BLUE HILL – Once again, town officials are waiting for state environmental officials to decide the fate of a plan to increase parking at the town wharf on the inner harbor.
The plan has been in the works for a number of years after voters initially approved spending $20,000 on the project. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has twice rejected the plan, but selectmen are hopeful that this time the department will approve the project.
“We’re 95 percent there,” Selectman John Bannister said Thursday. “It’s either going to fly or it’s not.”
The town’s proposal is to expand the existing parking lot at the wharf. The plan calls for the town to extend a large drainage culvert that runs under Water Street and between the fire station and the town wastewater treatment plant into the harbor.
“We want to add pipe onto that maybe 100 or 200 feet, cover it and pave it so we can create more parking,” Bannister said.
The area where the pipe would be extended is essentially a drainage ditch, Bannister said, but because it is in a tidal area, the DEP has been reluctant to approve the project.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has approved the project, so the town is waiting to see if the DEP will approve the plan. Bannister was frustrated with the delays which may have tripled the cost of the project. The town hired an engineer to work on the project and conducted an ecological study on the area, he said. The town also held a public hearing earlier this month as part of the permitting process.
“They’ve made a big deal out of what should have been a simple, little project,” Bannister said.
Initially, the town hoped to create 26 new spaces, but the final number will depend upon what the DEP will approve, he said.
The selectman predicted the cost of the project would be around $60,000. If the DEP issues the permit, Bannister said, the selectmen would have to go to a special town meeting to seek additional funds.
Depending upon when the department makes its decision, the project could be done sometime this summer, he said.
“We’d love to be able to do it this summer,” he said.
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