Petitioners trigger safety concerns at transfer station

HARPSWELL

In a town like Harpswell with no supermarket or other location that sees heavy foot traffic, petitioners can have a difficult time gathering signatures. It’s only natural that they gravitate toward the town’s transfer station, especially on weekends.

But according to Transfer Station Manager Chuck Perow, the growing number of petitioners and other groups looking to capitalize on traffic at the transfer station is causing safety issues, with vehicles bumping into pedestrians and traffic being backed up.

“Safety is first and foremost over there,” said Perow. “Everything we do over there we look out for the population of Harpswell’s safety. I don’t care what the petitions are for. My main concern is safety.”

The issue came up at a recent selectmen’s meeting when Selectman Rick Daniel explained that he had received some complaints about people gathering at the transfer station. Selectmen Kevin Johnson noted that he also had received complaints.

Perow said he received 48 complaints about the ranked-choice voting campaign gathering signatures at the transfer station. During the signature drive at the transfer station for the water tower petition circulated by Friends of Mitchell Field, Perow said he received 132 complaints.

“It’s a big distraction when we have people flying from car to car, person to person,” said Perow.

Perow said that in his first year at the transfer station five people were bumped by cars, and six cars were hit by other vehicles. Added distractions only heightens that risk.

“It’s a congested area. It’s a small parking lot with a lot of people on a Saturday, especially in the summer,” he added.

“When you’re trying to do something political, it’s tempting (to go to the transfer station). You have a captive audience there. You’re trying to get as many numbers as you can. It’s a public place, but it’s also a quasi-industrial site,” said Selectman David Chipman.

And it’s not just signature gatherers. Informational campaigns, like a recent one conducted by the Harpswell Invasive Plants Partnership, and fundraisers like bake sales have also migrated to the transfer station in the hopes of connecting with the regular flow of people to and from the site.

Perow said that they made efforts to keep signature gatherers out of the way and put orange vests on them to make them more visible with limited success. In the past, he’s pushed bake sales to the back of the building where there’s less traffic. While that was safer, the groups were annoyed because they didn’t have access to the heavier foot traffic at the front of the building and didn’t make nearly as many sales.

“It’s a Catch-22. If they’re in the parking lot, people are accessible. If you were to put people collecting signatures with a sign down by where the empty cans are when you go around the loop, they’re not going to have as much contact with people,” said Perow. “It’s kind of a can of worms.”

There are also concerns about limiting people’s ability to campaign in one of the town’s few public areas that sees regular foot traffic. Perow made clear that the campaigns themselves weren’t the issue and he was hesitant to hinder any attempts at campaigning, but safety has to be the priority.

“I can’t stop them from being there and exercising their rights. We can’t do that. All we can do is make sure the situation is as safe and consistent as possible,” said Perow.

Chipman recommended that the town’s recycling committee take a look at the issue and come back with a potential solution, such as creating a special zone at the station for the activity or looking at other ways to find a balance between campaigning on public land and safety.

Solution?

• IT WAS recommended that Harpswell’s recycling committee take a look at the issue and come back with a potential solution, such as creating a special zone at the transfer station or looking at other ways to find a balance between campaigning on public land and safety.

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