Proposed traffic plan impacts businesses
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Eaton Peabody, a consulting firm hired by city officials to evaluate the flow of traffic and suggest improvements to the downtown area, has come up with a proposal that would require some local businesses to relocate.
In August, City Manager Jim Bennett stated during the monthly Council meeting that three proposals were submitted for a downtown consultant. The committee, comprised of Planning Board and Downtown Revitalization members, recommended that Eaton Peabody be lead consultant. Funding for this project was secured through a $10,000 Community Planning Grant and $12,500 from the Downtown Infrastructure Fund. Bennett informed city councilors that principals of Eaton Peabody would be in town and would tour the downtown area, returning later to solicit comments from businesses on North Main Street. Councilors unanimously approved the agreement and authorized funding.
What began as a project to look for ways to attract more people downtown has resulted in several business owners feeling threatened — left scratching their heads in disbelief at the proposal before them. Business owners got their first glimpse at what might transpire during a meeting last week with Bennett and Planning and Development Director Ken Arndt.
“This is the consultant’s first plan of a revised traffic pattern. We met last week with those impacted by the design changes,” said Bennett.
Bennett was hesitant to discuss details of the consultant’s plan, citing a need to “discuss the matter with City Council.”
“Council hasn’t seen it (the plan) yet. Until I have an opportunity to meet with the Council, it’s not fair to them,” said Bennett. “The people involved should hear this from city officials before it’s released to the public.”
Bennett noted there were a couple public meetings scheduled to allow citizens a chance to speak on the proposal.
“It’s just concepts at this point but I expect good feedback,” he said. “This is by no means a definitive plan.”
Bennett said the object is to “make downtown a place to have more pedestrians and for businesses to make more money.”
“We want to return it to the way it used to be,” he said. “Traffic scenerios in downtown, however, virtually prevent getting back to that.”
He said traffic issues aren’t easy.
“Since it’s not easy, it won’t be without critics. This may not be comfortable to some. But to have higher aspirations for downtown, you have to be serious about having the difficult discussions,” said Bennett.
It was that initial difficult discussion with Bennett and Arndt that left at least two local businessmen exasperated.
Under Eaton Peabody’s proposal, the city would discontinue use of the entire length of Riverside Drive, close off a section of State Street between the State Street Bridge up to about Second Street, create a new street connecting Chapman Road with the intersection near the State Street Bridge (running parallel to the train tracks to the east of the Presque Isle District Court), extend Second Street slightly to the south, discontinue Academy Street between Main and Second streets and extend Chapman Road across Main Street to the east — through property currently home to Governor’s Restaurant, an apartment building and the New York Life office, resulting in the elimination of businesses and homes — then connect with Academy Street. The plan also calls for the possible elimination of traffic lights at two intersections, Academy and State.
Craig Green, owner of the New York Life office, said he’d talked with other affected business owners, following the meeting with Bennett.
“The city manager seemed surprised — said he had no idea this would be so unpopular. He told us they’d back down on the proposal until it could be flushed out better,” said Green, adding, “Business owners are dead set against it.”
“This affects a number of businesses — mine, Clukey’s, Governor’s, the apartments,” he said.
Green questioned the wisdom of discontinuing some routes, when the goal is to bring people downtown. He noted he traveled on Park Street last week and had to wait for the light to change three times before he was able to access Main Street.
“With this plan, you could only cross town in two areas, Park Street and Chapman. This would eliminate Riverside Drive. This idea’s not flushed out well,” said Green. “But it sounds like city officials are being responsive to us.”
“If this comes back up, they (city officials) may have a fight on their hands,” said Green. “We all want the town to succeed, but at whose expense?”
Tom Clukey, owner of Clukey’s Auto Supply, located at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Main Street, said he went to the meeting as well and was “just exasperated.”
“The hot top’s not even cold and I’m in a meeting with Ken Arndt and Jim Bennett. Under the plan, Riverside would be eliminated; 60 percent of my customers use Riverside for convenience,” said Clukey.
Clukey said at a time when “no one else in Aroostook is building, I mortgaged my soul to clean up this corner to attract people downtown.”
“This is what I get for investing in Presque Isle?” said Clukey.
Clukey said he’d spoken with some of the councilors and had a decent conversation with some.
“Council’s going to be overhauled with the election anyway,” he said.
If Riverside is closed, that would leave Park Street as the only way to cross the Presque Isle Stream to reach his automotive parts business, unless one wanted to travel all the way south to connect at Chapman and Main, then travel north to get here,” said Clukey, questioning the logic in dumping more traffic on the smaller of the two bridges in town.
“They’re trying to turn Presque Isle into Portland. But there’s not the population base to support such changes. We’ve got 70,000 in population from Millinocket north — there’s more people in Portland than in the entire area of Aroostook County,” Clukey said.
During the meeting, Clukey was told the idea included restricting traffic to one-way in certain areas.
“They talked of making Riverside one-way traffic. We’ll end up like Caribou. People avoid the downtown (in Caribou), businesses left,” said Clukey.
He said city officials have gone too far this time.
“You want to draw people downtown, not make it more difficult to get there,” said Clukey. “I’ll fight this to my last breath.”
