Where in Brunswick can you find our
little Pompeii? A place where forested acres hide the ghost of a village
once known as Middle Bay? According to records from 1857 there were
twenty-five homes located in this area. Once the neighborhood included
two schools, a brick yard, a carding mill, a sawmill, a gristmill, a grange,
and, of course, a cemetary. Pulitzer prize winning poet, Robert P.T. Coffin, for whom the town's Coffin School is named, once lived in one of those
homes. His work Lost Paradise drew on his time here and down in
the Gurnet area.
If you drive down Pine Street in
Brunswick past the Pine Grove Cemetery, Bowdoin's Whittier Field and follow it
to its end, you'll come to a chain link fence. But if you use you
imagination you'll keep on driving across runways, through hangars and bunkers
and end up on the Board Road in East Brunswick. At an intersection you
could turn left and head to Cook's Corner, or turn right and head down the
Gurnet Road to the islands. Head right across Board Road and you'd end up
at Woodward Point just as you do today.
If your imagination is not up for
it head over to Google Earth and look down the end of Pine Street; you'll see
the whisper of the road through the woods is still there, the vegetation just a
slightly lighter color. After all, it's only had sixty years to grow in.
When the Navy decided to shutter
Brunswick Naval Air Station back in 2005 not many people could find a silver
lining. One great thing is the return to the Town of Brunswick of about
800 acres for use as conservation land, open space, and for active recreation.
In the map below both the areas shown cross-hatched in red and the dark
red area will all be conveyed to the town of Brunswick. We may take
control---if not actual ownership of it---as soon as this fall. All the
dark red, and red-shaded areas, will be conveyed to the town of Brunswick, some
of the parcels as soon as this fall.
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The Recreation Trails and Open
Space Committee has been working in earnest since last fall to plan for what
we'll be able to do with the land once we get it. In many ways we're not
generating a new plan but working to make sure the details of any planning we
do are consistent with the Navy's reuse plan completed in conjunction with the
BLRA as the base was BRAC process was unfolding back in 2006.
Process and timeline for conveyance. The so called "public benefit" conveyances
that emerged from the base closure process are so called to distinguish them
from the property that the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA)
will hold, and with any luck, sell for commercial developement. The
commercial properties will be conveyed directly to MRRA; MRRA can then sell, or
lease, them to businesses.
The public benefit conveyances,
however, will be transferred from the Navy to other sponsoring federal
agenicies who, during the BRAC process, made a determination that that some
qulaifying public benefit could be obtained by giving the land---for free---to
a qualifying public entity. Many non-profit agencies applied for public
benefit conveyances during the BRAC process.
For the purposes of the town's new
open space, the most important public benefit conveyances are to the Town of
Brunswick and to Bowdoin College. The town's conveyance was sponsored by
the Department of the Interior, through the National Park Service (NPS), while
Bowdoin's public benefit conveyance is sponsored by the Departement of
Education.
It's important that we understand
there are two federal agencies at work here. Bowdoin will deal with the
Department of the Education while Brunswick will deal with Interior and NPS.
The west side of the base along the Harpswell Road (Rt. 123) will consist
of a jigsaw of parcels, some to be conveyed to the town and some to Bowdoin.
Brunswick's parcels are shown on the map as the red shaded areas labeled
Rec-1, 2, 3 &4. Bowdoin will get most of the parcels in between
Brunswick's parcels, west of the runways and east of the Harpswell Road.
Bowdoin's land is developable; they
will likely build on this land; Brunswick's land however is for open
space, recreation and parks.
Because different agencies are
involved, different time-tables, and different points of contact will be
involved so it's difficult to determine when and under what circumstances this
land will become accessible.
The first step is for the Navy to
make a determination that the property is suitable for transfer, or a finding
of suitability to transfer (FOST). The solid red areas above show that
the FOST is still pending, while the red shaded areas show FOST completed.
Brunswick's largest piece, the dark red area labeled REC-7, should be
transferred to the Park Service in October of this year. Once the NPS has
control of it the town will be able to use and manage the land through an
agreement with NPS, the actual conveyance will come sometime later.
