Jeremy Gabrielson, Susan Gillis and Timothy Reiniger were elected to at-large seats on the Cape Elizabeth Town Council Tuesday in a close four-way race.
Gabrielson
The vote was 2,281 for incumbent Gabrielson, 2,247 for Gillis and 2,214 for Reiniger. The fourth candidate, Victoria Volent, received 2,209, just five votes behind Reiniger. There were also 90 write-ins and 3,775 ballots left blank.
The Town Clerk’s office estimated voter turnout to be at approximately 49%, with 4,280 ballots cast.
“I’m still digesting this, this was a very tight race,” Gillis said Wednesday. “It shows that people want us to work together.”
The four candidates, much like Cape Elizabeth residents, were split on zoning amendments to permit the building of Dunham Court project, an affordable housing development planned for the town center.
Gabrielson and Volent favor the amendments while Reiniger and Gillis are opposed. The council approved the amendments in October, but after more than 1,000 residents signed a petition to overrule the council’s approval, the question is expected to go to voters in a referendum.
Gillis
Gabrielson said he still believes that the Dunham Court project, or projects like it, are the way to go.
“I think at the end of the day, that a project a lot like this probably does make sense,” he said. “The way to deliver those projects in the most cost-effective manner is to build at a sufficient scale.”
Reiniger, though, said the referendum is the right course of action.
“I have supported the petition drive and I actually spent some time helping with that,” he said. “There has been controversy over this issue, and I think a referendum would be the perfect vehicle for resolving the controversy.”
Gillis agrees.
“I think the town needs to decide that, not just five councilors,” she said. “It seems like there’s an awful lot of pushback on it.”
The Dunham Court project was the focal point in Gillis’ campaign.
Reiniger
“My issue, it’s always been the Dunham Court project,” she said. “I’ll be working to try to get the Town Council more in line with the original comprehensive town plan, which calls for retail on the first floor and not as many variants.”
Reiniger wants to work on the affordable housing issue in Cape Elizabeth via options such affordable home-ownership and rentals. He also said he’s interested in “finding a permanent home for the historical society” and creating a citizen committee with the purpose of “looking at the data surveillance policies in the town.”
Gabrielson said he looks forward to continuing to work on the affordable housing issue and to working with the School Board on putting a bond question to a vote to replacing Pond Cove and the middle schools and renovate the high school. He hopes it will also be on the ballot in June.
Cape Elizabeth voters Tuesday also opposed the statewide Question 1 to will halt Central Maine Power’s transmission corridor with 2,172 voting no and 2,065 voting yes.
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