FERRY ACCESS TO CHEBEAGUE ISLAND

A Forty-five Year Transportation Chronicle

• Early years -- Among others, steamboats Tourist, Aucocisco, Gurnet, Maquoit, Pejepscot, Phantom, and the Nellie G. (I and III) provide access to Cousins, Littlejohn, and Chebeague Islands from Portland, Harpswell, and Falmouth Foreside. No ferry service to these islands was provided from the mainland of Yarmouth.
• 1955 -- Hurricane damages Cousins Island Wharf at Doyle Pt.; repaired with Federal funds.
• 1956 -- Central Maine Power Company opens bridge to Cousins Island (approximate cost: $1,000,000), deeds it to the State of Maine. 1958 Portland Suburban Directory lists 13 year-round households on Cousins/Littlejohn Islands. Now there are about 450 year-round residences.
• 1957 -- State of Maine considers building two bridges linking Cousins, Littlejohn, and Chebeague Islands (estimated cost: $2,000,000). Proposal states there are 110 year-round households on Chebeague at that time; in 1990, the United States Census reports 130 year-round homes on Chebeague.
• 1958 -- Robert Blanchard begins parking operations on Creek Point near his home on Cousins Island; some of his neighbors raise objections which have continued.
• 1959 -- Nellie G. III ceases "inner bay" service to Cousins, Littlejohn, Chebeague. Jasper Smith begins water taxi service between Cousins Island and the Stone Wharf, Chebeague Island.
• 1965 -- Casco Bay Lines claims ownership of Cousins Island Wharf. Town of Yarmouth eventually established as legal owner.
• 1967 -- State Legislative committee recommends a "serious consideration" of bridge to Chebeague from the mainland, via Cousins and Littlejohn Islands.
• 1969 -- Yarmouth Planning Board recommends rebuilding passenger and vehicle landing at Cousins Island Wharf, and providing parking under nearby CMP transmission lines.
• 1971 -- Chebeague Transportation Company (CTC) is incorporated. First projects: Float at Chebeague's Stone Wharf and remote parking/shuttle bus services in Yarmouth.
• 1972 -- Yarmouth and Cumberland repair the Cousins Island Wharf, the Town of Cumberland's share agreed to be 90%.
  -- Yarmouth and Cumberland consider leasing land under CMP power lines for parking.
• 1973-1976 -- CTC leases old drive-in movie theatre land (now Yarmouth Shopping Center) for parking.
• 1974 -- E. C. Jordan consulting engineers states that Cumberland Town Landing would be subject to "tidal ice formation which could prohibit navigation during winter months," underlying shallow bedrock, hazardous navigation under severe weather conditions, and potential DEP permitting problems.
  -- Towns of Cumberland and Yarmouth form Joint Study Committee on Landing and Parking Facilities.
  -- L.D. 2186 introduced by Cumberland Representative William Garsoe, authorizing State to acquire land to build and operate a pier and parking lot on Cousins Island.
• 1975 -- L.D. 1577 introduced by Garsoe, enabling Cumberland to operate ferry between Chebeague and Cousins Islands. In regard to these bills, Mary Louise Smith wrote in the 1976 history text Cumberland, Maine in Four Centuries that "Both times they were withdrawn with promises from Yarmouth to resolve the problem."
  -- CTC acquires water taxi business from Jasper Smith, barge service from John Gibson, and assumes operation of Cousins Island parking lot, leased from Robert Blanchard.
  -- Yarmouth rejects CTC proposal for parking at Yarmouth Boat Yard, Route 88.
• 1976 -- Town of Yarmouth sues Robert Blanchard and CTC seeking to reduce Cousins Island parking and to cease barging operations. Consent order from out-of-court settlement restricts parking and barging operations.
• 1977 -- CTC begins parking operations at Cumberland's Drowne Road municipal center, nine miles from the Cousins Island Wharf.
• 1979 -- Yarmouth and Cumberland again discuss creating parking area under Central Maine Power Company lines on Cousins Island.
• 1979 -- Wright-Pierce Engineering issues Cumberland Coastal Access Study stating it is possible but costly to develop a Cumberland landing site, due to mud flats and winter icing conditions (which the report believes would be minimized by the U. S. Coast Guard).
• 1983 -- The Town of Yarmouth threatens a lawsuit against CTC, which takes steps to mitigate concerns raised by the Town.
• 1984 -- The Cumberland-Yarmouth-Cousins-Chebeague Study Committee (CYCCSC) is formed bringing together the Towns of Yarmouth and Cumberland, CTC, the Cousins and Littlejohn Islands Improvement Association (CLIIA), and other interested citizens.
• 1985 -- CTC launches 119 passenger ferry M/V Islander, financed by an Industrial Revenue Bond backed by the Town of Cumberland.
  -- Hunter-Ballew Associates issues engineering site evaluation to CYCCSC recommending a site located between Spruce Point and Birch Point on CMP land, Cousins Island, stating that this site "is significantly superior to those on the Cumberland shore." Supplemental report confirms problems with sites on the Cumberland shore found in 1974 and 1979 studies.
  -- CYCCSC concludes that Cumberland sites are "not feasible" and CMP site is preferred; however, CMP "cannot accommodate the siting of the proposed docking facility" and further consideration of CMP is abandoned.
  
