be unveiled at a lunch meeting Thursday, May 26, at noon at the Hillcrest Community Center.

At an April 21 joint meeting of two town senior-citizen groups, Senior Series and Senior Voices, Town Council Chairman Jeff Messer offered the seniors a two-acre section of town-owned land, which was recently rejected by a group looking to build a YMCA.

He also said he would “try to gather the support politically on the council to make sure the question gets on the ballot” in November, which would require council action by early September. He estimated the bond would cost 2 or 3 cents on the tax rate.

“I think the time has come for seniors to have a place to call their own,” Messer told the group assembled at Scarborough Downs. He recalled the failure of the 2000 referendum on a community center, which would have included space for senior activities.

“We don’t have a senior center, and I think everybody here would be anxious to have one at some point,” Messer said.

While he said he would work within town government to get the question out to voters, “the seniors would have to be front and center from here to Election Day,” mobilizing voters to support the measure.

Messer asked the seniors to think of suggestions for what they want in a senior center, so the town can come up with a plan for a building where “seniors would have priority,” though if seniors were not using the space at a particular time the center “would have rooms available for other groups.”

He said the land became available when the Y turned down the two-acre parcel because it was too small for a building the size the Y is envisioning. Messer said the senior center would not have to have a gym or other large, expensive amenities, in part because of the Y.

“The YMCA has a lot of momentum” and may fill many of the roles of a community center, he said, but “the seniors really need to have something of their own.”

Sharing the load

The effort has brought together two groups, one private, organized and led by Elizabeth McCann – Senior Voices, which meets at Scarborough Downs – and the other town-sponsored and hosted by the Hillcrest Manufactured Housing Community, Senior Series.

“We’re happy that we’re going to be together a lot more,” McCann said at the first joint meeting of the groups.

One member of the audience proposed the two groups join permanently. Messer urged the groups to “act as one voice on this question,” whether or not they joined administratively.

Marty Craine, vice chairman of Senior Voices, backed the idea. “We better get out there and talk to people about this,” he said, suggesting groups use their membership lists and other contacts.

Ted Tibbals, who has attended meetings of both groups, spoke passionately in favor of the idea, and asked rhetorically who wasn’t in favor of it. When one woman, who had been worried about the proposal’s cost, raised her hand, it sent ripples of surprise through the room.

Tibbals suggested the senior center include meeting space; facilities for movies, slides and music; an office; a conference room for three or four people; a small exercise room with treadmill and exercise bike “with very limited equipment;” storage space and a kitchen because “certainly we’re going to want to have some meals.”

Other suggestions included an area for a monthly health clinic that could “start with a good scale” and perhaps include a visit from a nurse from time to time. Community Services would have offices in the building, according to Director Bruce Gullifer, but would also look for volunteers to help staff it.

Town Councilor Carol Rancourt, who works at the Southern Maine Agency on Aging, suggested that seniors take trips – perhaps organized by the town – to visit other nearby senior centers to evaluate their buildings and programs.

Tibbals said he liked the idea that seniors would have priority, because, even though the Downs and Hillcrest are generous to share their space, they’re not available whenever seniors want to use them.

“The important thing is we all work together,” he said, broadening his exhortation to the whole community.

“I’m not anti-education, but if I’m willing to approve these school projects, I’m willing to approve a senior center,”he said. “If the school department wants us to support their projects, they darn well better support ours.”

Political timing

Messer said the timing of this question in November is key to its success. Next year the schools are expecting to have a multi-million-dollar referendum on the ballot, to renovate and expand existing schools, or to construct new ones.

“November of 2005 is the most opportune time,” he said, also because it is an off-year election, in which seniors tend to vote far more often than younger people. In off-years, Messer estimated, at least half of the voters are senior citizens.

But, he said, with seniors making up about one-third of the town’s voters, younger people would do well to support seniors’ efforts, in hopes that the seniors would back the big school projects in the future.

Craine said seniors would continue to support education in town.

“We backed the schools, and we always will, and we’ll be backing another one,” he said, calling this year “the best shot that we’ll ever have” to get a senior center, which he said is “long overdue in this community.”

Town Manager Ron Owens said the town wants “to develop a project here that will be supported by the entire community,” and promised to “try to manage it to keep that cost down to the taxpayer.”

One senior asked if it would be better to convert the Bessey School into a center. Messer said that would cost $2.5 million to $3 million to refit, when a new building could be built for under $1 million and could later be expanded. Gullifer said the Memorial Park site could support an addition of 2,000 or 3,000 square feet to an original 5,000-square-foot building, and cautioned the seniors to “be careful not to outprice" themselves when coming up with ideas for the building.

