Jonesport Selectmen

I met with the Jonesport Selectmen last Wednesday (April 28, 2010). Billy Milliken and Dwight Alley were also in attendance. The Selectmen commented with the proposed Byway route (through Jonesport) was in line with the town's proposed Comprehensive Plan, and fit in nicely with promotion efforts undertaken by Sanford Kelley and others over the years. They asked why the proposed route came down 187 instead through Addison. I explained that designated byway route has to follow numbered roads, but that we would be coordinating with the Town of Addison and using signage and other promotion efforts to direct traffic that way as well. Overall, the Selectmen seemed to think that seeking byway designation is a good idea that fits will with Jonesport's town goals. Billy commented that he though "Bold Coast" was too specific a brand for the proposed route (e.g. that "Bold Coast refers to specifically to the Cutler/Trescott coast). Those in attendance generally liked Down East Coastal Byway, but were open to other suggestions.

Whiting Selectmen

The Whiting Selectmen invited me to join them for the meeting last night (April 12). Mary Alice had seen the presentation on the byway proposal at the last WCCOG Executive Committee meeting and had some concerns about the proposed route, which bypasses the longest segment of Route 1 in Whiting (between East Machias and Whiting Corner).

The Selectmen have serious concerns about the condition of Route 1, particularly in the vicinity of Indian Lake. I explained that while byway designation is one criteria that DOT refers to in prioritizing highway construction projects, it is only one of many. Building Route 1 in Whiting will be a complex and expense project. In my opinion, that project will be scheduled by DOT based on its relative merits and available funding... and byway designation won't likely have a significant impact.

I also explained that while the folks I'd talked to in Lubec were supportive of the proposed byway Route, I hadn't yet been to Cutler. And it yet turn out that the Route 1 thought Whiting will become the preferred route.

We also talked about how there are not a lot of business along Route 1 in Whiting. And that even with byway designation, most tourists will likely still use Route 1 as the shortest Route from Machias to Lubec or Eastport. Overall the Board was supportive of the effort, as means of enhancing the economic impact of tourism in coastal Washington County. We talked some about making sure that byway promotion efforts highlight business near Whiting Corner (e.g. Puffin Pines) and the Indian Lake Boat Launch and new land trust boat launch on Lively Brook. We also talked some about the name: they seemed to like Bold Coast or Maine's Bold Coast best.

Whitneyville Selectmen

Since the proposed Byway route touches a little piece of Whitneyville along Route 1, I touched base with the Whitneyville Selectboard last Thursday (while there on other business). They were very much in favor of the idea... and, given the state of Route 1A, they were also supportive of not having the designated byway route come right through town.

Lubec Comprehensive Plan Update Committee

I presented the Byway to the Lubec Comprehensive Plan Update committee last Wednesday (March 24). They were enthusiastic about the idea: anything to help bring more people in. The Committee was strongly in favor of having the designated Byway come all the way down Route 189 into downtown Lubec, both as a way to highlight the Campobello connection and to bring more people into/through the downtown. Most people in the group preferred "Downeast Coastal" as a name for the Byway. The feeling was that "Bold Coast" refers to specifically to the section of Route 191 in Cutler and Trescott. Bill Correy wanted to know if the Selectmen should sign off on the idea or if there would need to be a special town meeting. I told him that at this stage -- where we're seeking State designation -- an endorsement by the Board of Selectmen would be sufficient. I'll also arrange with him to present to the Board separately as well.

Milbridge, Jonesboro & the Sunrise Trail

I've had input from a few different group on the byway project over the last day or so. Yesterday, I made it for part of the Sunrise Trail Coalition meeting at Helen's restaurant. I was able to give very quick overview of the byway project and how promotion of the byway could fit in with the Sunrise Trail (which crosses and abuts the proposed byway route in a number of location). Folks at the meeting seemed very receptive to the idea; and I got a couple hits on the survey.

I wasn't able to stick around long though because I had to scoot down to Milbridge to meet with their Selectmen (Eric Beal, George Brace & Michael Domrad). I was a little surprised at the turn-out for the Selectmen's meeting (20 people or so). I was on the agenda just after a discussion of the assessors review, which I quickly learned is the hot topic in Milbridge these days.

