YORK, Maine — The Board of Selectmen is writing to the Kittery Town Council this week and asking for a sit-down meeting, after a surveyor’s certified survey confirmed that York’s border is actually 250 to 300 feet south of where it is currently located.
Town Manager Steve Burns said he received a copy of the survey this week, with regards to the boundary at Route 1. Surveyor Bill Anderson confirmed that the line actually extends south from Burrito Betty’s, roughly the current line, nearly to the Landmark Hill driveway. Anderson undertook the survey for developer Duane Jellison, who bought property across the street from the restaurant.
While the survey was taken along Route 1, Burns said “there are going to be implications all the way across the border.”
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“This is a big deal,” he said. “This could impact property taxation, land use regulation, voting, cemetery maintenance and who knows what else.”
The issue first arose in September, when Jellison let the town know that there was a glitch with the boundary. His property, for instance, which he thought was half in York and half in Kittery is now three-quarters in York, “and we’re moving forward (with developing the land) based on that,” he said at the time.
Burns said the border with Kittery has been a concern to one town or the other since the late 17th century. “It’s just one of those old mysteries that’s kind of neat until it’s a pain.”
He urged the Board of Selectmen Monday night to move deliberately on this. “We have an obligation to work with Kittery to see what the correct boundary is. This is not something we brought up. A developer did. But it’s not a surprise,” he said.
[Border between 2 Maine towns has been a mystery since the 1700s]
He said he did speak with Kittery Town Manager Kendra Amaral, who indicated the town will “work to defend the boundary as it is. No surprise there. We would do the same thing,” he said. Eventually, he said, the town will probably need to seek legal and survey assistance.
“But for now, I think it is more important to reach out to the town of Kittery to see if we can come together on this matter,” he said.
Selectmen offered no comments before or after unanimously passing a motion asking the Kittery Town Council to a workshop session.