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| The trail's committee, led by Julie Isbill of the National Park Service and Tony Barrett of the East-Coast Greenway and the Appalachian Mountain Club, do some map work during a March hike. This group has made dozens of hikes and bikes across the 800 acres braving cold, wet and ticks to put together a plan for new trails for the benefit of Brunswick's people. Photo, copyright Benet Pols |
Work to be done. The Recreation, Trails and Open Space Committee is
divided into to four working groups: the Natural Resources Group, the History
& Cultural Resources Group, the Trail Design and Layout Group and the
Management Group. The four groups meet on their own schedule and all four
get together once a month on the third Thursday.
All meetings are open to the public
but we hope to have significant amount of citizen input this fall, tentatively
September 20th, when we show off the work completed so far. We hope to
have a final plan to present to the town council in December of 2012.
Among the things that will of particular interest to the citizens,
especially those that live adjacent to the old base are:
1. A name for the property. Typically the Parks and
Recreation Department, though the Recreation Commission, names new town parks.
To assist them the History and Culture committee has been gathering
information on historical antecedents.
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| Who lived in this house? The History and Culture Committee, led by Rick Wilson of CREA and BHS with help from Fred Koerber, local historian and former teacher at both BJHS and BHS, are looking into the history of the parcels. This will help with naming and with markings for locations of interest. Photo, copyright Benet Pols |
We know the general area was
once known as Middle Bay, but given its similarity other names in town it seems
an unlikely contender. In additon, given the spearate parcels we'll probably
need more than a few names. Brunswick High Students, under the direction
of Fred Koerber, longtime history teacher and department head, are doing the
research to support naming efforts as well as providing interpretive
information for sites of historical interest.
In addition to the Coffin home we
hope to recover some of the original boundary markers of the Town Commons.
It's believed that five of them still exist somewhere on Navy property.
One of them has already been located on a parcel that will be turned over
to Bowdoin.
2. Access to the property. A lot of thought and
analysis, including public meetings with input from citizens and
abutters, happened back in 2006 when the reuse study was completed. Even
so, we'll be revisiting these issues during public forums to confirm the
infomration. In addition some changes have occurred due to environamtal
restrictions and changes in the size of the parcel; what we once thought was
1500 acres has been reduced to about 800 acres. Some entry points may
have disapeared in the process.
We can expect entry points on the
west side off of Pine Street near the St. John's cemetery, in the Garrison
Street neighborhood, further south on Harpswell Road near the "Quebec
Gate" opposite the Town Commons, and through the golf course entrance at
the intersection of Middle Bay and Harpswell Roads. From the north
we can expect to access this property through the main entrance and across
MRRA's roadways. From the east there property will entered through the
Wildwood neighborhood (the town already owned land in Wildwood adjacent to the
base), off of the Coombs Road and Purinton Roads and from the Princes Point
Road.
In addition, in consultation with
MRRA and other property owners we need to determine what fences will come down.
One thing that's very clear is the
need for the different property owners to cooperate and consult with
one-another as access and trails are considered. The main part of the
base remains mostly as it was left by the Navy, few people are on the base
property on any given day. Aside from the people who now have jobs there
there is little reason to go on the base. There are no recreation
facilities, no restaurants, and no shopping of any sort. Right now the
only part of the base that shows any vibrance at all is the golf course as
accessed from Middle Bay Road. The ambiance of the place will be greatly
enhanced just by the mere appearance of people seeking new ball fields, or to
hike, bike or ski through this new space. Brunswick Landing needs signs
of life.
3. Continued environmental clean-up. The biggest dark red piece, REC-7, contains about 640
acres of the total to be conveyed, but if you look carefully at the map you'll
see other smaller parcels (REC-8,9,10, 12, 13 &14) carved out. These
smaller pieces will be held back as the Navy and federal agencies continue to
do environmental remediation. In some cases, they'll be removing
contaminants, mainly remnants from munitions, but in other cases they're simply
completing monitoring work---that is, looking for hazards.
Likewise, on the east side
significant portions of the land to be conveyed to Bowdoin--particularly near a
quarry, close to the Quebec Gate on Rte. 123, that had been used as a dumping
ground--remain to be surveyed and cleaned. Use of the town's parcels
along the Harpswell Road will likely be hampered by the clean-up of the Bowdoin
parcels, even though our parcels are ready for conveyance. Because it's a
string of separate parcels, the use of that land for hiking will not likely be
practical until they can be strung together with Bowdoin's parcels.
