The Kennebunk Select Board will host a public hearing March 28 on the acceptance of Conservation Drive, off Brown Street, as a public way and will then vote whether to send the question to a town meeting for a public vote. The board sometime later this year is expected to review the road acceptance ordinance for possible changes. Dan King photo
KENNEBUNK – The Kennebunk Select Board voted to schedule a public hearing March 28 on the acceptance of a subdivision road as a town way before advancing the matter to the town meeting, but the matter raised questions about doing so with other private roads in the future.
The work on Conservation Drive, currently a private road off Brown Street in the Brooks Landing subdivision, was inspected by the town engineer during construction and has been determined to comply with ordinance standards and so the developers approached the town to have it accepted as a town road. Acceptance means Conservation Drive would become a public street, and the town will maintain it and plow it in the winter.
Board member Miriam Whitehouse said as the town continues to grow, the cost of municipal services also grows, and that perhaps the board should examine road acceptances.
Whitehouse said Kennebunk has always accepted roads in the past, but noted it is not obligated to do so, and said she feels a responsibility to people struggling to pay taxes.
“I question how long we do this, automatically,” she said.
Roads in Kennebunk must meet specific construction standards as outlined in the town ordinance, whether they are private or are accepted by the town as public ways. A majority vote by the town meeting is required for acceptance.
Board member Bill Ward suggested the select board review the ordinance for future projects.
Board Chair Shiloh Schulte said the matter of road acceptance is among items slated for review this year.
Board member Kortney Nedeau said developers need to be made aware now that “this is the ordinance today” but that the board is bringing it to discussion, and the ordinance may change in the future.
Town engineer Chris Osterrieder said that contractors are informed early in the process that there is no guarantee the select board will move the item to a public vote.
“We tell people early on ‘you have to comply with the standards (for road construction) whether the town owns it or not,’” said Osterrieder. He said Kennebunk could explore impact fees to help offset service costs to the municipality and noted any such impact – like adding 3-4 streets that would constitute a new plow route – must be defined.
As for Conservation Drive, he said the roadway is 1,200 feet long and the price tag to build it was $300,000.
When it came to the vote to schedule a public hearing, Whitehouse abstained. The five other members present at the online meeting voted in favor.
Schulte said the issue of future acceptance of roads would take place and added that Kennebunkport is no longer accepting roads.
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