Thomaston, state parry over prison site

THOMASTON – The ball is in Thomaston’s court as far as buying the 15.6 acres of green space left behind where the old Maine State Prison once stood.

The prison was demolished last spring, and the state has no immediate plans for the land other than the town possibly acquiring it.

The state has offered the Route 1 property to the town for its appraised value of $285,000, Charles Jacobs, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services, said Wednesday.

“They did not accept,” Jacobs said, referring to Thomaston officials.

Apparently, however, the offer still stands.

According to Jacobs, the state will take no action for at least a few months.

“Right now, we’re kind of in limbo,” Thomaston Selectman Lee-Ann Upham said Wednesday, adding that the town is “looking for some resolution on the [sewer] user fee.”

The town is trying to cut a deal with the state by having it give the land to the town in exchange for the state’s share of operating and maintenance costs for the $12 million sewer lagoon system the town had built in the 1990s.

The wastewater treatment system was largely built to accommodate the prison, which was paying $100,000 annually toward operating and maintenance costs. In addition, the state pays $184,000 per year toward debt service for the treatment plant.

So far, the state “won’t even entertain the thought” of compensating the town for operating and maintenance costs that have been lost without the prison, Upham said.

“We maintain that we ran the [sewer] plant through, regardless of the number of inmates,” Upham said. Now, “we’re out $100,000 a year.”

Initially, the town was hoping that the state would give the land to Thomaston for $1 considering that the town has been home to numerous tax-exempt prison properties for nearly two centuries.

The prison closed in February, and some 400 inmates were moved to the new Maine State Prison in Warren. The demolition began the next month.

Today, all that remains at the former Thomaston prison site is green grass and one corner of a concrete security wall that will hold a plaque commemorating the well-known prison.

The prison showroom and a maintenance shop will stay in operation, as well as some properties across Route 1 that house probation and parole offices, and some staff housing in the area.

From the beginning, negotiations over the prison property have not gone well for Thomaston.

First, the town wanted to acquire for $1 an 11-bay garage that was adjacent to the Troop D Maine State Police barracks and the 15.6 acres, but the state had the building and 2 acres appraised at approximately $440,000, which it expected the town to pay.

When the town reneged, the garage was demolished.

Now it appears there will be no dickering on the land, either.

The state wants $285,000, Upham said, which may be deducted from the debt service payments the state owes Thomaston. But, the state won’t budge on the operating and maintenance costs, she said.

Upham fears that even the debt service payments will be subject to the whims of the ruling legislators. The town may have to fight every two years in Augusta to ensure payment of the debt service through 2010, she said.

Upham pointed to the many years that the town provided services to the prison, including the use of the old waterfront sewer plant.

Town workers spent countless hours unclogging sewer pipes that inmates had stuffed with sheets and other debris, she said.

“We spent a lot of time, effort and money,” she said, “and they just want to walk away.”