By a vote of 55-26 at a special town meeting Aug. 21, the town of Cranberry Isles approved spending as much as $2.4 million to buy and develop three acres of shorefront property in Southwest Harbor. The property, which includes a new pier, parking space and barge landing, will be the islands’ own piece of the mainland.
“I don’t know of an instance where a municipality has taken an initiative like this on its own, particularly an island,” said engineer Jeff Crafts, who has been the town’s consultant for the purchase of the land. “In fact, we researched the case law for this and it’s extremely rare for any town to own property in another town. I think this is pretty unprecedented.”
First Selectman Richard Beal said that operating in such uncharted territory required a careful exploration of the issues and a good deal of legal advice.
“We just didn’t know,” Beal said. “For example: do we in fact go in there as Cranberry Isles per se and have to provide our own police and fire protection? Well, the answer is no. We go there just as any company or other private interest would. We pay taxes and they (Southwest Harbor) provide services, just like any tax payer.”
The purchase came about after a six-week whirlwind of activity to meet the seller’s deadline. Since adequate parking for both cars and boats at Northeast Harbor has been a problem escalating for some time, the Cranberry Isles selectmen formed a committee to investigate land acquisition opportunities early this summer. In July it was discovered that Pritam Singh, the owner of the Southwest Harbor lot, was willing to sell, and by the end of the month a special town meeting was called to discuss purchasing the lot. At that meeting the town voted overwhelmingly (87-10) to allow the selectmen to reach an agreement in principle with Singh; three weeks later the agreement was approved at a second town meeting.
“It’s been very intense,” Crafts said. “But (the selectmen) took the time and effort to go forward and do their homework and understand the project and the issues behind it. I saw a big leap in the knowledge of the islanders last night. The level of details in their questions showed that they’d thought long and hard about the issues involved in this.”
While many tout it as an investment in the island’s future that is unlikely to decline in value, the purchase is not popular with everybody. Many worry about the added tax burden – an increase likely to be in the neighborhood of 33 percent, once an estimated $63,000 in yearly operating and maintenance costs (including property taxes) are included – that the project will bring.
Beal pointed out, however, that the increase for the average property owner will be the cost of a couple of dinners on the mainland, and that the town’s current mill rate – $8.00 – is very low by Maine standards.
“The town has rarely had debt and currently only has $215,000 of debt,” said Beal. “So the banks have been most eager to work with us on this.”
The Southwest Harbor land will cost the town just under $2 million; the remaining $400,000 approved at the meeting will go towards phased development of the lot. The town will pursue a short-term “bridging loan” immediately, but will investigate different funding possibilities over the next year before entering into a long-term financing agreement. While the majority of the money will likely come in the form of a tax-free municipal bond, the town hopes to offset the amount they have to borrow by pursuing state and federal funding and private donations.
Crafts said that Ronald Roy, Director of Passenger Transportation for the Maine Department of Transportation, met with selectmen just before the special town meeting to discuss funding opportunities, and that the outlook for receiving state and federal transportation funding is good. Because the site will be an “intermodal transportation terminal” or a place where people switch from one form of transportation to another (car to boat, boat to bicycle, bicycle to kayak, etc.) and a likely stop for Mount Desert Island’s new Island Explorer bus service, the project fits well into the DOT and MDI’s shared goal of reducing car traffic on the island.
“By creating a transportation hub,” Crafts said, “it becomes an advantage not only to Cranberry Islanders, but to all the residents of MDI. This project in general is feel-good: at the same time you feel good providing a good thing for a good community that deserves a chance to rebuild itself. The Cranberry Isles are taking steps toward self-sufficiency here.”
For some, however, the prospect of transportation funding is cause for concern. Since much federal and state funding carries the stipulation of public access, some islanders feared that this would force them to compete with non-residents for use of their own parking lot.
“I still think it’s possible to have some outside funding,” said First Selectman Richard Beal. “But I think it’s important to do as Ron Roy advised us to do, ‘to carefully examine the strings that come with any money.’ We just need to ensure that this is for the primary benefit for the Cranberry Isles – we may not want to have it open to anyone who happens to drive by.”
Consultant Gary Friedman, who was hired by the town to investigate funding opportunities, said his initial assessment indicated it could be possible to find between $300,000 and $800,000 in government funding and a similar amount through private donations. Friedman suggested that a “Friends of the Cranberry Islands” fundraising group be established to help generate private support. There is also to possibility of the property generating some income in the short term: the town of Southwest Harbor has expressed interest in arranging a lease to locate a fire station there.
The Southwest Harbor planning board unanimously approved Cranberry Isles’ applications for the permits necessary for phase one of the development of the land, which will include the creation of 137 parking spaces, an access way and a pedestrian walkway to the pier. The town anticipates the future need for 300 spaces, which may be created in later phases of development. In addition, the existing pier, which according to Crafts is brand new and usable in all but worst months of winter, will be gradually enhanced towards year-round accessibility. Beal emphasized that the town will have to get together and decide how the development will proceed.
“Right now the plan is to take it in measured steps approved by the voters,” he said. “The reason we couldn’t go to the planning board with our whole plan is that we didn’t know it. This must be decided by the town.”
Among these decisions, Beal noted, will be whether to charge user fees for parking. Islanders currently pay $190 a year to park at the Northeast Harbor Marina – where they share only 123 spaces. Beal said he plans to propose that a committee be formed to oversee the development – a process that could take as much as 15 years – at the Sept. 3 selectmen’s meeting.
The development plan under discussion includes beautification efforts that will conceal the parking lot from general view. Beal also pointed out that the seller, Pritam Singh, has taken the initiative on his own to install $15,000 worth of granite blocks and rose bushes in order “to make this nice for everyone, including the people of Southwest Harbor.”
While there were some concerns expressed by Southwest Harbor residents at the Aug. 21 meeting about the impact of the terminal on their way of life, Beal hopes neighbors will be pleasantly surprised at how little traffic comes and goes from the lot, since islanders don’t come to the mainland everyday.
“We truly wish to be a good neighbor,” Beal said. “And people should understand that there won’t be vast numbers of cars coming and going all the time.”