In general, the Selectmen (and folks in the audience) were very receptive to the idea. The Selectmen seems to like the idea of have Milbridge as the western terminus of the byway; and very much liked the idea of using a byway to bring more exposure and visitors to the region. They did have some questions about the level of funding (municipal) need to support the byway designation. Given the nature of byway projects and the multiple partners involved, local match for project costs will be dispersed -- and are a little ways down the road. In any event, I don't anticipate it amounting to much in the way of local tax dollars. For some municipalities designation may even help qualify them for grants to undertake projects that they are interested in anyway, but don't have the funds to look at doing right now (see Jonesboro, below).

Lewis Pinkham (Milbridge Town Manager) also asked about the byway brand, and whether or not this project might be branded at the "Roosevelt Byway." At this point, I'm not thinking too much about the branding, but it's another option to add to the list.

Tonight I met with the Jonesboro Selectmen (Michael Schoppee, Mary Wilson, Jim Varney). They put in a new park along Route 1 last summer to celebrate the Town Bicentennial and Jim Varney had contacted me (via Jim Fisher) to find out about grant money for signage and other improvements at the park. I'll be working with them separately on that project. But I took the opportunity to get some feedback on the byway concept. They seemed to like the idea. They liked the concept of hugging the coast as closely as possible (e.g. Route 187), but questioned why the byway couldn't go down to Roque Bluffs. My response is that as part of the byway management we would certainly be looking to use signage, maps, information kiosks and other methods to get visitors down to Roque Bluffs, but that designated route itself has to follow numbers roads.

They had some good suggestions for historic themes to build into the byway story. Notably they wanted to see me include the Revolutionary history in the Machias area (and Hannah Weston in Jonesboro), as well as making sure to build in a focus on forestry and shipbuilding industry along the proposed route. (Those are two of the themes they would like to develop at the Town park). They generously provided me with a copy of a book put together for the Town's Bicentennial with a lot of local lore and photos to help get me started on working that into the byway proposal.

So I guessed I'd best be off to do my homework...

East Machias Selectmen

I presented the Byway Concept to the Town of East Machias Selectmen tonight: Kenneth "Bucket" David, Will Tuell and Dale Richardson. They had a number of questions about what byway designation would ultimately mean.

In particular, Bucket voiced concerns about that seeking byway designation may erode property-owners rights. All three Selectmen agreed that they wouldn't be supportive if designation meant more restrictions on property-owners. In my opinion, the Town's existing ordinances are consistent with adequate management of a State byway; and this shouldn't be a concern. To follow up, I will do some research on how Town's along other state designated byways balance property rights with preservation of the byways intrinsic qualities and make those available to the Selectmen and through this blog.

The Town has also had some recent experiences in which they felt that MaineDOT was less responsive to local concerns than they would have liked. They expressed some concerns that having the added "layer" of byway designation might make it more difficult to address local issues such as inadequate sidewalks and crosswalks.

Another question they raised was how the proposed byway fit in with the Sunrise Trail. I responded that the byway effort should be seem as complementary with promotion of the Sunrise Trail and other effort to promote nature-based tourism. It's all about getting people here to experience the natural beauty of Down East Maine and support local businesses while they are here.

In general, they liked the idea of designation hugging the coast (e.g. following 187 and 191, rather than Route 1 the whole way). And overall, they seemed open to the idea of seeking State designation as long as their concerns about property rights are addressed.

Blackwoods Byway Committee

I presented the initial byways concept to the Blackwoods Byway Committee in Cherryfield on February 10, 2010. Members of the byway committee were very receptive to the concept of developing an additional byway in coastal Washington County. The feeling was that the the new "Coastal Byway" could be used to draw additional attention to existing byways in the region (Blackwoods Byway, Schoodic Byway); and that the three Byway could even explore cooperative marketing (e.g. "Experience Down East Maine's Scenic Byways").

I didn't get a strong feeling from folks regarding the brand one way or the other. But a couple of people had strongly thoughts about the proposed byways route. Recognizing the constraint of geography, the group agreed that it was important for the byway to be as linear as possible (e.g. to avoid parallel routes or T-junctions). They reminded me that signage can be used effective to guide the visitor experience (so that you don't need to the designate Route 189 all the way in to Lubec, for example, if you can make effective use of way-finding signage at the Route 191, Route 189 junction).

The committee didn't have strong feeling either way as to whether the designated route in western Washington County should follow Route 1 (through Cherryfield) or Route 1A. But they did feel that Milbridge would make a better "gateway" for the byway than Steuben, because of the concentration of services, the historic character of the village and the scenic views of the Narraguasus River/Pleasant Bay immediately east of the village.