By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

The popularity of hiking trails at the historic Narramissic homestead is causing a major headache for residents on Ingalls Road.

John Rappette, whose home is located close to the roadway, is at his wit’s end regarding the clouds of dust that overtake his property from a steady flow of vehicles, as well as motorists who fail to comply with the speed limit.

“This has been a battle for four years for me…I’ve been living in a dust hell…I’ve had enough,” Rappette said. “I’ve been breathing this stuff for three years. You know how many times I’ve called the town? Probably two dozen times, no response.”

Several residents aired their complaints regarding existing road conditions, as well as the failure of the town to enforce junkyard standards at two properties during Tuesday’s Bridgton Select Board meeting.

Rappette bought his home 32 years ago, and calls it “one of the most beautiful pieces of land.” He openly expressed his frustration with what he perceives as little to no town response to his complaints or requests. Rappette told the Select Board he asked on several occasions for the town to drop calcium chloride to combat dusty conditions, but was denied. He asked for speed bumps to be installed to slow traffic, again he was denied. And, he asked Public Works not to dump reclaimed road materials near his property, but a plow truck “pushed all this reclaim right into my yard,” Rappette said, while handing out photos of his property to the Select Board. The “recycled asphalt” was added to the gravel road, Peabody clarified.

Town Manager Robert Peabody read letters from state officials who said the town was following appropriate methods to address the dust.

“From Rick Perkins (Maine DEP), I understand you were periodically being impacted by road dust and that could be a real issue for your health. Not to mention frustrating if the problem persists. However, given the dry conditions statewide and the response from the town of Bridgeton today, my impression is they are addressing the issue as best they can within their budget,” Peabody read.

Peabody noted that calcium had been applied to the road four times this year. Public Works monitor the road weekly, the manager added.

“John, you live on a dirt road. That was your choice for 30 years,” Peabody said.

Traffic has increased significantly on Ingalls Road, Rappette and neighbor Lee Eastman pointed out. In four hours, Rappette counted 66 vehicles passing his home. This past weekend, the count was 163, which stirred up a lot of dust.

When Rappette claimed that the only calcium applied to the road was material he bought, Peabody countered that the Select Board budgeted $4,500 for calcium chloride, which was applied four times.

“The road has received more (calcium) than any other gravel road in the town,” said Peabody, noting the town has 10.3 miles of gravel roads.

Toward the end of the Ingalls Road discussion, an emotional Rappette told the Select Board that if the town failed to reimburse him for the calcium he purchased, he planned to take the town to small claims court.

“I can’t do this no more. If this is the way you guys run the town, I’m out,” he said before leaving the meeting room.

Eastman chimed in, pointing out that the beautiful hiking trails at Narramissic resulted in “unintended consequences.”

“The problem is our traffic flow on that road has gone from three cars in a day to 50 to 60 to 70. It’s hard to believe and fathom that, but if you drive up the road, there’s like a track where you take the turn to go to Narramissic. It clearly shows there’s a real serious pattern of a lot of excessive traffic on the road,” Eastman said. “John (Rappette) is experiencing excessive amounts of dust in my opinion…Traffic flow is substantial. For a small road, it’s just unbelievable…It has just really become a really bad situation…Paving will obviously take away the dust issue. We just have to get there.”

The town intends to pave Ingalls Road next year. Public Works Director David Madsen outlined work to be done on Ingalls Road, which includes ditching, culvert work, the grade of the road will be “brought up a little bit,” and paving. Like Pond Road, Public Works will do a “full depth grind,” which will then be graded out before paving.

Resident Bob Collins said existing road conditions have “destroyed the land.” He had a contractor evaluate Ingalls Road, and he found “a lot of problems” regarding the culvert near Narramissic. “It’s too small and it’s not accepting a lot of water,” Collins noted. “So the water is coming down and going onto our land…The culvert is not working. It needs to be repaired.”

Collins urged officials that before Public Works starts road work this coming spring, Madsen should meet with residents to explain specifically what will be done and how it will be done.

“It has devalued my property considerably,” said Collins regarding road conditions.

In regards to speeding, Peabody said additional speed limit signs were installed. Officials were told that some signs are no longer visible due to bamboo growth.

Paul Field, who has resided at Ingalls Road for over 50 years and remembers when grass grew in the center of the roadway, feels the road isn’t being adequately maintained.

“I watched the snowplow last winter almost every time he came out, hit the stop sign several times. I went and turned it around so it was facing the right direction. Again, if he didn’t hit it when he came out, he’d back up and hit it coming in. The wheelers are way too big for that intersection to keep it clean. But your pickup truck comes up, turns around there, goes back down and doesn’t clean up the spoils that the plow leaves,” Field said. “It would be very helpful if we used a little smaller truck, especially when one turns there anyway and cleaned up the intersection because that gets extremely narrow in the winter.”

Junkyard woes

Dust isn’t the only problem on Ingalls Road. Lee Eastman told the Select Board that two properties are clearly in violation of the junkyard ordinance.

In one case, an individual is living in a tent and camper with no bathroom facilities. And, debris from a South High Street property has been dumped there.

“I don’t think that’s right. (Code Officer Brenda Day contacted the state), the DEP said you can’t dump debris unless it’s on the same property it came from,” Eastman noted. “They told her (Day) that they would remove it in two weeks. So, it’s been one week, and what they’re doing is they’re busting up the cement block, putting in a wheelbarrow and wheeling it to the back of the property. If that’s an intention for someone to remove debris, I’ll go eat it because it’s just absolutely ludicrous. I mean, there’s no reason this should have ever happened. The town didn’t enforce a ruling right out of the gate and say, go back there and pick that up and take it off the property. It’s still there.”

Eastman said debris wood is being burned, as well. The odor can be smelled a mile away.

“I’ve had enough. This is really ridiculous,” Eastman added. “We have to enforce the rules and regulations we have. Just because they’re out of sight and not everybody sees it, it doesn’t mean we can’t take care of it.”

Another property has multiple old campers as well as unregistered vehicles and a “broken down” tent.

“It’s a plethora of issues,” said Eastman who pointed out that years ago some effort was made to clean up the property, but now “it’s 10 times worse than it was back then.”

The increasing number of junkyards prompted the town to add help to the Code Enforcement office.

Eastman raised the question of spot enforcement, pointing out that the town aggressively pushed for clean up at a South High Street property, but have been slow to address Ingalls Road.

“That South High Street property was not in any more disarray than what we’ve been experiencing for the last 10 to 15 years. Yeah, that property got cleaned up and is that because it’s on South High Street and a million people drive by and they got more attention?” Eastman said.

During Select Board comments, Board member Carrye Castleman-Ross felt “terrible” regarding the junkyard problems on Ingalls Road. “The burning is so egregious and so disrespectful. I am sitting here quietly listening, but I am so angry about it. I’d like to go on record saying that I wish more people were nicer neighbors. It’s really sad that they are not.”