March 29, 2024
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Ellsworth council restores streetlight

ELLSWORTH – Christian Ridge Road residents who have waited months for a streetlight to be restored to its former location got their wish Monday night when the Ellsworth City Council voted 5-2 to have it put back. The light’s return may be temporary, however, because the council might determine that it doesn’t meet the criteria for the city’s new streetlight ordinance.

The light became the focal point of some controversy last December after it was removed during a road improvement project and not put back when the project was done. Councilor Gary Fortier, who at the time was the sole member of the city’s streetlight committee, had determined the light was unnecessary and had instructed Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. employees not to put it back after they had moved the utility pole it was on.

Residents complained to the council after the work crews had finished and the road by their homes remained dark. Fortier acknowledged having made the decision on his own without consulting the rest of the council.

The issue quickly grew to encompass not just the one missing streetlight, but the 169 in the city that Fortier thinks are extraneous and should be removed. The council held a public hearing in March about the possibility of removing streetlights and got an earful from more than 60 people who oppose the removal of the lights. As the discussion expanded and grew heated, a decision about the light that was improperly removed was delayed.

On Monday, Councilor Larry King said it was time for the city to act on the Christian Ridge Road resident’s request to put the light back.

“I believe we should turn it back on and put it to rest,” he said.

Resident Leah Allen, who lives by the pole that used to be lit, agreed.

“You all know how we feel,” she said. “We’ve been here since last December.”

Fortier has not given up hope that the light will be permanently removed. He said lights went up unquestioned for years, until the city adopted criteria for the installation of new lights in 1995. On Monday, the city adopted a new list of criteria, as drafted by a newly expanded streetlight committee of five members, for the removal of extraneous lights.

According to the new ordinance, existing streetlights will not be removed if they illuminate the intersection of public ways, “bad” curves or other serious road hazards, or areas that are likely to have significant evening pedestrian traffic.

The remaining members of the council agreed with King and Fortier that the city can save some money by removing lights that do not meet these criteria.

“There are some out there in the middle of absolutely nowhere,” King said. “I still believe there are a few that can be removed.” Councilor Loren Clarke estimated that the city spends roughly $80,000 a year on streetlights.

Clarke reiterated that the placement of streetlights in the past was not a formal democratic process.

“There were favors being doled out in the form of streetlights,” he said.

With the adoption of the streetlight removal criteria, the committee will review Fortier’s proposed list and recommend to the council which lights should be taken down. Any recommendations will be open for debate at a public hearing before the council votes on the matter, City Manager Tim King said.

Clarke said that the issue has been one of the more volatile ones he can remember in his tenure on the board.

“This is probably the biggest political football we’re going to carry in our lives,” he said.


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