FREEPORT

An eminent domain standoff between the town and a landowner is headed for a Wednesday deadline.

Town councilors gave Realtor and landowner Doug Timm until then to agree to a $6,100 settlement for a strip of land on Depot Street to use as parking space and pedestrian walkway. If no reply is made or if the offer is rejected, Freeport would take the land by eminent domain.

As of Monday, however, no reply had been given.

Attempts by The Times Record to contact Timm at his office in Portland were unsuccessful.

The crosswalk and parking right-of-way are needed for passengers boarding and disembarking the Amtrak Downeaster when it begins service to Freeport and Brunswick on Nov. 1.

Timm and the town have negotiated for months, but now the rail service deadline is bearing down, prompting town councilors to rely on annexation.

Other negotiations also are under way between Timm and the town. Earlier this year, Timm offered to sell the town the southern end of his Depot Street lot — about 40 parking spaces — but at a price much higher than its appraised value of $120,000, Town Manager Dale Olmstead said.

“Mr. Timm early on suggested Freeport should control the south end of the parking lot, which makes perfect sense,” Olmstead said. “But the asking price was fairly high. An appraisal was done and the value came back at $120,000.”

jtleonard@timesrecord.com