Boothbay selectmen are considering a proposal to better protect Adams Pond from pollutants. Earlier this year, Boothbay Region Water District proposed a project to move Adams Pond Road 1,000 feet away from the pond. The project is funded through a $150,000 Maine Department of Environmental Protection grant.

The project was held up earlier this year over a potential land swap between BRWD and the town, but that is no longer a hurdle. During the June 12 selectmen’s meeting, Town Manager Dan Bryer and Natural Resource Program Manager Sue Mello of BRWD confirmed the town didn’t own the section discussed on the road. Bryer told selectmen the town only had an easement. Mello called it a “prescriptive easement.”

In pursuing the project, the town and district would likely change the prescriptive easement to a deeded easement. The district is seeking municipal assistance in road reconstruction of a 1,000-foot section. Under the proposal, the public works department would rebuild the road as part of the grant’s local “in kind” contribution.

The project entails tearing up the old roadbed and installing a plant buffer in its place along the water’s edge. A new vegetative buffer would be created by planting native plants and seeds. In a press release earlier this year, Mello explained the project’s purpose. “Adams Pond’s water quality is adversely affected by pollutants, including soil erosion and runoff, from surrounding developed areas. To protect water quality, the Boothbay Region Water District has been working with the Town of Boothbay and other entities to identify and remediate pollution sites in Adams Pond and Knickerbocker Lake watersheds,” she wrote. “A lot of effort has gone into repairing eroding driveways and roads, replacing failing culverts, installing best management practices like infiltration steps and roof edge drains, and planting vegetated shoreline buffers. This year, the water district and Town of Boothbay are going to try a novel approach to remediating road runoff – they’re going to move the road.”

BRWD Manager Jon Ziegra proposed a “better” way to protect the pond. He would like to close the road. “From my perspective that is the best thing to do,” he said. Selectmen didn’t think the public would support this, but they would at least listen to potential proposals. “I don’t think the public would ever go for that,” Selectman Dale Harmon said. “I like what the current proposal does by creating a 50-foot vegetative buffer. I think that is a huge accomplishment for protecting the water supply.”

In other action, selectmen appointed Alex Rioux as a planning board alternate. The board also approved two liquor license renewals. Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens received a temporary extension (one-day event) liquor license renewal. PGC2, LLC received restaurant liquor Class I, II, III, and IV and auxiliary licenses renewals for Boothbay Harbor Country Club.

Selectmen signed a municipal agreement with Maine Department of Transportation for a construction permit. The project is scheduled to begin this summer, but Bryer hasn’t heard any updates in several weeks. He attended an Edgecomb selectmen’s meeting last month hoping to receive a project update. “I haven’t heard anything in quite a while from DOT. I heard they were attending an Edgecomb selectmen’s meeting so I went, but no one from DOT came.”

Selectmen meet next at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 26 in the conference room.