Groups gather to chart future of Fort Williams (Printed Jan. 19)
By Ward Peck
Editor
When it comes to Cape Elizabeth’s Fort Williams, questions about what to do with the 90-acre former military installation and how to fund it have been a near constant struggle for the town since it paid $200,000 for the property in 1964. After a 10-year struggle, the town resolved the former question– create a park– but the latter question vexes public officials and citizens to this day.
Home to one of Maine’s most visible and well-know landmarks, Portland Head Light, the park draws tourists and townspeople alike for a wide variety of uses and activities, yet years of frugal stewardship of the park’s structures, battlements, horticulture and facilities have created a laundry list of improvements that outstrip the public’s ability and willingness to pay.
As recently as November of last year, citizens of Cape Elizabeth reaffirmed their commitment to shouldering the responsibility for park maintenance and improvements by rejecting a scheme to install parking meters. Yet it remains to be seen to what extent the town’s property taxpayers are willing to see their taxes increase to that end.
Today, oversight and financing of park operations are divided among three groups of citizens. The Fort Williams Advisory Commission (FWAC), a town council appointed board, is charged with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the park as well as formulating park policies and maintenance and improvement priorities. A relatively new group, the Fort Williams Charitable Foundation (FWCF) was formed in 2001 to raise private funds, including donations and grants, for the park’s operation, maintenance and capital improvements. The Cape Elizabeth Town Council has the ultimate authority over the park and is responsible for budgeting public funds and enacting policies related to the park.
The current budget, adopted in May of 2006 provided $123,000 for park maintenance and operation, with roughly $90,000 of that sum dedicated to paying park personnel. The Town also maintains a capital improvement fund, which ccurrently has a balance of roughly $68,000. That fund is the vehicle by which some contributions to the FWCF are spent, according to Town Manager Michael McGovern, but the bulk of the capital fund revenues come from fees for park rentals, coin-operated revenue and other revenue generated by the park.
According to FWCF President Joel Russ, the foundation currently has $75,000 in assets, of which $50,000 is reserved to establish the foundation’s endowment. The FWCF currently maintains a policy of designating 50 percent of its contributions to help fund the endowment and 50 percent to be contributed to the Capital Improvement Fund.
According to Ellen Nadeau, of the FWAC, the capital needs of the park are substantial and well outstrip the current funding sources. Among those needs are: repairing or replacing the concrete bleachers (also known as the amphitheater), repairing stone walls, exploring the installation of permanent bathroom facilities, improving or securing several of the artillery batteries, making the site of the Goddard Mansion safe, whether by razing the existing structure or maintaining it as a ruin, and reconfiguring the main entrance.
Other less daunting improvements include new historical signage, lighting the flagpole, cleaning up the pond and improving the park’s horticulture and arboriculture.
Members of the council, the FWAC and FWCF recently met to explore ways to harmonize their activities and explore ways to fund the park’s needs. Russ told the group that the foundation was looking to professionalize and expand its fundraising activities, which up to this point has largely focused on appeals to town citizens. McGovern cited the recent defeat of the parking meter referendum as evidence that taxpayers are willing to increase the park’s operational budget, although Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta warned she believed the vote did not represent such mandate and would resist any significant increase in the budget that results in a tax increase.
One suggestion put forward by Council Chair Paul McKenney to establish a composite body to steer a renewed push for park improvements ran into resistance from members of the FWAC, who interpreted the suggestion as duplicating their charge.
Councilor Jim Rowe, who headed the workshop, said at the outset that that concrete remedies for the park’s challenges were not expected, rather, the meeting was intended to establish a dialog to move a renewed emphasis on the park forward. The meeting yielded lively discussions on the park and how it is used– whether it’s historical significance and role as a tourist attraction should be emphasized or whether its character as a rough and informal space for passive recreation should be maintained. But by the end of the nearly two-hour workshop, Rowe’s prediction that nothing would be resolved seemed to hold up.
