FALMOUTH — The town has received proposals to remove a turnpike ramp on Route 1 in exchange for prime develment land, but is not yet disclosing who submitted proposals, what they want to do with the land or how many offers were received.

The project, a collaboration between Falmouth and the Maine Department of Transportation, will remove the Falmouth Spur ramp and extend the town’s Route 1 development corridor further to the north. A developer selected by the Falmouth Town Council will remove the ramp and an attached bridge and replace it with an at-grade intersection. In exchange, the Department of Transportation will transfer to the developer approximately 11 acres opened up by removing the ramp and attached bridge.

The state-owned property could be worth as much as $1.1 million, according to a draft appraisal of the property, but a revised appraisal put the price at closer to $1.2 million, Poore said Tuesday.

Falmouth Town Manager Nathan Poore, in an interview Tuesday, said the offers received by the town were not yet public record. He would not say how many developers submitted proposals.

“The proposals are in the confidential economic development phase,” of the selection process, Poore said. The Falmouth Town Council has the authority to select the developer and is responsble for primary coordination and oversight of the project. The department can reject the work if it does not meet specifications.

The council met in private executive session Monday to discuss the proposals and plans to meet privately once more before making proposal details public, Poore said. According to the town’s project timeline, councilors expected to recommend a preferred developer at a meeting May 9, followed by a public hearing about the project later that month.

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Poore, on Tuesday, denied a Freedom of Access Act request for the proposals to the town, citing state law that protects discussions of economic development and disposition in cases where premature disclosure of the information “would prejudice the conpetititive or bargaining position of the body or agency.”

“The current discussions about this project and proposals clearly fall under this category exemption,” Poore said in an email.

“The town is looking forward to quickly moving beyond executive session discussion and presenting the information to the public in May,” Poore added.

The cost of the project is supposed to equal the value of the state land offered by the department, according to a January request for proposals.

If the project cost is more the land value, the town or developer have to pay to make up the difference. If it is less than the land value, the town and developer will have to pay for additional road infrastructure work on state roads in Falmouth.

Last year, Falmouth completed a $12 million project to redevelop the Route 1 commercial corridor south of the turnpike ramp into a mixed-use village center, including landscaping, widening sidewalks and relocating utility and communication lines underground.


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