Grant monies from the Maine Department of Transportation to improve public access to Great Pond have become available, but the Conservation Commission is wary about how that money might be used.

A $39,000 trail improvement grant from the Maine Department of Transportation proposes to complete the Great Pond trail greenbelt connection from Fenway Road (off of Fowler Road), to an existing public trail at Alewives Brook, by constructing a boardwalk within the bounds of an easement granted by the Sprague Corp. The easement is close to the shore of the pond and the boardwalk is necessary to make access through wetland possible.

The Conservation Commission, however, is concerned about the impact on the wetland, as well as the visual impact and the cost of constructing a boardwalk. The commission is instead proposing that the Town obtain rights to a nearby trail which is owned by the Jordan family. The upland trail has been used informally for years, but it is not legally accessible to the public and therefore cannot be included in the Town trail system.

Representatives of the Conservation Commission presented their proposal to the Town Council June 14. The council voted to have Town Manager Michael McGovern research the implications of the commission's alternative proposal.

The proposal would include having the Town "exert maximum effort" to obtain the easement necessary for permanent legal use of the existing upland trail. Bob Harrison, chairman of the commission, told councilors that the town had never made an official approach to the Jordans.

Commissioners are also concerned that the grant money, coupled with a required 20 percent of matching in-kind services (money or labor) from the town, would not be enough to build a boardwalk all the way to Alewives Brook.

A trail on the opposite end of the pond, purchased by the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust in the early 1990s, connects Bowery Beach Road to Alewives Brook. A grant for constructing that part of the trail was obtained by the Casco Bay Estuary Project. This trail covers only a fraction of the distance around the pond.

Formally, the commission proposed these six points to the council:

1. The town should negotiate with the Sprague Corp. to formalize permanent access to the boat launch area of Great Pond via the existing trail from the south end of Fenway Road through the "drainage easement," rather than using the existing 12-foot wide pedestrian easement along the back side of the homes on the east side of Fenway Road. Obtaining an easement for use of this existing trail to the boat launch area would provide shore access while requiring neither acceptance of the trail improvement grant nor an easement for the use of Jordan land. Because this easement to the boat launch area would satisfy the state mandate for public access to Great Pond, it should be given the highest priority.
2. The town should use grant funds to construct an improved (but not paved) disabled accessible trail to the boat launch/ice skating area, which is the only clear pond access on the east shore north of Alewives Brook.
3. The town should use grant funds to construct an observation platform and appropriate connecting disabled accessible boardwalk near the boat launch area.
4. The town should not at present construct a boardwalk from the boat launch area to Alewives Brook.
5. The town should exert maximum effort to obtain the trail easement necessary for permanent legal use of the existing trail between the boat launch area an Alewives Brook. Assuming success at this, the town should then use grant funds to improve (not pave) this trail connection to the boardwalk and trail on the south side of Alewives Brook.
6. The Conservation Commission should be integrated into the trail and boardwalk design process by continuous consultation with the town engineers. This will help to minimize conservation impacts while still allowing acceptable public access.

Councilor Ruth Watson asked how amenable the Sprague Corp. and the Jordans might be to the proposal. Dr. Peter Rand, representing the concerns of the commission, said he could not speak for them, but , "I have reason to feel they would be in favor of it."