ELLSWORTH — The Ellsworth Water Department will abandon its plans to seize property on Dollard Hill by eminent domain and seek another site for a standpipe for the city’s new water system.

The city had proposed taking property owned by Edward Davison by eminent domain, but the City Council tabled action on that plan last month after councilors and Davison objected to the procedure. Larry Wilson, superintendent of the city’s water department, said he had talked with property owners in the area before, and renewed those discussions after the City County tabled action on the Davison property.

Contacted this weekend, Davison said the department’s decision was “fine with me,” since he had not wanted to sell the property in the first place.

“That’s exactly what we wanted them to do,” he said. “We don’t want to sell the property.”

He charged that the city had “singled out” their property because they thought they could get it at a lower price and that city officials had not explored all the other options.

Wilson said he had talked to a number of different property owners with land in the Dollard Hill area and had talked several times with Davision. He said he he thought Davison had wanted the city to take the property by eminent domain in order to avoid a difficult tax situation.

“I though we had an agreement,” he said. “I never would have brought it to the Council if I thought this was going to happen.”

Davison said he told the city that he didn’t want to sell the property and that the only way they would get the property was to take it by eminent domain. He said he and his wife had long-term plans for the property for their son, and did not want to sell it.

Wilson said, at this point, the Davison issue was “water under the bridge,” as far as he was concerned. He said he had reopened discussions with several property owners in the area and that he had at least one good possibility, so far. He said he was looking for wooded property so the city would be able to hide the standpipe somewhat.

He said that if the current negotiations were successful, he would proceed to arrange the purchase of the property. He pointed out, however, that the City Council had only tabled the seizure of Davison’s property and had not dismissed it altogether.

“The Council has got to decide what it wants to do,” he said.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the project is nearing completion. Wilson said the contractors had already installed about 5 1/2-miles of water main out of the total of 7 miles included in the project. He said they should begin laying pipe down Bridge Hill within the next few weeks. Plans call for the the new water main to come all the way down Bridge Hill, cross the Union River and join three other water mains at the intersection of Main Street and State Street.

Work on the water main across the river will be done in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation’s construction project which will widen the bridge this summer.

The second phase of the water system project will consist of the installation of the standpipe and the construction of the new pumping station and treatment facility at Branch Lake.

That phase still requires approval from the Department of Human Services and the Public Utilities Commission, before construction can begin, Wilson said. The plans are on their way to those agencies, he said, adding that he expected to have approval and to begin construction later this summer. He said he expected to be pumping water through the new system by the fall.