A section of road before the nearly completed Oceanville Bridge in Stonington has become the center of a dispute between the town and the Maine Department of Transportation. BY WILL ROBINSON

STONINGTON—A 12-unit affordable housing project planned for Cemetery Road has satisfied all conditions required by the town, broken ground and expects to begin placing modular apartment buildings on site in early December.

“Having met these conditions, we’ve hit the ground running,” Island Workforce Housing Executive Director Pam Dewell told the Stonington select board Monday night. Given the challenges that winter weather poses to construction efforts, heavy equipment has already begun to prepare the site for foundation work, utilities and the arrival of the modulars. The general contractor and subcontractors are lined up, Dewell said, and if the weather cooperates, she expects the first tenants to move in by the summer of 2026.

But Dewell had one more request of the town.

“As the boxes (the modular buildings) get delivered, there will be a lag between their arrival and when they can be placed on their foundations,” she said. “We’re requesting permission to temporarily place the modulars on the abutting property.”

The town’s permission is required because it owns 25 percent of the property in question. The parcel’s other part-owners, led by Asia Eaton, have already given the permission for IWH’s use, Dewell said, on the same terms it previously extended to the water company during its water line replacement project over the past year.

“December’s going to get here quickly,” Dewell addd, asking the board for its approval. Without hesitation, members voted unanimously to permit temporary storage, clearing the last of the pre-construction hurdles in a drawn-out and sometimes contentious approval process.

The project, called Thurlow ’s Way, received initial planning board approval on September 18, but had to meet two further requirements: First, the organization had to demonstrate that its water use would have no detrimental impact on any of the nearby wells owned by the Stonington Water Company. Second, the IWH had to work with the Stonington Volunteer Fire Department to ensure that its access road could meet national fire safety standards promulgated by the National Fire Protection Association.

Test results presented at the board’s October 6 meeting showed that there were no direct connections between the town’s wells and a temporary well drilled by IWH. A geologist working for an independent engineering firm concluded that a permanent well would not have any impact on the ability of town wells to recharge and supply the district with water. Not long after that meeting, IWH and the fire department came to agreement over the access issues, clearing the way for site work to begin.

Like the IWH’s first project, the 10-unit apartment complex known as Oliver’s Ridge in Deer Isle, Thurlow’s Way will feature 12 energy-efficient units, including six one-bedroom and six two-bedroom apartments, spread across three buildings. Apartments will be made available to Island employees, with rents determined by sliding scale based on income level.

Oceanville Road dispute

In other business, Town Manager Kathleen Billings advised the select board that lawyers may need to get involved in a simmering dispute between the town, the Maine Department of Transportation and its contractors over damage to the Oceanville Road that Stonington claims are the responsibility of Maine DOT and its team, led by Woolwich, Maine-based Reed and Reed, Inc.

According to Billings and several select board members, the road suffered significant delamination and surface damage near the newly built Oceanville bridge. In order to accommodate the DOT’s construction schedule, the town opted not to post the road last year, with the understanding that a bond would be posted in case the road suffered damage from the heavy equipment.

Now Billings said that both Maine DOT and its general contractor deny responsibility for the road’s present condition, and are rebuffing her requests for $86,000 to overlay the damaged stretch of road with new pavement. Her next option may be to initiate a claim on the bond, a step requiring legal action.

“We really went out on a limb to accommodate them,” Billings told the board. “It’s too bad to treat people like that… I’m telling every other town manager and select board I can about this situation.”

Ordinance revision process

Billings also urged the board to speak to townspeople about completing a survey that will help inform the ordinance revision process. Stonington has already held several public meetings and workshops, but wants town-wide participation as it clarifies the core ordinances that govern local building, permitting and land use in Stonington.

“I’d encourage all of you to take the survey,” Billings said, adding that just 13 people have filled out response since it was posted to the town’s website; stoningtonmaine.org/development-ordinances. “Let’s ramp it up. I want a good effort on this.”

Billings said that without a broad range of responses, the survey could be “dominated by people with specific agendas.”

In addition to the website, the town will send the survey link to residents for whom it has email addresses. The public process for ordinance revision is lengthy, and Billings hopes to have the recommended revisions ready for a vote at next year’s Town Meeting.

Lobsters, pogies and telehealth

Linda Nelson, the town’s Economic and Community Development Director, reported on progress and upgrades to the old schoolhouse which now serves as a connectivity hub. Plans to install an elevator in the building to increase accessibility are moving forward, and she hopes construction will be completed in the spring. “We’ve been reluctant to build out full programming until the elevator is in,” she told the board. “Technically, the building is accessible but it is awfully difficult for some people to get around in it.”

Nelson asked and received board approval to acquire computer hardware needed for a telehealth service for local fishermen. The equipment came in at about 50 percent of the estimated $5,000. Of the original $450,000 grant, the town has spent $152,465 so far on building improvements, upgrades and staffing, leaving nearly $300,000 in its coffers for planned work. According to the terms of the grant, all the money must be spent and the elevator installed by August 2026.

The board also discussed the potential economic impacts of regulatory moves to curb the pogie catch—an important bait fish—by 20 percent, and a report that suggested American lobsters were being “slightly” overfished. “Anything that affects the lobster industry is going to have an economic impact on this town,” Billings said, worrying about rumored management actions that might include limiting traps or creating seasons for lobstering.

Travis Fifield said that the overfishing study had been misconstrued by media, which failed to report that the study showed that the fishery was well above minimum sustainability levels and that the rate of overfishing was relatively small. “People just want to be enraged,” he said.

One of the most concerning impacts from the reduction in pogie landings is the impact that frozen bait will have on Stonington’s transfer station. Both Fifield and Billings described the frozen bait packaging as immense, and if the local pogie catch is reduced, lobstermen will need to source their baitfish from international suppliers, which Fifield says almost always means flash frozen-at-sea fish processed on factory ships. The cardboard and plastic packaging goes to the transfer station and can’t be recycled. “It’s an incredible amount of garbage,” Fifield said.