By Zack Anchors   

Staff Writer

    Residents of two homes that sit at the end of
Edgewood Road may soon be barred from driving down their street if the
South Portland City Council goes forward with a plan to remove access
rights that were granted to the residents six years ago and block the
road. Edgewood Road, which for many years ran from Cottage Road in
South Portland to a dead end just across the border in Cape Elizabeth,
recently became a through road when developer John Frustaci built the
controversial Blueberry Ridge subdivision in Cape Elizabeth that links
Edgewood Road to Mitchell Road. The ongoing debate over what to do with
Edgewood Road is tied into a complex series of issues in the
neighborhood that have a long and contentious history. What has
resulted from that history is a neighborhood splintering apart along
municipal borders with blame for the situation being tossed back and
forth. South Portland residents and officials place blame on the Cape
Elizabeth Planning Board for their handling of Frustaci’s development
and insist that Edgewood Road has become a dangerous cut-through for
trespassing residents who use it like a “drag strip.” Cape Elizabeth
residents and at least one official accuse the South Portland City
Council for pursuing what they say is a drastic measure to seize
private property and compromise public safety and insist that South
Portland claims about traffic and safety problems are heavily
exaggerated.

    At the Dec. 4 City Council meeting councilors
unanimously voted to notify abutters of Edgewood Road that a public
hearing will take place on Jan. 3 regarding city’s plan to amend the
2000 order which discontinued Edgewood Road, turning it from a public
street into a private street. In the original order, the final 25 feet
of the road was reserved by the city so access rights could be granted
to the two Cape Elizabeth homes. At the time, the Blueberry Ridge
development was not connected with Edgewood Road and the city did not
want to leave the Cape residents land locked and unable to leave their
homes without trespassing. South Portland’s intent in discontinuing the
street was to prevent safety and traffic problems that residents feared
might come with the Blueberry Ridge Development when it connected with
Charlotte Street and Edgewood Road.

    The city barricaded Charlotte Street off completely
from Blueberry Ridge, which led Frustaci to sue the city for the
action’s affect on his property's value. The city was eventually
ordered by a court in 2005 to pay Frustaci $380,000 in damages. The
city continues to deal with complications related to that legal matter,
particularly through a dispute with the Maine Municipal Association
over their potential liability in the matter as the insurer of the
road.

    After Edgewood Road became connected to Blueberry
Ridge via Blueberry Road, South Portland posted signs intended to
prevent anyone but residents of Edgewood Road from using it.

    “The city has made an effort to close this off to
everyone but those property owners, but as a practical matter that has
proved impossible,” said South Portland Corporation Counsel Mary Kahl,
who identified those people who use the road as trespassers.

    The result of Edgewood Road becoming a through
street, and the city failing to prevent it being used as such, has been
an increase in traffic and safety concerns, say South Portland
residents of Edgewood Road.

    “Ever since the developer’s road connected to our
discontinued street cars have been going through our neighborhood at
high speeds,” said Julianne Eberl of 54 Edgewood Road in South
Portland. “There’s a rise in the road that causes a blind spot and
people have been going through at 35 or 40 miles per hour and they’re
not supposed to come through—they’re trespassing on the easement.”

    Eberl, who moved to the neighborhood five years ago
because it was quiet and safe, said her road’s link with the new
development has led to more litter in the neighborhood, graffiti, and
young people from the Blueberry Ridge hanging out on her street at
night. She said she is especially concerned because her husband, who
has Parkinson’s Disease, needs a safe place to walk.

    Eberl’s Cape Elizabeth neighbor, Jane Boulos of 60 Edgewood Street, sees things differently.

    “My view is pretty simple—I don’t think there is any
kind of traffic problem,” she said. “We think this has really gotten
blown out of proportion. The city has spent more than $500,000 dollars
on the concerns of a few neighbors.”

