Police station road to move forward as planned
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In a 3-2 vote Monday after about an hour of contentious debate, the Board of Selectmen approved building the police station connector road as originally designed. The decision presumably ends negotiations with York’s Wild Kingdom owner Joe Barberi to combine the police station road with that of the zoo and amusement park at Route 1.
It also alleviates a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers order to move rocks stockpiled on wetlands that were originally planned to be crushed into gravel for the new road.
Moving the rocks off site could have cost up to $ 590,000, according to Town Manager Rob Yandow. Selectman Scott Fiorentino made the motion to stay with the original road plan, which was seconded by Selectwoman Mary Andrews and approved with Selectwoman Kinley Gregg’s vote. Board of Selectmen Chairman Ron Nowell and Selectman Torbert Macdonald voted against.
Selectmen earlier this year approved moving forward with the design of the station and the road only from Ridge Road to the station. Both the police station and full road now go forward to the Planning Board as one project, according to Fiorentino. However, Nowell said the Planning Board can’t approve anything until a boundary dispute with York’s Wild Kingdom is resolved.
Also, the Planning Board has said it won’t approve the road without a signal light at Route 1. Voters in May rejected the $ 525,000 expense. Fiorentino has suggested building the road but not opening it until the light goes in, either at the expense of the town or the state.
Nowell denied Fiorentino’s assertion that he was trying to dismantle the project, first by changing the location of the road and then the station. Both Nowell and Macdonald have said Route 1 next to the York’s Wild Kingdom road is a better location for the station. “There’s been a perception …
myself and Torbert Macdonald are dragging this out. It’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Nowell said, adding later, “It’s held up because it’s flawed.” Macdonald said for reasons of public safety, town officials should meet with regulatory agencies to find out if it’s feasible to combine the two roads.
There is no price on a human life, he said. Prior to the meeting, Yandow gave selectmen an estimated cost of $ 500,000 to combine the two roads at Route 1. Barberi told him he would want the town to build a private way for York’s Wild Kingdom to access its north parking lot.
Andrews said what she hears from people is, “‘two people on this board will do anything to stop this project.’ That’s not me, that’s opinion of the public. The public has had enough.” Gregg said, “There’s too much fickleness and lack of direction by the chair.
We need to move forward. I’m going to get with the program, given the money and time devoted to (the project).” Voters in 2011 approved $ 8.4 million to build a police station and road from Ridge Road to the station to Route 1.
Construction stalled over issues of over-cutting, stockpiling rock on wetlands and land-ownership issues. Nowell said despite repeatedly asking, he still has no answers as to who is responsible. Andrews told Nowell it was up to him as chairman to get information from the town manager.
“I just lost confidence in the town manager, due to this project and any number of other projects,” Nowell said. Macdonald said he looked forward to the board hiring a new town attorney, as it was in the process of doing, “to take a fresh look at this thing.”
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