• 1986 -- CYCCSC issues final report recommending continued use of Wharf Road facilities with significant improvements to aid vehicular and passenger access. The Town of Yarmouth and two Wharf Road families bring suit against CTC to limit or eliminate ferry operations.
• 1987 -- Cousins Island Wharf is rebuilt largely at the Town of Cumberland's expense ($60,000 or 90%).
• 1988 -- A second consent order resulting from out-of-court settlement of Yarmouth lawsuit further restricts CTC's Cousins Island operations, particularly in regards to barging activities.
  -- Barging restrictions impede construction of Chebeague Island Library and delay removal of solid waste from Chebeague and closing of Chebeague Island landfill by six years.
• 1989 -- Yarmouth and Cumberland sign agreement establishing operations parameters for passenger ferry service on Cousins Island (expires January 1, 2000). Yarmouth enacts traffic ordinances restricting weekend vehicle access to the Cousins Island Wharf between May 15th and September 30th.
  -- By a vote of 1,624 to 952 (63% to 37%), Yarmouth voters reject ordinances "to add additional regulations and restrictions on the use of town docks and landings, require licenses and payment of licensing fees by commercial carriers and licenses and the payment of licensing fees for structural attachments to town docks and landings."
• 1991 -- CTC sues a Blanchard Parking Lot abutter for malicious prosecution, defamation, tortious interference with business relations, and other offenses. The abutter counter-sues seeking to close the Blanchard Parking Lot and evict CTC. Second amended order and judgment entered into in 1996.
• 1992 -- Maine Department of Transportation re-builds and widens the Cousins Island Bridge.
• 1992-1993 -- Cumberland re-opens discussions with Yarmouth and CMP regarding a ferry facility on Cousins Island. CMP approves potential use of the cove between Spruce Point and Birch Point. T. Y. Lin consulting engineers draft preliminary plans for such a site, including an upper parking lot at the intersection of Cousins Island Road and Wharf Road.
• 1993 -- Community Transportation Forum forms on Chebeague Island to address transportation issues.
  -- Yarmouth adopts Comprehensive Plan calling for acquisition of Blanchard lot by purchase or eminent domain for recreational use by Yarmouth citizens.
• 1994 -- Blanchard family indicates decision to not renew CTC's parking lot lease upon expiration: December 31, 1999.
  -- In response to evaluations by the Town of Yarmouth, T. Y. Lin revises its plan to eliminate the upper lot. New plan provides a wharf, barge ramp and parking for 286 cars.
• 1995 -- Some Cousins Island residents object to CMP plan, preferring ferry facility to remain where it is.
  -- Yarmouth council passes resolution calling for strict limitations and conditions on proposed CMP site which the Town of Cumberland finds to be unacceptable.
  -- Wharves serving Chebeague (island and mainland) move to top of Maine Department of Transportation's priority list and are included for study in the 1996-1997 Biennial Transportation Improvement Program.
  -- MDOT begins its Chebeague Island Mainland Access and Wharf Design Study by soliciting input from Cumberland and Yarmouth residents, and appointing a Mediation Committee.
• 1997 -- The Chebeague-Cousins Transportation Resolution Team releases it's recommendation to MDOT, calling for a facility on Cousins Island CMP property.
• 1998 -- MDOT announces that the proposed CMP site is too expensive and not environmentally advised.
  -- CMP sells its power generating plants (including the Cousins Island Wyman Station) to Florida Power & Light (FPL). FPL announces plans to convert Wyman #3 and #4 to gas power and to possibly build one or two additional units on the footprint of #1 and #2 and/or on the adjacent property, the now-defunct ferry landing and parking site.