    Boulos, who bought her house at the end of Edgewood
Road from Frustaci 13 years ago, said she feels completely safe on her
road and only rarely sees a car use it as a cut-through. If the city
does remove her access rights to Edgewood Road, she would need to drive
through Blueberry Ridge in order to leave the neighborhood.

    Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Phillip McGouldrick, who
lives in South Portland, addressed the council at their Dec. 4 meeting,
speaking against removing the access rights. He told the council, in a
noticeably frustrated tone, that blocking off access to Edgewood Road
from Blueberry Road would compromise resident’s safety.

    He also said that attempts to form partnerships
between the Cape and South Portland fire departments were being
undermined by the council’s actions. Councilor Jim Hughes later pointed
out that the South Portland fire and police departments had informed
the council that blocking off access to Edgewood Street would not
compromise public safety.

    Boulos thinks that her South Portland neighbors are
being motivated by anger about the Blueberry Ridge development, which
supplanted a forested area cherished by the neighborhood. Boulos
herself was not in favor of the development and said she was highly
impacted during its construction. But she said the current debate over
the fate of Edgewood Road should be dealt with as a separate matter.

    When Blueberry Ridge was passing through the Cape
Elizabeth Planning Board, many South Portland residents and officials
felt that their concerns about the development were neglected. That was
in part what led to South Portland’s attempts to block Edgewood Road
and Charlotte Street.

    “The blame for this really falls on the Cape
Elizabeth Planning Board,” said South Portland City Councilor Jim Soule
at the Dec. 4 meeting. “It’s really sad that a board in another town
was not engaged in the process.”

    Debra Samson, who lives across the street from
Boulos said she was sad that the fabric of the neighborhood was being
torn apart by the dispute. She said she had done an informal traffic
study herself, and counted cars passing through the street during rush
hour. In one hour she counted two cars that should not have been
driving through, she said.

    “I know two cars is more than people are used to, but it’s not like it’s a drag strip,” she said.

Other neighbors from the South Portland side of Edgewood Road were just
as adamant that there were indeed traffic problems. Several showed up
at the Nov. 20 council meeting, describing close calls with speeding
cars, expressing frustration that the city had not resolved the issue,
and suggesting that city seize the easement granted to Boulos and
Samson through eminent domain.

    At a council workshop the next week, and later in an
executive session, councilors considered using eminent domain, but
ultimately decided on a slightly different tactic. Instead of removing
rights to the final 25 feet of Edgewood Road by eminent domain, the
council would simply amend the ordinance that granted that easement in
the first place.

    “It’s two different ways to accomplish the same thing,” said Kahl at the Dec. 4 council meeting.

    Bruce McLaughlin, an attorney representing the Cape
Elizabeth residents of Edgewood said at the Dec 4 meeting that whether
the city used eminent domain or not it must be shown that their action
is being taken for the public’s benefit. He said that while a few South
Portland residents might benefit from the easement being removed, Cape
residents would be harmed. He also raised questions about the
methodology used by an appraiser who determined that the value of the
Cape Elizabeth properties would not be harmed if their Edgewood Road
access were cut off. McLaughlin suggested that the item be tabled, a
traffic study be conducted, a new appraisal be completed and advised
the council to consider the legal consequences of their actions more
fully.

    “If you don’t table this and do take action, there will be legal consequences,” McLaughlin said.

    The majority of the council appeared unswayed by the
arguments of either McLaughlin or his clients. Maxine Beecher, Linda
Boudreau, Ralph Baxter and Jim Hughes, all stated their support for the
amendment. Councilors Kay Loring and Jim Soule said they had many
questions that needed to be answered before they could make a decision.
Claude Morgan, sworn in hours before as South Portland’s new mayor,
appeared to be leaning toward removing the access rights.

    The council voted to change the date of the public
hearing to Jan. 2 in order to consider the legal complexities of the
matter and allow time for any questions from councilors to be answered.


    The council will address the matter at their next council workshop also.