4. Features. Among the interesting features are old military bunkers
used for munitions storage. Anyone who appreciates the old towers at Fort
Baldwin near Pophm Beach will enjoy rambling around these old bunkers,
especially as they give way to an open field that runs down to a lovely salt
marsh around Mere Brook as it winds its way toward the Ocean at Harpswell Cove.
Scores of
bunkers like this dot the eastern side of Mere Creek in a big field. Photo, copyright Benet Pols
Thousands of people in Brunswick
cross Mere Brook and Mere Creek every day as it works its way under Maine
Street at Richards Drive, through Coffin's Ice Pond and under the Harpswell
Road. After traveling underground for a good distance beneath the runways
and the core of the old Navy base, it remerges near the golf course and widens
out as more of a creek than a brook. It's entry into Harpswell Cove and
the surrounding marsh make up some of the nicest natural lands on the base
proeprty.
In addition, the History and
Culture Committee will be working toward identifying and labeling locations of
historical interest, if not significance.
This area, in
REC-9, is currently accessible by car and has some rudimentary parking. You can
see a bunker in the distance and the field leads down to a salt marsh making up
the eastern side of Mere Creek as it empties into Harpswell Cove. Photo, copyright Benet Pols
5. Trails. The trails committee is working on developing a network of
trails using abandoned historical roads dating to both before and during the
Navy's time and paths that occur naturally due to topography and geology; we've
also been working to identify potential new trails keeping in mind the best
scenery available. The Natural Resources Committee is working to assure
that any endangered habitat, widlife, important wetlands and other features of
any sensitivity are clearly identified so they can be protected and labelled
appropriately.
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| Abundant signs of wild, wildlife. Photo, copyright Benet Pols |
Trail making will probably occur in
phases after the town and college have acquired their respective parcels.
We'll start with existing paths that are used regularly now for
skiing and other travel; these exist mainly on the western side of Mere Creek
and are accessed most easily from the golf course entrance at Middle Bay Road.
There is one significant exception on the eastern side now that is
accessible now, even by car. The bunkers on the east side of Mere Creek
are accessible by road, and rudimentary parking exists now. This area
shows up on the map above around the area labeled REC-9.
As time goes on and money is
available trails will be built, or connected to one another. In addition
parking will be added at some of the access points so that visitors of all
hiking abilities will be able to enjoy the parcel.
Harpswell Cove
as seen from the southern end of the town property. In the middle distance you
can see where Mere Creek drains into the cove. This piece of the property is
familiar to those who've used the golf course trails for skiing and
snow-shoeing in the winter. As the trails committee continues its work, this
area will be accessible year round. Photo, copyright Benet Pols
Committee Members: With thanks to the following committee members.
Tony Barrett, East Coast
Greenway; Maine Appalachian Trail Club
Julie Isbill, National Park
Service
Rebecca Farnham, Access Health, Midcoast Hospital
Bruce Kidman, The Nature
Conservancy
Catherine Ferdinand, Bowdoin College
Kristi Hatrick, Town of Brunswick, Recreation Commission
Rick Wilson, BHS Service
Learning; Cathance River Educational Alliance
Fred Koerber, BHS
Angela Twitchell, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust
Kurt Stinson, Town of Brunswick, Conservation Commission
Henry Heyburn, Town of Brunswick, Bicycle & Pedestrian Commission
Steve Walker, Town of Brunswick, Planning Board; State of Maine IFW
Charlie Frizzle, Town of Brunswick, Planning Board
Connor Handy, Bowdoin College Student Planning Fellow.
Brunswick High Students under the
direction of Fred Koerber, long time history teacher and department head at
BHS.
Benet Pols, Brunswick Town Council, Land for Brunswick’s Future
Suzan Wilson, Brunswick
Town Council
Bob Rocheleau, MRRA
Marty McMann, MRRA
Anna Breinich, Town Of Brunswick, Department of Planning
Denise Clavette, Town of Brunswick, Special Projects
Tom Farrell, Town of Brunswick, Dir. Of Parks and Recreation
