A group of Pond View Drive residents spoke out against a proposal to use their road as part of the Eastern Trail during a presentation Monday night, telling planners they do not want their neighborhood connected to the system.

“You have to find some way to ensure the neighborhood that our situation will remain the same or will be improved,” said Marty Schindler, a Pond View Drive resident.

The Eastern Trail Management District is trying to build a trail connecting Kittery to Bug Light Park in South Portland. Most of the work is currently being done in Scarborough where a portion of the trail has been completed crossing the marsh and a section behind State Manufactured Homes and ending at the Nonesuch River is nearing completion.

Organizers have been trying to develop a plan to connect the portion of the trail ending at the Nonesuch River to the South Portland Greenbelt at Wainright Recreation Complex.

Planning has been difficult since the one-mile stretch must navigate around some railroad tracks, the river, Pleasant Hill Road and some unsightly areas such as the Rigby Road.

On Monday night, Bruce Hyman, who is developing the plans for the district, presented six possibilities to make the connection. The cost estimates for the projects ranged from $1.5 million to $2.77 million.

The preferred routes presented by Hyman were the least expensive and one of the proposals incorporated Pond View Road as part of the trail.

That proposal would cross the Nonesuch River, continue up Pleasant Hill Road, run along Pond View Drive and then connect to Old Bog Road and into South Portland.

While there are some complications regarding traveling up Pleasant Hill Road, Hyman said the district could build some sort of side path to keep users off the busy road.

Planners liked the use of Pond View Drive because it is a quiet, dead end road. However, residents said that is the way they would like to keep it.

“I’m not happy about the Eastern Trail coming down Pond View Drive,” said Janice Quimby, who lives on the road.

Quimby said she bought her house on Pond View Drive because it is a quiet street and she was concerned that the trail would create noise and increase littering. She also was worried that the trail may bring in people who would commit crimes in the neighborhood.

Steve Workman, a consultant who essentially serves as the alliance’s executive director, said studies of similar trails indicated that crime is actually reduced once the trails are completed.

Workman said there is some littering on the trail, but the town has been proactive by placing barrels at the trailheads and if any large things are illegally dumped, the Eastern Trail has taken care of the problem.

Kathy Meehan, a Pond View Drive resident, said the road is narrow and did not want to see more traffic on the road due to the Eastern Trail. She also doesn’t want to see any on street parking for the trail.

Workman said people would be encouraged to park at other locations where parking is more readily available.

Don Prout, a property owner on the road, suggested planners look at an alternative route that would take the trail from Rigby Road up to Pond View Road, which would connect toward the end of the road, rather than using the entire street.

“It doesn’t make sense to put people walking down Pond View Drive with all those driveways there,” Prout said.

Planners, who were not aware of the possibility, said they would review that proposal further to see if it is feasible.

The other route that Hyman favored would have the trail cross the Nonesuch River, traveling up Pleasant Hill Road to Rigby Road and connecting to Wainwright Field through an Eastern Railroad right-of-way.

The management district will have a final report completed sometime in April. The engineering plans will be completed in 2008, a process that will include further public comment. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 or 2009.