Other questions included whether the building should be called a “senior center” on the ballot. One senior suggested calling it a “community center” instead.

“If it’s tagged a senior facility, we’re in the minority, it won’t fly,” said one senior.

Another asked if the school expansion project might leave available a building that could be, in part, a senior center, perhaps joined with a teen center and some town or school office space.

Land found for Higgins Beach cottages

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (April 21, 2005): A real estate agent has found land for up to two Higgins Beach cottages of five a local developer donated for Habitat for Humanity.

The agent, Rita Yarnold of Bay Realty, declined to say where the land is or provide any other details, because the deal is not yet secure.

A Higgins Beach developer, who wishes to remain anonymous, has offered Habitat for Humanity five cottages on Kelly Lane, if the housing group can find land for them. The developer declined to comment for this story.

Yarnold, who is also president of the Portland Board of Realtors, has represented him in the sales of five large homes built along Kelly Lane in the past two years, and is representing him in the sale of a house now under construction on the road. She said she proposed the idea of donating houses to the developer in late 2004.

Yarnold said she would also likely represent any future development along the lane. The land on which the cottages sit, listed as about an acre in town records, is valued by the town at $240,000, and the buildings are valued at $180,000.

Until recently, vacationers rented the cottages for $1,000 a week, Yarnold said. They have wide-board flooring and cathedral ceilings, and were originally cottages on the ground. The present owner’s mother owned them previously and raised them onto tall foundations to add space, Yarnold said.

The Portland Board of Realtors has partnered with the local Habitat for Humanity group, to help Habitat find land on which to either build houses or move donated houses, according to Steve Bolton, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland.

“They are out searching for land like crazy as we speak,” he said.

The group usually needs to find three lots a year, so five is a big number, he said. It’s especially challenging because of the booming housing market.

“A lot of the lots we used to get, the ones the builders didn’t want, are now profitable for the builders,” Bolton said.

‘Freedom Park’ to be proposed as name

Published in the Current

SCARBOROUGH (April 21, 2005): The Scarborough Town Council was expected to hear a recommendation that the new town park on the old drive-in property be named "Freedom Park" at its meeting Wednesday night, after the Current’s deadline.

Jack Cowie III, chairman of the Community Services and Recreation Advisory Board, was to make the recommendation at the meeting. The recommendation was also to include the concept that other elements of the park, including the gazebo and a walking trail, be given specific names in honor of prominent citizens or local history.

And Cowie told the Current Tuesday he would suggest to councilors that the park be “an unscheduled open space” whose fields are available on a first-come, first-served basis to the general public, without a reservation.

That would allow people to have a place for outdoor recreation, without running into the problem of “youth sports or adult rental occupying 100 percent of the space 100 percent of the time,” Cowie said.

“Right now it’s all about prescribed, organized sports,” he said. The multi-purpose field, which will be ready to be played on this fall, is now slated to be used for various Community Services programs and to be available for travel teams and adult leagues to reserve on a regular basis, Cowie said.

But that means other community groups, and private citizens, are kept off the fields, which is a problem for some members of the board, he said.

The park name was the subject of some study, including solicitations to the public for suggestions. Some names that resulted were "Underhill Farm," suggested by the Historical Society, and "Owascoag," a Native American word meaning “place of much grass.”

Cowie said he ruled out "Owascoag" because he didn’t want to “stir the pot” of political correctness, which was last hot when the Scarborough High School team name was changed from Redskins to Red Storm.

And because the family that owned Underhill Farm, which was on the land where the park now sits, had not donated the land to the town, he decided not to choose that name, either.

The board voted, and the top vote-getter was "Veterans Park," followed by "Memorial Park," "Oak Hill Park," "Community Park" and then "Freedom Park" in fifth place, Cowie said.

But Freedom Park had “what I felt was the most compelling support statement,” that “in the aftermath of 9/11 we have a lot to be grateful for.”

While Veterans Park would commemorate the sacrifices of members of the military, after 9/11 people are more appreciative of “everybody who serves in public service,” notably police, firefighters and ambulance workers.

“Freedom Park would allow support and recognition of everybody, including veterans,” Cowie said.

He said the board also wanted to provide opportunities to give names to “sub-elements of the park, like the walking trail that goes around it, (and) the gazebo.” He said Underhill could be a name used for one of those items, and something else could be named in memory of Clifford “Kippy” Mitchell, a longtime town employee and volunteer who died recently.