Given Town Council approval, the Maine Department of Transportation will provide $20,000 to plant bushes and a fence in neighborhoods most affected by last year’s clear-cutting along Interstate 295.

Town Manager Peter Joseph said last week that the state money would pay for the plantings and the fence, while the town Department of Public Works crew would provide the labor. The Town Council will consider approval of a written agreement between the Department of Transportation and the town either at its June 21 or July 5 meeting, Joseph said.

The state’s clear-cutting of trees caused an uproar last summer from land abutters, who complained of noise and sight pollution from vehicles buzzing along I-295. State officials attended a meeting at the Freeport Community Library, and heard plenty from angry residents.

Talks then began between the agency and the town as to some kind of solution. The Department of Transportation insisted that the plantings be done on the residential side of the fence that runs along the highway. Elm, Kendall, True and Evergreen streets, as well as Blueberry Drive, are the neighborhoods that suffered most from the clearcutting, Joseph said.

“They said, ‘Here’s some money, do what you want,’” Joseph said of the state’s offer. “The town would provide the in-kind labor – the manpower. Public works would go right at it if there’s an agreement.”

The money from the state is not a solution to the problem, Joseph said.

“I don’t think anybody’s happy,” he said. “There are direct abutters to the property that was cut. Hopefully they will be happier than they were. I’m glad that the Department of Transportation has agreed to do something.”

Joseph added that there are plenty of landowners who were impacted to a lesser extent by the cuttings then the direct abutters.

“This is a visual problem,” he said, “but the noise impact is the biggest complaint, and there is no way to address that.”

Town Engineer Al Presgraves said that a 50-foot wooden fence might be erected along the town right of way at the end of True Street, though neighbors there are not sure they want it, so that detail needs to be ironed out. The fence would block the view of the highway, Presgraves said.

Presgraves, who complained that the DOT provided the town with no notice that it would be clear-cutting last summer, has a different take on the noise issue.

“The DOT says that if you block the visual, the noise doesn’t feel so bad, and I agree with them,” Presgraves said.

Rodney and Gail Curtis, who live at the end of True Street as it connects to Blueberry Drive, are quite close to the highway. Rodney Curtis said that he’s OK with the solution, and is not aware that a fence is under consideration

“They let us choose what we wanted to have planted, and we’re going to have tall rhododendrons,” Curtis said.

Curtis directed his attention to small trees near the fence between his property and I-295.

“Your lower vegetation is what kills the noise, it’s not the high stuff,” he said, pointing to spaces between the trees. “The high trees, you can see through. Others may choose different vegetation.”

Rodney Curtis, who lives at the end of True Street, quite close to Interstate 295, points to the border of his lawn, where rhododendrons will be planted to mitigate the effect of clear-cutting along the highway last year by the Maine Department of Transportation.

Rodney Curtis, who lives at the end of True Street, quite close to Interstate 295, stands along the edge of his lawn. Rhododendrons will be planted all along the edge of the lawn to mitigate the effect of clear-cutting along the highway last year by the Maine Department of Transportation.

Blueberry Lane intersects with the end of True Street in Freeport. Bushes will be planted along the area, located close to Interstate 295, where the state did clear-cutting last summer.