UPDATE: Apparently So. Portland is not considering vegitation any longer. On Feb. 21, the South Portland City Council voted to vacated the easement granted to the Cape Elizabeth residents of Edgewood Road and block traffic from Cape Elizabeth– Ward Peck

By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    Soon after unanimously voting to postpone a decision on discontinuing Edgewood Road at the Feb. 5 council meeting, South Portland councilors were presented with a new proposal.
    South Portland residents of Edgewood Road are upset that motorists frequently use a private easement granted to two Cape Elizabeth residents as a through way between Mitchell Road in Cape Elizabeth and Cottage Road in South Portland. Residents requested that South Portland block access from Red Oak Drive, a road associated with the Blueberry Ridge subdivision located on the border between the two municipalities. South Portland risked a law suit from the two Cape Elizabeth residents if they blocked access to Red Oak Drive when it was a private road owned by John Frustaci, Blueberry Ridge’s developer. 
    Earlier this month, the Cape Elizabeth Town Council voted 6-0 to accept Red Oak Drive and other roads as a public through way.
    City Manager Ted Jankowski said he worked with Cape Elizabeth officials, specifically Town Manager Mike McGovern, and received feedback from the South Portland Fire and Police Departments and the Department of Public Works to come up with an acceptable proposal for both communities. Previous methods of addressing the situation included installing gates, closing the road, or grassing over the South Portland portion of Edgewood.
    The current proposal calls for a traffic island, heavily vegetated with trees and shrubs on the Cape Elizabeth side of Edgewood Road and light vegetation on the South Portland side.
    “(The island) will take away the line of sight down the road (and it is) the best way to allow public vehicles through,” said Jankowski. 
    In addition to the island, the proposal calls for heavy signage to indicate Edgewood as a private road with no through passage.
    South Portland would be financially responsible for the island and the signage costs would be worked out with Cape Elizabeth. Only the two Cape families would have the right to use the road. City attorney Mary Kahl said motorists traveling over the final 25 feet of Edgewood Road, which is city owned property, would be charged with trespassing.
     “We asked two city managers to come up with a mediating way of settling this, we placed them in a no win situation, and I’m sorry we did it,” said Councilor Maxine Beecher, responding to the proposal. “The Cape voted no through streets, yet they seem to think this one is okay.”
    “I have always been concerned about lawsuits regarding this issue, “ said Councilor Kay Loring. She recommended that the island be built and that the council revisit the issue a year or so down the road to determine its effectiveness. Mayor Claude Morgan agreed with Loring’s recommendation and said, “To be good urban planners, we must keep the road open.”
    South Portland Fire Chief, Kevin Guimond, Police Chief Edward Googins, and Dana Anderson, director of South Portland Parks, Recreation, and Public Works collectively agreed that it would be best for the road to remain open, but if the council decided to close it, the departments could find ways of working around the road.
    The council discussed the option of installing a traffic counting system in the island to better determine its effectiveness.  Jankowski did not dismiss the idea, but he reminded the council that the neighborhood is not fully developed and it may be some time before any count is accurate and useful.