Protesters gather outside Town Hall in Scarborough to oppose the Gorham Connector on Wednesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

The Scarborough Town Council voted 6-1 Wednesday night to formally withdraw its support for the contentious Gorham Connector project, sparking an eruption of applause from residents at the packed meeting.

The vote was not unexpected; a majority of councilors had voiced support for the resolution at a meeting last month.

Myles Smith, a member of the Mainers for Smarter Transportation group that organized a rally outside Town Hall Wednesday night, commended the council for taking up the resolution.

“We’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘There’s nothing we can do about this project,’ ‘It’s a done deal,’ or ‘It’s decided by the state,’ ” Smith said. “But that’s not true. When people come together and stand up for what they believe in, and our elected leaders listen to their concerns, we can make changes that people want to see in their community.”

The resolution rescinds the council’s support for the connector, citing the failure of the Maine Turnpike Authority to fulfill the terms of its agreement with Scarborough and three other communities, as well as town residents’ widespread opposition to the project.

The resolution is not binding on future councils and leaves open the possibility of collaborating with state and regional transportation groups to resolve traffic issues should such efforts garner significant public support.

The Maine Turnpike Authority, Scarborough, Gorham, South Portland and Westbrook signed an agreement in May 2022 pledging support for the project. While those other communities have not officially considered withdrawing their support, officials in the other municipalities have been watching the Scarborough council’s deliberations closely as public opposition to the project mounts.

The project, estimated to cost at least $331 million, was proposed by the turnpike authority to alleviate traffic congestion through the Gorham area and has been contentious from the outset.

The Maine Turnpike Authority’s proposed route for the Gorham Connector linking the Gorham Bypass and Exit 45 in South Portland.

The four-lane, 5-mile connector would stretch from Route 114 at the Gorham Bypass into Scarborough with interchanges at County and Running Hill roads before linking up with Interstate 95 at Exit 45 in South Portland. It’s designed to alleviate traffic in other parts of those communities, such as on Route 114 and Route 22, which provide connections to the highway.

According to a turnpike authority presentation to the Scarborough council in February, about 50 landowners would be impacted by the project via easements, 35 of them in Scarborough. The connector also would weave through wetlands in the northern portion of town, sparking environmental concerns.

The preferred path also is set to cut through a portion of Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, a family-owned farm on 500 acres that has been in the Knight family for 13 generations, which spurred widespread opposition to the project.

“I’m hoping today that the Town Council members decide to put a pause on this and to talk to the MTA about finding alternate routes or scrapping this project altogether,” Ben Wallace, a 12th-generation farmer at Smiling Hill Farm, said ahead of the vote.

Wallace described the farm as a “landmark in southern Maine.”

“If you ask many people around here, I’m sure there’s a photo of them or their kids at that farm,” he said. “To have a turnpike go through this farm would kill this farm.”

Stanis Moody-Roberts, a Scarborough resident, says the turnpike would go through roughly 8 acres of his property.

Stanis Moody-Roberts, whose property would be in the path of the proposed Gorham Connector, near his driveway on County Road on Sept. 13. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

“It’s been a nightmare,” he said outside Town Hall on Wednesday evening before the vote. “At first it felt like there wasn’t anything that we could do but just make our voices heard.”

He noted there had been more support for the connector before the route was announced.

“It’s real homes that are being demolished. Smiling Hill Farm is being carved through,” Moody-Roberts said. “It takes on a much more menacing form for the community and we’re lucky we’ve had a Town Council that has been wanting to hear our concerns and figure out what the right future for the town should be.”

FRESH APPROACH NEEDED

At Wednesday’s meeting, Councilor Jon Anderson said the region needs to take a fresh approach to a traffic solution and have another entity take the lead.

“This is the time to hit a really hard reset, bring in a different leader, work collaboratively with our communities, have a seat at the table for MTA but there are a lot of different things to explore,” Anderson said, mentioning the Greater Portland Council of Governments as a potential candidate to work with the four impacted communities.

While Anderson and five other councilors expressed support for the resolution at last month’s meeting, Councilor Jean-Marie Caterina had stated she was still on the fence. She didn’t make up her mind up until the day of the vote.

“I had every intention of voting ‘yes’ this morning until I thought more,” she said Wednesday. “I thought about all the years I’ve put in, thought about the neighbors who I know who are not organized, who have an opinion, who have dealt with the issue of traffic day in and day out for a number of years.”

A resident of Gorham Road, part of Route 114, Caterina said she can sympathize with those constituents.

“As a matter of principle, and in support of my neighbors, I am going to vote no on the resolution tonight,” she said.

Last month, a coalition of grassroots groups called Mainers for Smart Transportation convened a meeting where critics said the connector proposal is based on stale commuter data and obsolete highway design goals in an attempt to shave an average of four minutes off morning and evening drive times.

They questioned the design, cost, safety and need for the project, as well as its impact on the environment, regional economy and overall quality of life in South Portland, Scarborough, Westbrook, Gorham and beyond.

Coalition members include GrowSmart Maine, Trout Unlimited, Sierra Club Maine Chapter, Smiling Hill Farm, Moving Maine Network, Portland Maine Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and Westbrook Safe Mobility and Access Committee.