By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

    South Portland city officials were expected to meet
behind closed doors Wednesday night to discuss a Feb. 8 Superior Court
ruling granting two Cape Elizabeth households a permanent injunction
against the city to stop it from blocking their access across a
discontinued portion of Edgewood Road.

    The court order is the latest development in a
dispute that dates back to at least 2000, when the city considered
discontinuing the final 25 feet of Edgewood Road to prevent developer
Joseph Frustaci from connecting his Cape Elizabeth subdivision to
Edgewood Road in South Portland. The discontinuance would have blocked
road access for two Cape Elizabeth homes and in December 2000, the city
council opted to retain easements for Christopher and Jayne Boulos of
60 Edgewood Road and Debra Sampson and Daniel Maguire of 59 Edgewood
Road. According to those Cape Elizabeth residents, however, the city
never delivered the easements.

    Frustaci later built a road connecting his
development to the Cape Elizabeth portion of Edgewood Road. As a
result, the owners of the Boulos and Sampson lots were able to access
their homes from both Cape Elizabeth and South Portland. Consequently,
residents of the subdivision and others were also able to use the
connection as a shortcut between Cottage Road and Mitchell Road over
what the city considered private property. As a result, South Portland
residents began to  complain about traffic from the subdivision.

    In February 2007, the city council voted to
invalidate the easements retained by the Boulos and Sampson households.
In March 2007, Bruce McGlauflin, an attorney representing the owners,
requested the city provide the easement deeds. South Portland City
Attorney Mary Kahl said the easements were never drafted and because
they do not exist, the city had no obligation to honor them or
compensate the Cape Elizabeth residents for taking those rights.
McGlauflin filed a request for a permanent injunction in July 2007.

    “We know it leaves us with rights on Edgewood Road
that the city cannot block without taking some sort of action to pay
for those rights,” McGlauflin said of the judge’s ruling.
“Theoretically the city could take an eminent domain action to take and
compensate my clients for the easement rights just like they could with
any road. They’d have to have a legitimate, public interest to justify
that action and we don’t think they can justify that here because
there’s really no traffic problem. We would hope if they do take
further action, it would be to cooperate with Cape Elizabeth to manage
the traffic going through there.”

    Jayne Boulos said there continues to be no noticeable traffic or safety issues on the street.

    “We were very happy with the judge’s decision,” she
said. “I’m hoping that this closes this matter once and for all. This
has taken up a lot of time and effort and energy that I certainly could
have spent in other ways.”

    A call to the Sampson household was not immediately returned.

    Norman, Hanson and DeTroy attorney Paul Driscoll is
expected to stand in for Kahl at Wednesday’s meeting, which occurred
after the Sentry’s press time.

    Kahl is on vacation.