The Fraternal Order of the Eagles and the Westbrook Housing Authority are vying to purchase the same city-owned lot for different reasons.

The Eagles want to buy the lot on Saco Street for extra parking, while the Westbrook Housing Authority wants to buy the land as a buffer to block noise coming from the Eagles club. The city has asked the two organizations to compromise on the purchase of the lot to accommodate both parties.

What a compromise would entail is undecided right now, but the City Council has suggested the parties purchase the lot jointly or come to another arrangement. As it stands right now, both organizations have offered to buy the lot from the city.

The vacant Saco Street lot is nestled between properties owned by the Eagles and the Westbrook Housing Authority. The Eagles would like the lot to double the approximately 80 spaces they currently have for their 700-plus members, while the Westbrook Housing Authority wants a buffer.

According to John Gallagher, executive director of the Westbrook Housing Authority, the organization has received complaints about noise from the club during functions held there. Gallagher said his organization would keep the lot as green space and potentially add a berm with bushes and trees to lessen some of the noise.

Phil Farr, president of the Eagles, said his organization would like to add some much-needed parking spaces so people using the club won’t have to park on side streets. Farr said the parking lot would be sunk a foot or so into the ground, with the excess dirt to be built up along the back part of the lot, along with a fence.

Farr said he doesn’t believe noise is an issue at the club. He said he’s played the club’s sound system louder than it’s ever played at functions, and he couldn’t hear it from outside the building.

“If anybody says they can hear a sound from down the street, they’ve got to have one long ear horn,” he said.

Farr has invited the City Council and administration to the club for a sound test. Meanwhile, the council has tabled a vote on the club’s amusement permit at the site because of noise complaints. The council asked the administration to meet with the Eagles regarding the noise complaints, which it was scheduled to do on Wednesday. The council will address the noise issue at its Aug. 21 meeting at 7 p.m. in room 114 at Westbrook High School.

In other news, the City Council has reversed a previous decision to move a bronze statue from its place along the river after a plea from the Westbrook Historical Society.

The Facilities and Streets Committee recommended at its Feb. 27 meeting to move the statue from behind Frasier Field to a more visible spot in front of the Warren Memorial Library. There the statue would get a facelift and receive a new water source for its long-dry fountain from the Cornelia Warren Foundation.

Since that meeting, however, the Westbrook Historical Society asked the council to respect the statue’s original placement by the Warren family about 80 years ago.

According to Donna Conley of the Westbrook Historical Society, Cornelia Warren dedicated the statue to her cousin John Warren. Conley said the intention by the Warren family was to draw people to the river, and therefore the statue should remain where it is to do just that.

“We feel very strongly about the statue remaining where it is in its secluded location,” she said.

The committee agreed, voting unanimously to permanently postpone any future move of the statue. “I think its current location is where it belongs,” said Councilor Ed Bryant.

Instead, the city will look into raising money to refurbish the statue where it stands and bring water back to its fountain. According to the administration, initial estimates for a refurbishment would cost around $5,000.

The City C

Copy the Story Link