By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    The City of South Portland has received the much
anticipated response to the council’s decision to discontinue the final
25 feet of  Edgewood Road from the Cape Elizabeth residents living
at 59 and 60 Edgewood. On March 21, Bruce McGlauflin, attorney for
Debra Sampson of 59 Edgewood and Chris and Jayne Boulos of 60 Edgewood,
sent a letter to city attorney Mary Kahl stating his clients would not
be appealing the city’s decision despite their opposition to it.

    According to McGlauflin’s letter, “there is no
reason to appeal the order because it does not alter the private
easement rights of the owners of 59 and 60 Edgewood Road.” He
continued, “A discontinuance order terminates public easement rights
only and has no effect whatsoever on private easement rights.”
McGlauflin said the city has always referred to the easements as
private and the only way to terminate the rights is to seize them
through eminent domain.  

    “I don’t agree with that obviously or I would not
have recommended to the council that this can be done,” Kahl said last
Friday. “I am not aware of any reason why the city cannot amend a
discontinuance order.”

    McGlauflin also said the easement deeds that granted
the rights to the Cape Elizabeth residents in December 2000, are
missing from the public record. That order called for councilors to
accept quitclaim deeds for the discontinued sections of both Charlotte
Street and Edgewood Road, grant access easements to the two Cape
Elizabeth residents, and allow for mediation between neighbors.

    “I am sure that you would agree that had Order No.
89-00/01 been faithfully followed, the recent order amending the 2000
discontinuance would not authorize the city to block access to Mr.
& Mrs. Boulos and Ms. Sampson,” McGlauflin stated in the letter.

    McGlauflin submitted a Maine Freedom of Access Act
Request to Kahl, asking for all correspondence regarding the 2000 order
and the easement deeds.  

    Last Friday, Kahl said the city does have on file
deeds for the South Portland abutters on both Charlotte Street and
Edgewood Road, but “it appear(ed) that the (Cape Elizabeth) deeds may
not have been drafted or issued through administrative oversight.” Kahl
said if it was an administrative oversight, the blame rests on the city
and the property owners. If the deeds were never drafted, she said the
responsibility lies with “some combination of me and the property
owners themselves for not requesting them.” McGlauflin said although he
wasn’t involved with the case in 2000, he believes his clients were not
aware of the process. The second part of the 2000 order asked the
council to “authorize the City Manager (Jeff Jordan) to execute and
deliver easements  granting vehicular and pedestrian access and
utility access to the owners of the two developed lots on Edgewood in
Cape Elizabeth.” Furthermore the order stated, “A reservation of access
rights was also a part of the discontinuance order.”

    Kahl said she did “remember discussion about also
writing easements for them in addition to the reservation in the
discontinuance, but (she) did not find anything further on this in
(her) files.” In a letter to Cape Elizabeth Planning Board members,
dated May 28, 2002; however, Kahl metions such easements as existing,
stating “If Red Oak Drive is built as shown on the plan, thus providing
vehicular access to the two house lots already developed through the
Town of Cape Elizabeth, the City is prepared to legally extinguish the
easements, making Edgewood a dead end street 25 feet short of the
municipal boundary.” 

    “If the city promised and made representations about
private easements and the owners of 59 and 60 relied on the promises,
the city can not now claim that the easements don’t exist, “ said
McGlauflin.

    On March 27, Chris and Jayne Boulos and Debra
Sampson submitted a memo to South Portland city councilors while also
sending copies to City Manager Ted Jankowski, Cape Elizabeth Town
Manager Michael McGovern, and the Cape Elizabeth Town Council. In the
memo, the Cape Elizabeth residents stated they had uncovered “numerous
old emails and communication within the City relative to this
matter...(and) we believe there have been years of poor legal advice
from your Corporate Counsel, as well as participating in inappropriate
and unprofessional ‘backroom’ strategies to do anything possible to
work around our private rights with the ultimate goal of closing
Edgewood Road.”

    The residents asked South Portland officials to keep
the road open as the most recent discontinuance order had no effect on
their legal rights.

    Jankowski said the city would move forward with
plans to block the road as soon as the construction season begins.

    He said Public Works would design a barrier, taking
into account the recommendations of people in the neighborhood and
public safety officials.

    “We don’t have definite plans for what we’re going to do, but we’re going to do something,” he said.

    McGlauflin concluded his letter to Kahl by stating
although his clients have no current plans to appeal the city’s
decision, if the road is closed, their position may change.

    “That is not to say that they will not take legal
action if and when the City physically blocks their access to Edgewood
Road in South Portland,” he stated. “The City can avoid that
confrontation by properly recognizing the private easement rights and
by issuing the easement deeds that were ordered and promised in 2000.
It would then be appropriate for the City to consider the legal option
it may have for terminating those private rights.”