Official’s worries spur removal of Orono benches

ORONO – Standing on Mill Street Tuesday morning, Isabella Monbouquette wore a puzzled look.

“Where’s the benches going?” the 3-year-old asked her mother. “Why are the men taking them away?”

After 13 years on the sidewalk in front of the Store Ampersand, the three wooden benches that had provided a welcome resting place for residents and college students alike were being loaded onto pickup trucks from the Parks and Recreation Department.

John and Roberta Bradson, owners of the Store Ampersand, donated the benches to the town after council member Stan Borodko expressed concerns to a state official about the benches impeding the flow of pedestrians on the sidewalk.

In a letter seeking advice from Eric Dibner, the accessibility coordinator for the Americans with Disabilities Act, Borodko said the sidewalk in front of the store was “dangerous” and “does not comply with ADA standards” as he understood them.

Although Dibner himself hadn’t seen the sidewalk, he believed from the picture he saw that the benches might have been a problem.

“The benches appeared to have blocked the necessary width for travel on the sidewalk,” Dibner said from his office in Augusta on Tuesday. The ADA’s standard for the width of a pedestrian walkway is a minimum of 3 feet to provide room for a wheelchair to travel.

“Clearly with the benches there, you’re under 3 feet,” Dibner said. “By allowing the benches to remain, the bench owners might be opening themselves to what seems to be a legitimate complaint.”

After seeing the letter to Dibner on Monday afternoon, the Bradsons decided to give the benches to the town to avoid any type of formal complaint with the town.

“We didn’t want the town to have to get involved,” Roberta Bradson said shortly after the benches were taken away.

A number of the store’s customers were a little perplexed to find the benches absent from the usual spot.

“Those benches are part of the reason people come downtown,” 24-year-old Dimitry Zingerman said. A student at the University of Maine, Zingerman said he didn’t see any additional harm posed by the benches.

“The sidewalk isn’t accessible to wheelchairs anyway,” Zingerman added.

Frank Williams, owner of Art Etcetera across the street, enjoyed taking regular breaks on the benches and even set up a couple of folding chairs in the benches’ absence.

“Without the benches, it’s absolutely miserable,” Williams said. “I can’t even imagine not having them.”

Town Manager Gerry Kempen was optimistic that accommodations could be made to have the benches and still have the sidewalk be ADA-compliant.

“We’re treating the benches as a donation,” Kempen said. “If the Bradsons want the benches back at some time, we’d be more than happy to bring them back.”