Several residents of Gore Road were present at the September 2 Gray Town Council meeting to discuss the poor condition of a .116 mile portion of the roadway at the Raymond border. That section, on which there are six properties, is considered private and not maintained by the Town of Gray. According to the residents present, it is nearly impassible during certain seasons and they asked the town to consider taking over ownership.
Gore Road resident, Sharon Young spoke
explaining that the residents of the public area of the road need to traverse the dilapidated portion to get to
their homes, or detour through other
private roads to avoid it, thus
creating extra wear and tear on other private roads.
Public Works Director
Steve Lavallee spoke to the Council
noting that he does plow the road in winter to
insure that emergency vehicles have access, but that he has no further
authority to maintain the road. He
also explained that the road was repaired to
proper town standards about 20 years
ago, but when the residents living along the stretch refused to provide the required right-of-way easements to the town,
it couldn’t be made a public way.
It appeared that the council, Lavallee
and the residents present would all like to
reach an amicable solution to the
issue and will discuss it further when Dave Getchell, the road commissioner for
the Little Sebago Lodges Association can be present; he was out of town on business on Tuesday.
Another cog in the works is the fact
that the Raymond side of Gore Road at the town
border is also private and in poor repair. The council asked Town Manager
Cabana to contact the Raymond Town
Manager to see if perhaps the towns might work together
to find a solution. Cabana agreed to make the contact noting that she had done so
regarding Gore Road a few years back and was told
that there was no interest on the part of Raymond to
address the issue. It is Young’s hope that “Cooler heads will prevail now and
that some resolution will come.”
Doug Webster presented the proposed job
description for the new planner explaining that the new hire would, in addition
to working with the Planning Board,
perform some economic development duties including staff support to the Community Economic Development Committee.
Cabana plans to post the position
within the next week, with Webster commenting, “We need the right person with
the right personality, even if it takes some time to
find that person.”
The council approved, with conditions, a
liquor and special amusement license to
Brian and Susan Dickinson new owners of the Tailgate Bar and Grill, Located at
61 Portland Road. The approval is contingent upon final inspections from the
code officer and the public safety director.
The Dickinson’s will be at the helm by mid September and emphasized their
intent to keep the current staff.
They will be painting and renovating, and in Susan’s words, “We’re hoping to restore
the family friendly atmosphere and provide couples a nice place to hang out.” She also noted that they are working
on ‘ramping up the menu’ with new specials, and that they plan to be open seven days and eventually expand to lunch service. Brian explained that they plan to keep weekend music and that he is looking forward
to getting involved with community;
perhaps sponsoring some youth sports teams. The Dickinson’s are new to the pub business, but have been looking for just
the right place for the past five years. According to
Susan, the Tailgate fit the bill and she and Brian are looking forward to the opportunity to
work together in the business.
After a second reading, the council
approved an amendment to the Gray
Parking Ordinance which bans parking on the south bound side of Shaker Road
from Central Maine Power Pole#5S in a southerly direction to the North Raymond Road intersection. The
ordinance takes effect in 30 days and is hoped to
reduce some of the traffic issues at the North Raymond Road intersection with
Shaker Road.
Don Hutchings spoke to the council suggesting some sort of public forum to discuss the future of Stimson Hall before the
vote in November. It is expected that the council will discuss the idea further
at a future meeting.
Cabana announced that the Public Boat
Ramp on Little Sebago Lake will close on September 15, 2014 for repairs
encouraging anyone who is dependent on that access to
get their boats moved before the closure. She also announced that a candidates’
forum is being planned for September 9 at the Gray Town Hall council chambers.
No comments:
Post a Comment