No city bailout for Ecology School
To the editor,
How do Saco residents who are concerned about increased traffic congestion and pressing infrastructure needs feel about using Saco tax money to pay for a private developer’s project?
How do property developers in Saco feel about local tax money being given to a private contract zone recipient to help them pay for a construction project that is required as part of their site plan approval? Maybe you can get in on this tax money too in the future!
Sound fishy? Well, that’s exactly what Saco City Council may vote to do this month after they review staff reports on possible funding mechanisms to help The Ecology School on Simpson Road finance a left-hand turn lane from Buxton Road onto Simpson Road a required by TES’s 2018 site plan approval.
That 2018 approval included the turn-lane requirement after a 3rd-party traffic study determined TES’s new $14 million dollar campus on Simpson Road would generate increased traffic levels through their various educational camps, programs, and events.
And site plan approval was granted by the planning board after TES passed muster on technical and financial capacity to build their campus, which included any off-site requirements such as the turn lane.
But even two years later, after being given an extension on the turn lane build-out to May 1, 2022 (time extension granted by the Saco planning board at the Nov. 3, 2020 meeting (video available on-line so grab some popcorn for a good time!), the turn lane is still a figment of anyone’s imagination and TES and their lawyer are now demanding that the City of Saco owes them a % of the funding (see Nov. 22, 2021 Council meeting) for a MDOT program (such as a Municipal Partnership Initiative or a Business Partnership Initiative) to assist them to build the turn-lane.
TES’s own project manager quoted a price tag of $800,000 for the turn lane in an email to former City Planner Bob Hamblen in July 2021, while in contrast, the Director of TES informed Council in November 2021 (see Council meeting video of 11/22/21 and 11/29/21) that the turn lane would maybe cost $600,000. Interesting numbers being thrown around!
A 33% cost share for Saco taxpayers on a private project, $800,00 turn lane would be about $267,000. I think Saco taxpayers know how this money could be better used to help our own public infrastructure needs in the City instead of giving them away in a bailout.
Even if Council rejects allotting City money for this private bailout, they may consider using City staff time to help administer the TES turn-lane project if a MDOT grant program is pursued with the City as the required administrative applicant.
But anyone following things at City Hall know that staff are buckling under enormous workloads, not enough people to go around, and increased project and development demands in the City, let alone all the contact zone compliance and oversight that is not getting done.
This private bailout is bad deal for Saco and I urge residents to email or call their Ward representatives to express their thoughts.
Inga Sandvoss Browne
Saco
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