Editor
When it comes to Cape Elizabeth’s Fort Williams, questions about what to do with the 90-acre former military installation and how to fund it have been a near constant struggle for the town since it paid $200,000 for the property in 1964. After a 10-year struggle, the town resolved the former question– create a park– but the latter question vexes public officials and citizens to this day.
Home to one of Maine’s most visible and well-know landmarks, Portland Head Light, the park draws tourists and townspeople alike for a wide variety of uses and activities, yet years of frugal stewardship of the park’s structures, battlements, horticulture and facilities have created a laundry list of improvements that outstrip the public’s ability and willingness to pay.
As recently as November of last year, citizens of Cape Elizabeth reaffirmed their commitment to shouldering the responsibility for park maintenance and improvements by rejecting a scheme to install parking meters. Yet it remains to be seen to what extent the town’s property taxpayers are willing to see their taxes increase to that end.
Today, oversight and financing of park operations are divided among three groups of citizens. The Fort Williams Advisory Commission (FWAC), a town council appointed board, is charged with overseeing the day-to-day operations of the park as well as formulating park policies and maintenance and improvement priorities. A relatively new group, the Fort Williams Charitable Foundation (FWCF) was formed in 2001 to raise private funds, including donations and grants, for the park’s operation, maintenance and capital improvements. The Cape Elizabeth Town Council has the ultimate authority over the park and is responsible for budgeting public funds and enacting policies related to the park.
The current budget, adopted in May of 2006 provided $123,000 for park maintenance and operation, with roughly $90,000 of that sum dedicated to paying park personnel. The Town also maintains a capital improvement fund, which ccurrently has a balance of roughly $68,000. That fund is the vehicle by which some contributions to the FWCF are spent, according to Town Manager Michael McGovern, but the bulk of the capital fund revenues come from fees for park rentals, coin-operated revenue and other revenue generated by the park.
According to FWCF President Joel Russ, the foundation currently has $75,000 in assets, of which $50,000 is reserved to establish the foundation’s endowment. The FWCF currently maintains a policy of designating 50 percent of its contributions to help fund the endowment and 50 percent to be contributed to the Capital Improvement Fund.
According to Ellen Nadeau, of the FWAC, the capital needs of the park are substantial and well outstrip the current funding sources. Among those needs are: repairing or replacing the concrete bleachers (also known as the amphitheater), repairing stone walls, exploring the installation of permanent bathroom facilities, improving or securing several of the artillery batteries, making the site of the Goddard Mansion safe, whether by razing the existing structure or maintaining it as a ruin, and reconfiguring the main entrance.
Other less daunting improvements include new historical signage, lighting the flagpole, cleaning up the pond and improving the park’s horticulture and arboriculture.
Members of the council, the FWAC and FWCF recently met to explore ways to harmonize their activities and explore ways to fund the park’s needs. Russ told the group that the foundation was looking to professionalize and expand its fundraising activities, which up to this point has largely focused on appeals to town citizens. McGovern cited the recent defeat of the parking meter referendum as evidence that taxpayers are willing to increase the park’s operational budget, although Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta warned she believed the vote did not represent such mandate and would resist any significant increase in the budget that results in a tax increase.
One suggestion put forward by Council Chair Paul McKenney to establish a composite body to steer a renewed push for park improvements ran into resistance from members of the FWAC, who interpreted the suggestion as duplicating their charge.
Councilor Jim Rowe, who headed the workshop, said at the outset that that concrete remedies for the park’s challenges were not expected, rather, the meeting was intended to establish a dialog to move a renewed emphasis on the park forward. The meeting yielded lively discussions on the park and how it is used– whether it’s historical significance and role as a tourist attraction should be emphasized or whether its character as a rough and informal space for passive recreation should be maintained. But by the end of the nearly two-hour workshop, Rowe’s prediction that nothing would be resolved seemed to hold up.
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