An inquiry by the Portland Press Herald revealed that the Maine Turnpike Authority hired a third party to determine Smiling Hill Farm’s eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, and shared none of that information with the farm’s owners. Here’s Warren Knight, one of the co-owners of the farm:
“As a state agency, the Maine Turnpike Authority should operate to a higher standard,” Knight continued. “The communities have to be provided with all the information (the authority has) so they can make an informed decision.”
Warren Knight, Smiling Hill Farm
MTA Executive Director Peter Mills told the paper that the issue of the farm’s historic preservation status would be addressed in the permit application that the MTA was preparing for the Army Corps of Engineers.
Historic status would give the Knight family more leverage in the permit application process, which would be important to know when you’re also fielding offers to sell your property. And the historic status of the property may push the Army Corps to demand that the route be changed, which could impact other landowners. The MTA must prove to the Army Corps they’ve taken action to avoid, minimize or mitigate adverse effects to historic properties. We doubt that they have, because many of the steps that could be taken are out of MTA’s legal mandate – the MTA said as much in a request to the Army Corps seeking exemption from certain permit steps over a decade ago, which the Army Corps rejected.
Mills has minimized the value of the Smiling Hill Farms land to the farming and lumber operations. We find this completely inappropriate – Mr. Mills is not a farmer. Runoff and tire particulate from the new turnpike and the acres of turning lanes, offramps, and intersections will likely blight the hayfields that the farm needs to feed its dairy cattle. The highway will be visible and audible from the ice cream barn and barnyard animal exhibits, which will certainly undermine the experience at the heart of their business.
Of course those lands are integral to the farm, especially if they will be taken for a blighting highway.
What did they know and when did they know it?
From this timeline, it appears that the MTA knew that their Connector would run through Smiling Hill Farm at least by 2021, when they hired an independent firm to assess its eligibility.
In 2022, the MTA asked for the four signatory towns, Gorham, Scarborough, Westbrook and South Portland, to sign onto a revised Memorandum of Agreement to advance the Gorham Connector project. It seems the MTA didn’t tell the towns about their institutions to run their highway through a pretty beloved local institution.
In 2024, the MTA released the plan and route to the public, and only then did it become clear the impact it would have on Smiling Hill Farm, Red Brook, and other landowners.
“We didn’t have any specifics… The council is going to let the Maine Turnpike Authority go through its public process. Our goal is to have a public meeting in the near future to gather input from the community.”
Nicholas McGee, Scarborough’s Town Council Chairman
We need far more transparency from the MTA than we’ve been getting. The public meeting referenced in this story was supposed to happen in May, then June, then July, and now has been postponed indefinitely. At the same time, the MTA takes steps to advance the project at every public meeting, including buying property along the route from willing sellers. But with public support for the project so fleeting, isn’t this the best time to take an offramp from the Gorham “Connector”?
“Just because I voted for the memorandum of agreement doesn’t mean I’ll be for the project when all the information is available,”
Michael Shaughnessy, Westbrook City Councilmember
We have seen that the more informed residents and local leaders become, the less reason they see to support this boondoggle.