By Amanda Estes
Staff Writer
    South Portland city officials were expected to meet behind closed doors Wednesday night to discuss a Feb. 8 Superior Court ruling granting two Cape Elizabeth households a permanent injunction against the city to stop it from blocking their access across a discontinued portion of Edgewood Road.
    The court order is the latest development in a dispute that dates back to at least 2000, when the city considered discontinuing the final 25 feet of Edgewood Road to prevent developer Joseph Frustaci from connecting his Cape Elizabeth subdivision to Edgewood Road in South Portland. The discontinuance would have blocked road access for two Cape Elizabeth homes and in December 2000, the city council opted to retain easements for Christopher and Jayne Boulos of 60 Edgewood Road and Debra Sampson and Daniel Maguire of 59 Edgewood Road. According to those Cape Elizabeth residents, however, the city never delivered the easements.
    Frustaci later built a road connecting his development to the Cape Elizabeth portion of Edgewood Road. As a result, the owners of the Boulos and Sampson lots were able to access their homes from both Cape Elizabeth and South Portland. Consequently, residents of the subdivision and others were also able to use the connection as a shortcut between Cottage Road and Mitchell Road over what the city considered private property. As a result, South Portland residents began to  complain about traffic from the subdivision.
    In February 2007, the city council voted to invalidate the easements retained by the Boulos and Sampson households. In March 2007, Bruce McGlauflin, an attorney representing the owners, requested the city provide the easement deeds. South Portland City Attorney Mary Kahl said the easements were never drafted and because they do not exist, the city had no obligation to honor them or compensate the Cape Elizabeth residents for taking those rights. McGlauflin filed a request for a permanent injunction in July 2007.
    “We know it leaves us with rights on Edgewood Road that the city cannot block without taking some sort of action to pay for those rights,” McGlauflin said of the judge’s ruling. “Theoretically the city could take an eminent domain action to take and compensate my clients for the easement rights just like they could with any road. They’d have to have a legitimate, public interest to justify that action and we don’t think they can justify that here because there’s really no traffic problem. We would hope if they do take further action, it would be to cooperate with Cape Elizabeth to manage the traffic going through there.”
    Jayne Boulos said there continues to be no noticeable traffic or safety issues on the street.
    “We were very happy with the judge’s decision,” she said. “I’m hoping that this closes this matter once and for all. This has taken up a lot of time and effort and energy that I certainly could have spent in other ways.”
    A call to the Sampson household was not immediately returned.
    Norman, Hanson and DeTroy attorney Paul Driscoll is expected to stand in for Kahl at Wednesday’s meeting, which occurred after the Sentry’s press time.
    Kahl is on vacation.