Fort Kent ATV access fight grows Local legislator offers to speak to state transportation commissioner

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FORT KENT – The search for a resolution regarding recreational vehicle access to the downtown is extending to Augusta, now that a local legislator has offered to intercede on the town’s behalf with state transportation officials.

Meanwhile, a local petition drive has netted 170 signatures from residents requesting the council schedule a public hearing before posting a new all-terrain-vehicle access route through a residential neighborhood.

Rep. Marc Michaud, D-Fort Kent, on Monday night told town councilors he would be meeting within the next few days with state Transportation Commissioner John Melrose in Augusta.

Melrose said Tuesday, however, that he had no meeting scheduled with Michaud, though he was familiar with the ongoing access issue in Fort Kent.

“I’m not aware of any meeting with [Michaud] about this,” Melrose said Tuesday morning from his office in Augusta. “But that’s not to say it won’t happen.”

Michaud said he plans on discussing a long-expired agreement between the town and the DOT governing an abandoned one-mile section of trail from River Side Park on the eastern side of town along the dike above the St. John River and ending at the international bridge on the western end of town.

“The original [trail] agreement was for three years,” Michaud told the council. “It is now null and void.”

The trail was designed in 1988 as a heritage trail exclusively for foot traffic. Gates were erected on top of the dike, which was part of the trail, to prevent nonpedestrian use. The original trail plans included a footbridge over the Fish River near its confluence with the St. John River, Michaud said.

“That trail was abandoned when the cost of the bridge proved to be prohibitive,” he said. The original trail, Michaud said, could provide the solution to routing snowmobile traffic into downtown.

This past winter, a dispute over a snowmobile access route to Fort Kent’s business district ended up in the Aroostook County Superior Court when a residential property owner sued to stop snowmobile traffic on St. Joseph Street, the most direct route from the existing multiuse Heritage Trail into town.

The community-based West Side Trail Committee has been studying the issue since last fall, and on Monday night, its findings were presented to the town council.

Among the suggested options was one that would route snowmobile traffic off the Heritage Trail near Fort Kent Village, across Route 161 and onto the dike.

A major obstacle to this plan, Michaud said, are two gates erected by DOT in the late 1980s adjacent to the international bridge and blocking access to and from the dike.

Michaud said Monday night that he planned to bring up the original trail agreement with Melrose.

“Those gates are controlled by DOT,” he said. “I’ve waited and stayed out of [this issue], but I don’t want to lose this opportunity.”

Now, with that agreement expired, Michaud said he hopes to re-negotiate with Melrose with recreational vehicle access in mind.

“Without putting too much political pressure on [Melrose], I want to see if we can revise the agreement to open those gates to [snowmobile] traffic,” Michaud said Tuesday.

The West Side Trail Committee favored the dike option, but its final recommendations cited security concerns by the federal government if the gates are removed and snowmobiles were allowed open access near ports of entry.

Michaud does not agree.

“Look at Hamlin or Van Buren [where] you cross the river and then park and walk 200 feet to the customs house to report,” he said. “The Fort Kent trail would be 75 feet from the customs booth.”

On Monday night, Michaud said he would like to carry the support from the town council when he meets with Melrose.

“I plan on meeting with the commissioner and could tell him something from the town would be forthcoming,” he said.

While supportive of Michaud’s plans, Town Council members stopped short of taking official action endorsing it.

“We have to exhaust every avenue open to the town,” Councilor Paul Bouchard said. “We should absolutely go for it.”

The council also agreed to table any action on the trail committee’s recommendation pending review of its report and the outcome of Michaud’s meeting with Melrose.

Earlier that evening, Priscilla Staples, a property owner along the Heritage Trail, presented a petition with 170 signatures requesting the town council hold a public hearing before posting signage for a new access route for ATVs coming into town.

Last month, the council designated a 700-foot-long section of Hall Street as the access route.

“No notice was given before the council made their decision about Hall Street,” Staples said Monday night. “I trust that will be corrected.”

Council Chairman Patrick Plourde said the council was not legally required to hold a public hearing on the matter and did not entertain the petition.

“We made a decision, and we don’t need to go back,” Bouchard said. “Let’s put up those signs and move on.”

That was not the response Staples was looking for.

“I’m really irritated,” she said Monday night. “Moving on is not the answer.” After the meeting, Staples said she planned to speak to the petitioners about the council’s refusal to act on the petition.