YORK, Maine — The citizens group fighting the Maine Turnpike Authority’s plans to build a new plaza in York has mounted a Go Fund Me campaign to start a legal fund and is asking rank and file York residents to help.
The action comes ahead of an expected Nov. 19 vote by the MTA board of trustees about whether to relocate a new plaza at mile 8.8 on the turnpike, 1.5 miles north of the existing plaza.
While MTA chairman Daniel Wathen has made clear he does not know how the board will actually vote, members of the citizens group Think Again have long felt the board will support the staff recommendation of the mile 8.8 site.
If the board does vote in favor of that new site, the emphasis shifts from the MTA to the federal Army Corps of Engineers and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, which must permit the project.
“We have to solicit funds to defend keeping it where it is,” said Marshall Jarvis of Think Again. The group supports building a new plaza in essentially the same location as the current one, citing possible environmental degradation, noise and light pollution and loss of property values.
Moreover, the group argues that instead of cash booths and open-road tolling plaza like that in Hampton, which is what the MTA staff proposes, the state should instead be looking to build all-electronic tolling without booths.
“I’m concerned that if we don’t have the necessary revenue to hire lawyers to adequately defend ourselves, we put our position in jeopardy,” Jarvis said.
He said the group is hoping to raise $11,000 and seeking contributions from all York residents. The group said it hopes the town will contribute as well, but any funding would likely not be on the ballot until next May.
The MTA board of trustees will meet Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. at the MTA’s Portland headquarters.
To make a contribution to Think Again, visit www.gofundme.com/thinkagainmaine.