Five of six Boothbay property owners settled their eminent domain cases with the State Land Commission over a June 2018 Maine Department of Transportation road improvement project. The state exercised its power of eminent domain over six parcels at the intersection of Spofford Lane and Barters Island Road resulting from the Barters Island Bridge reconstruction. The only unresolved case was Virginia Delaney-Black, trustee of Virginia Delaney-Black Estate of Grosse Point, Michigan. Her property is on Barters Island Road.

The state sent her a check for $510, but according to attorney Jim Billings, who represented MDOT, Delaney-Black never received the check and failed to settle the case. The commission scheduled a Dec. 8 hearing at the Boothbay municipal building to resolve the matter. County Commissioner Hamilton Meserve was one of three land commissioners appointed to hear the case. Two others appointees, lawyer John David Kennedy and certified appraiser Lowell Sherwood Jr., were excused from the hearing.

“The first check was never cashed so it was canceled, and she will be sent another one. She isn’t challenging the amount, she only wants to receive the check before settling,” he said.

Since no one represented the Delaney-Black Trust during the hearing, Meserve ruled the party in default. This requires the state to send Delaney-Black another $510 check.

The other five property owners agreed to MDOT’s settlement offer prior to the Dec. 8 deadline. Two landowners had land permanently taken which measured 441 square feet for parcels 1 and 3. Parcel 1 is owned by John E. and Shane G. Savage of Oakland. Parcel 3 is owned by Jeanne and Robert Olsen of Trevett. Other takings were for drainage, construction, maintenance and temporary construction rights which allow MDOT to work and park vehicles on private property, according to State Land Claims Commission Clerk Richard Estabrook.

The other Barters Island Road properties are owned by Christopher J. and Ruth White of Southport, Myron C. McLellan Life Estate and Barbara L. McLellan Life Estate, Mill Cove Lobster Pound Co. of Boothbay, and PGC3, LLC of Boothbay.