The subject of the clear-cutting done along stretches of Interstate 295 will be on the table during a Town Council workshop on Tuesday, June 16, when Freeport residents and town officials alike will be looking for answers from the Maine Department of Transportation.

The meeting – scheduled for an hour – will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Freeport Community Library, and will be part of a District 1 Town Council workshop. District 1 covers much of the village area of town, where neighbors say the clear-cutting has caused noise and site pollution and devalued their property.

Melanie Sachs, Town Council chairwoman, said last week that she is looking for “some clarity around the purpose of the project itself.”

Town Manager Peter Joseph said Monday that District 1 Councilor Scott Gleeson, Sachs and Al Presgraves, the town engineer, have fielded plenty of phone calls from perturbed residents.

“From our perspective,” Joseph said, “it would be great if they did something to mitigate the impact. The people who are affected by the clear-cutting right in their back yards are pretty angry about it,”

Sachs said that Freeport residents who complain of the effects of the clear-cutting are not being “not in my back yard” types.

“It’s truly not a NIMBY thing, it’s really not,” she said. “The actions of the Maine Department of Transportation, to unilaterally strip the resource, seems to fly in the face of common sense.”

The state is not required to notify communities or abutting landowners when it clear-cuts along the highway. The agency claims to have sent out a press release, but Presgraves said he never saw the press release

The state says it has cut trees along exits 20, 22 and 24 in Freeport for safety reasons, so that trees won’t block the sun in winter, thereby preventing ice from forming on the road. Another reason is to give drivers better sight distance.

“That section of 295 hasn’t been cleared in a long time,” John Cannell, a regional manager for the department, told the Tri-Town Weekly while the cutting was ongoing. “To get a little more light in, it gives more ice and snow control. That section was pretty much overgrown. We’re not cutting on private lands, and we’re not cutting in wetlands.”

Freeport state Rep. Sara Gideon, the House assistant majority leader, has invited a Department of Transportation representative to the workshop, which Gideon will attend. Gideon said she would like the department representative to take questions at the meeting, follow that up with site walks and consider mitigation.

“Planting will help with the noise, and also with the visual impact,” Gideon said earlier.

Sachs also outlined some expectations.

“I’d also be interested in reviewing the maps with them, and having them tour the areas,” Sachs said. “Debris was to be cleared, and the fence is in disrepair in spots.”

The grounds in back of Freeport High School are visible now from Interstate 295, following clear-cutting done there by the Maine Department of Transportation last month. The location is just south of Exit 22.Staff photo by Larry Grard