Wiscasset’s latest downtown parking plan and other tweaks to the Maine Department of Transportation’s $5 million traffic improvement plan will be aired at a public forum Monday, May 8, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Wiscasset Community Center.

MDOT Project Manager Ernie Martin told the Advisory Committee Monday, 53 existing parking spaces will be removed, including all of Main Street’s parking, replaced with 93 new parking spaces, seven reserved for handicap parking.

The latest plan includes adding 28 parking spaces on Railroad Avenue after the railroad siding is removed and the gravel road widened and paved. MDOT will also construct a 35-space parking area at the north end of the road that will include two spaces for tour bus parking.

Martin said four loading zones are planned downtown, two on Main Street. One would be in front of the Golden Wok restaurant on the corner of Middle Street, another on the north side of Main Street in front of the Wawenock Block. A loading zone is planned on Water Street in front of Red’s Eats with a second loading zone behind Red’s on Railroad Avenue.

The plan eliminates 14 parking spaces from Water Street, six of those in front of Red’s and six on the opposite side of Main Street in front of Sarah’s Café. Three additional parking spaces would be removed on Water Street across from Red’s alongside 55 Main, the former Key Bank building.

Continuing on, Martin noted 30 new parking spaces are planned on the south side of Water Street. Plans call for razing the 1916 Haggett Garage building currently occupied by Midcoast Conservancy.

On Middle Street, 10 parking spots will be eliminated, seven on the north side of the street and three from the south side. The three diagonal parking spaces in front of the Marston House will also be removed when the sidewalks are widened.

Martin said MDOT could assist the town with plans for upgrading the municipal lots on Middle and Water streets but said neither lot was considered a part of the project. He added MDOT was planning improvements to an eight-space parking lot behind Treats.

Four diagonal parking spots on Fort Hill Street behind the post office will be changed to parallel parking for two to three vehicles.

During the discussion, Martin noted MDOT still planned to pave the area around the Main Street Pier. The lot there currently has 12 parking spaces. He said the state dropped plans to add fill expanding the area. “We’ve had a lot of good dialogue over the last few months,” Martin said, adding he hopes to schedule a meeting with the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce.

The May 8 public meeting will begin with an informal open house from 4 to 6 p.m. where residents can meet with traffic and planning engineers. A formal presentation will begin at 6:30 and run two hours, allowing time for questions.

Selectman David Cherry suggested MDOT address the long-term maintenance costs that will result from the project. “Many people have expressed this concern,” he said. Martin promised to coordinate with Doug Fowler, Wiscasset’s public works director.

Advisory Committee member Seaver Leslie said it was important MDOT take into consideration the possibility the plan could revert back to Option 1, a proposal accommodating Main Street parking.

Haggett building discussed

As the meeting was wrapping up, Jody Jones, executive director of Midcoast Conservancy, asked to address the committee. Jones said the Conservancy had secured an option to purchase the Haggett building on March 27 from it owners, CEI of Brunswick.

“We found out today MDOT plans to take the building by eminent domain,” she said. (Eminent domain is the right of a government or its agent to take private property for public use, with payment.)

Martin responded he wasn’t aware of this.

Jones continued, Midcoast Conservancy had initially expressed an interest in the building back in December 2016.

Members of the Advisory Committee were clearly stunned by the news. Lonnie Kennedy-Patterson asked Jones why her organization waited so long to announce its intentions.

Jones explained her group’s board of directors hadn’t decided until last month to move ahead and exercise its option.

“MDOT announced their intentions to buy the building last year,” Cherry responded. “You could have mentioned this before now.”

Leslie said he’d made it clear to the Advisory Committee in January the Haggett building had a potential buyer.

“Why would you even think of buying a building that was going to be torn down?” Bill Maloney asked.

“We believe the building with Midcoast Conservancy based there would be an asset to the community,” Jones said, adding she hoped something could be worked out.

Martin didn’t comment further, suggesting Jones would have to get in touch with MDOT’s legal staff.