Cape Elizabeth is at risk of losing $400,000 in state and federal grant money.

Cape Elizabeth officials remain undecided about installing a full traffic light at the town center, but state officials hope a decision will be made by the end of August.

“We’ve asked them to make a decision as soon as possible,” said Kat Fuller, chief of planning with the Maine Department of Transportation Monday. “If they don’t decide soon, we want to make that money available elsewhere.”

The state last month told Cape Elizabeth that it must decide the issue or risk losing $400,000 in state and federal grant money slated for the proposed project.

On July 13, town officials met with the state and the town’s planner to further discuss the project.

Cape Town Council Chairman James Rowe says two questions remain following the meeting with state and Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation System officials:

• How much money would the town lose, including funds already invested on preliminary work, if it killed the project?

• How much is left of the money bonded for the project in 2004?

“We weren’t able to provide concrete answers to these questions and that’s understandably so,” he said.

The town applied for the combined PACTS and state grant of $400,000 in 2004. The state has completed studies of the area and done design work since then.

Rowe said the state usually sets a 10-year time limit from the time the grant is issued to when the project needs to be completed.

“This is a departure from the normal procedure,” Rowe said. “They want an answer sooner.”

Fuller, however, said the federal government asks for the money to be returned if any project isn’t started within 10 years. In other words, the state, not Cape Elizabeth, has 10 years in which to put the money to use.

“You do have a 10-year window, but the feds will want to be paid back and they don’t care who pays them,” Fuller said. “We want to put this money to use as soon as possible.”

Rowe said the council is contemplating an August public meeting to tackle the issue.

The Cape Elizabeth Town Council has twice postponed discussing the project proposed for the Shore Road, Scott Dyer Road and Route 77/Ocean House Road intersection, most recently in June, when it voted unanimously to table discussion until November. Shortly after, Department of Transportation officials wrote to the town with its ultimatum.

While councilors didn’t discuss the traffic light at their own July 13 meeting, four residents addressed the council and appeared split over the issue.

“As I recall, three years ago we had a committee that said the overall feeling is this town should be a rural community,” Fred Prince said. “Having two stoplights in the town center is not rural; it’s urban, and that goes against our community.”

Cape resident James Tassey disagreed and urged the town to plan for the future.

“We should take steps now for growth,” Tassey said. “If we wait five years, it’s going to cost more than it would now to install a light at the town center.”

Rowe said he had wanted to wait until November to continue discussing the estimated $1.1 million project because a town committee is studying alternative improvements for the intersection, such as additional warning signs, enhanced policing and striping.

“We voted holding it off until November after we installed these passive measures, such as new paint on the crosswalks, flags and signs,” Rowe said. “The thinking in tabling was to give the committee time to see how effective these measures were.”

The Maine Department of Transportation has told Cape Elizabeth it needs to quickly decide whether or not to install a full traffic light on Route 77 or else the state would pull money for the project.
Photo by Al Edwards