  -- Yarmouth considers a proposal to eliminate parking on Cousins Island and bus all passengers to a remote parking lot in Cumberland.
  -- On July 16, MDOT declares "the Chebeague Island ferry...to be an essential public service" and that "the Department is prepared to use its legal authority and financing to secure the continued operation of the ferry." Commissioner John Melrose asks the towns of Cumberland and Yarmouth "to accept my challenge that we collectively strive to achieve a result that is better than the status quo in both physical and operational terms."
  -- A month later, MDOT announces that it intends to acquire Nancy Blanchard's Cousins Island parking lot through the State of Maine's powers of eminent domain.
• 1999 -- MDOT releases its 2000-2001 Biennial Transportation Improvement Plan in March which includes:
  1. $300,000 for improvements to the Blanchard Parking Lot
  2. $200,000 for design of a renovated Cousins Island Wharf
  3. $300,000 for a satellite parking lot in Cumberland and three buses
  -- Also in March, a letter from MDOT Commissioner John Melrose declares that "absent a continuing Wharf Agreement, we will have no choice but to take the wharf into public ownership and designate Wharf Road as a State-Aid highway."
  -- The Towns of Yarmouth and Cumberland conduct a series of negotiations, offers and counter-offers in an effort to resolve the issues surrounding management of the Chebeague ferry/barging/parking operation.
  -- In August, Cumberland accepts thirteen acres from the State of Maine and begins construction of a 300 car parking lot on Route One in Cumberland, at the Yarmouth border.
  -- On October 26, MDOT Commissioner John Melrose formally files a "Notice of Taking" which determines that public exigency requires the taking of both the Blanchard Parking Lot and the right-of-way to the lot by the State of Maine.
  -- Nancy Blanchard files suit against the State of Maine contesting both the taking and the compensation for the parking lot. State judge denies request for a preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order blocking the seizure.
  -- CTC moves remote parking operations from Drowne Road to Route 1/I-95.
  
• 2000 -- The year begins without a wharf agreement and with the Blanchard Lot subleased to CTC by Cumberland who, in turn, has a 50-year lease on the lot from MDOT. Yarmouth objects to the terms of the lease and sublease, but conditionally agrees to a ten-year extension of the wharf agreement if the lease and sublease are revised.
• 2001 -- The Superior Court issues a very strong ruling in favor of MDOT and the Town of Cumberland supporting the taking of the Blanchard Lot, citing the exigency of the "community enterprise" in serving the public need from Cousins Island. The ruling is appealed.
• 2002 -- On June 20, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court rules that the State of Maine was correct in taking the Blanchard Lot for use by people traveling to and from Chebeague Island. On July 5, Blanchard filed an appeal seeking reconsideration of the ruling.
  -- MDOT presents preliminary drawings of improvements to the wharfhead and Wharf Road at public meetings in Yarmouth and on Chebeague.

  Obviously, this chronology has yet to reach its conclusion, which we hope is the means of providing safe, reliable, affordable, and permanent ferry service between Chebeague Island and the state highway system access point on Cousins Island.

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  For more information, call CTC at 207-846-3700 or send e-mail to: ctc@nlis.net.

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  Access # since September 29, 1999