An East Boothbay resident asked the board of selectmen Oct. 12 if a Maine Department of Transportation sidewalk project impacted the proposed roundabout construction on Route 27. Jean Reese-Gibson began wondering about the proposal after discovering a March 2018 MDOT project extending a sidewalk from Back River Road to the Adams Pond reservoir.

“Does this impact the referendum vote, and if so, why haven’t we had more details about it?” Reese-Gibson asked. She also questioned why a sidewalk leads to a reservoir which doesn’t allow swimming or other bodily contact.

Reese-Gibson found the DOT project a couple weeks ago on the agency’s website. The sidewalk extension heads .89 miles north from Back River Road to the reservoir. According to the DOT website, the project has a $670,000 cost.

But town officials were as surprised as Reese-Gibson about the project. They were unaware of it.

”This is the first we’ve heard about it too,” said Selectman Dale Harmon. “I’ve contacted a couple people at DOT I deal with working for the water district, but I haven’t heard anything.” Town officials will contact DOT officials to see if this project is part of the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Sidewalk Project. In 2012, the town entered into an agreement with neighboring Boothbay Harbor and DOT to create a sidewalk beginning at the Boothbay Region YMCA to Clifford Park. The project was slated to begin in March 2017. The project is delayed until March 2018 due to the town’s referendum vote on the Route 27 re-development plan.

Town Manager Dan Bryer said no municipal funds had been approved for the sidewalk extension to the reservoir. Bryer said he’d contact Jeffrey Tweedie, an assistant multi-modal project manager, listed on the DOT website as the contact person. 

Reese-Gibson provided town officials with a printout of the DOT website detailing information about the project. The page describes the work as “multimodal” and part of the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Sidewalk Project.

In other action, the selectmen viewed the Boothbay Region Community Television-produced video about the roundabout. The selectmen approved $6,375 in July for BRCTV volunteers Ryan Leighton and Cody Mitchell to produce an informational video. The two showed the video, a 12-minute presentation featuring interviews with DOT Traffic Engineer Steve Landry, Blue Hill Selectman James Schatz and Blue Hill Harbor Master Dennis Robertson.

According to Leighton, the video’s purpose was to interview people “who know the facts” and “debunk misinformation” about the proposed roundabout. The selectmen were pleased with the video.

“I liked how you didn’t get wrapped up in the politics of it and interviewed the people down in Blue Hill,” said Selectman Steve Lewis. “They were in the same spot we are now. At first, people (Blue Hill residents) were against it, and now they love it.”

The video will be seen on BRCTV’s local access cable channel and website and the town of Boothbay’s website, possibly as soon as Monday, Oct. 17, according to Leighton and Mitchell.

The selectmen will meet next at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in the municipal building.