FREEPORT

Town officials have to decide what to do with the Hunter and Pownal roads athletic fields and recreational areas, and ownership may be the variable that makes all the difference.

If the town decides to keep both fields, it will have to invest about $172,000 to bring one of the parcels up to current state water management standards.

The Hunter Road field meets Department of Environmental Protection storm water and runoff standards, but the Pownal Road field does not.

The DEP considers the side-by-side parcels to be functioning as one unit. Athletic fields are considered development, and because the developed area of both exceeds a 20-acre maximum, both become subject to more stringent storm water standards.

Councilors’ dilemma is whether to keep both recreational areas and spend the money to bring the field up to DEP standards, or to break off the Pownal Road parcel and offer it to Regional School Unit 5 where, for the time being, it would be unaffected.

The council first will discuss whether to make a formal offer to the school unit. School officials thus far have refused to consider the issue until they receive a formal proposal.

If the school district takes the parcel and doesn’t change its current use, the property could remain as it is, indefinitely. However, if the school unit decided to change the field’s condition, it then would be subject to the same requirements as the town.

If the offer is made and RSU 5 accepts, the issue will be moot.

However, if councilors opt not to make the offer, or if the RSU declines, the next question would be how the town would meet the state’s upgraded expectations. Municipal and DEP officials met earlier this year to discuss the predicament.

Town engineer Albert Presgraves and the town’s hired engineering firm, Gorrill-Palmer Consulting Engineers, of Gray, worked out a proposal to treat the quality, rather than quantity, of runoff at and around the site.

In an unusual twist, both town and state del- egates left the meeting satisfied with the results.

“We’re pretty happy that we sat down with DEP and they were interested in actually improving the situation, rather than just imposing a cookie-cutter solution,” Town Manager Peter Joseph said.

If approved, the recent plan would treat the most harmful runoff — from Hedgehog Mountain Road, for example — rather than marginal drainage from the field itself. Additionally, runoff from the Pownal Road field’s parking lot would be corralled by removing some parking spaces and restoring a buffer area between the pavement and the streambed.

The total estimate of the work, including the $18,080 cost of the DEP permit, is $171,080 — $100,000 less than when the council last discussed the issue in November.

“That’s doing the bare minimum, and we’ve already incurred about $8,000 of that for work that Gorrill-Palmer already has done,” Joseph said. “But $170,000 sounds better to me than $270,000.”

Another issue

Also Tuesday, councilors will meet in exective session with Codes Enforcement Officer Fred Reeder and the town’s attorney to discuss options regarding Harold Arndt’s Island Rover project.

Arndt is building a research vessel on his Lower Flying Point Road property, but the project violates local zoning. A deadline of Jan. 26 passed without the two sides reaching agreement.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at town hall.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com

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