Simms

Two Gorham councilors are sparring over merits of a nearly dead, proposed turnpike connector and everyone can air it out next week in a legislative hearing.

Councilor Charles “Lou” Simms opposes the toll road connector.

“Let’s work together to build a community that doesn’t need Maine Turnpike Authority’s highway,” Simms said in a letter to the American Journal editor.

Councilor Philip Gagnon says the town board wants the connector to spur commercial development that homeowners need to ease their tax burdens.

Gagnon

“Councilor Simms fails to understand a majority of the town voted for an industrial park that would be part of the Gorham connector,” Gagnon wrote in an email Tuesday.

The issue now moves to Augusta.

Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Cumberland County, representing Gorham and part of Scarborough, has sponsored a bill, LD 1020. It would repeal permission the Maine Turnpike Authority received from Legislature in 2017 to construct the toll road.

“Sen. Brenner would like to share that she is looking forward to a robust conversation about LD 1020 and hopes it will end with having land returned to their previous owners or the municipality,” Ben Barry, communications director at the Maine Senate Majority Office, said in an email to the American Journal.

The Transportation Committee public hearing is set for 1 p.m. Thursday, April 3, in Room 126 at the State House in Augusta. Members of the public are invited to speak.

Barry said the hearing will also be streamed online at legislature.maine.gov/audio/#126.

The Maine Turnpike Authority’s proposed route for the Gorham Connector linking the Gorham Bypass and Exit 45 in South Portland.

The 4.8-mile connector was aimed at reducing rush-hour traffic in the routes 114 and 22 commuter corridor. It would link Gorham’s Bernard Rines Bypass with turnpike Exit 45 in South Portland. A public uproar ensued last year when MTA connector plans called for cutting through Smiling Hill Farm.

Four communities – Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook – signed an agreement in support of a connector in 2022. The MTA announced earlier this month it was handing over traffic relief in the area to the Maine Department of Transportation to study and Westbrook recently bailed on its support of the connector, following Scarborough last October.

“The town of Gorham’s position on the connector is the same as it has been and we have not been given any new direction by the Town Council,” Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said in an email to the American Journal.

The town will submit testimony on LD 1020, Paraschak said.

Gagnon, in a recent Freedom of Information Act request to Paraschak’s office, found in a Jan. 23 letter addressed only to “Janet” that Simms had contact with Brenner.

“I’ve connected with Stacy Brenner and now that Scarborough’s council has taken action, she is willing to sponsor state legislation, but she needs Gorham’s council to take action first,” the letter from Simms said.

In the letter Gagnon referenced, Simms said he was “tentatively” planning to bring a resolution forward at the Gorham council’s March 4 meeting to withdraw the town’s support of the connector.

But the measure didn’t appear on the council’s agenda.

The legislative bill was filed March 12.

“(Simms’ letter) shows a willingness by one councilor to work with a non-Gorham resident, Brenner, to circumvent the council’s will,” Gagnon said Tuesday in a telephone call. “It’s a bad look.”

Simms responded Tuesday, in an email to the American Journal, that transportation is a regional issue, that must be addressed in collaboration with regional partners.

“I encourage greater collaboration between Gorham’s council and our state representatives, as well as our neighboring communities and regional organizations,” Simms said. “I attempt to lead by example, and will try to foster greater collaboration moving forward, in my efforts to best serve our community.”

Simms said this week in his letter to the editor, “Instead of forcing Gorham to compete in a limited market for big box stores and trucking warehouses, Gorham’s leaders should be focusing on our community’s strengths.”

Simms also wrote that a turnpike connector would “dramatically increase the amount of high-speed traffic revving up Route 114 through Gorham village”.

But Gagnon labeled the comments as “scare tactics.”

Gagnon said Simms and others are “stuck on an anti-turnpike crusade” that will ultimately lead to congestion and higher taxes for the community.