AUGUSTA — After 12 years mowing someone else’s really hilly lawn that abuts her Winthrop Street residence, Jane Adams isn’t going to mow it anymore.
But the apparent owner of that relatively wide, steep swath of grassy area is the city of Augusta. And the city doesn’t seem to want to mow it, either, for fear of inadvertently taking responsibility for cutting every blade of grass popping up by a city street.
The grass in question is on the esplanade between the sidewalk and Winthrop Street — which, unlike most such areas in the city, is nearly 25 feet wide in places.
“I wish I could continue to maintain it, but I can’t,” Adams said, noting she is on the very steep section of Winthrop Street just below the cemetery and airport. “I don’t think you’ll find, anywhere else in the city, anything like what we have there on Winthrop hill.
“I just hope you do what is right. Because what is happening right now is wrong,” she told city councilors at a meeting last week. “As of today, those pieces will not be cut.”
Adams abruptly left a City Council meeting last week, leaving councilors to decide what to do with her request that the city take over maintenance of the esplanade by her properties.
Councilors directed City Manager William Bridgeo to look for a way the city may be able to help Adams without, as Bridgeo worried, setting precedent that could force the city to mow grassy public rights of way throughout the city, overtaxing the already maxed-out grounds crew.
Options from councilors include making that particular Winthrop Street area a public park or, conversely, turning those parcels of land over to the nearest landowner.
“There must be a way this area can be characterized as different than other parts of the city,” Councilor Mark O’Brien said. “I can think of lots of reasons you don’t want to (take over mowing of the areas). But why should we expect abutting property owners to take care of city property like this?”
Councilor Michael Byron, one of multiple councilors who took Adams up on her suggestion they come see the swath of grass she’s been mowing, confirmed it is steep and hard to mow.
“It’s humongous and hilly,” he said of the land in front of Adams’ properties. “Even some of us in really good shape would have a hard time keeping up with the mowing.”
Bridgeo said the city has no written policy or ordinance requiring the owners of homes or businesses adjacent to city-owned esplanades to maintain them. But he said the work has traditionally been done by those property owners, not the city.
Mayor William Stokes said residents are under no obligation to mow the grass, suggesting it could just be left alone.
But Adams said when she has let the area go unmowed in the past, “it looked terrible. I’d hate to see it not cut.”
Jim Goulet, the city’s director of parks, cemeteries and trees, said number of seasonal employees the department has for tasks such as mowing has shrunk from 35 to 17 over the last few years.
He said his crews couldn’t handle the additional work of mowing all of the city’s esplanades.
“During this time, our work duties increased about 30 percent,” Goulet said. “We’re at our tipping point right now. We wouldn’t be able to do it without an increase in staff. And it’s not just staff — we’d need another truck on the road, another trailer to haul the mower. Our budget cannot support this.”
Councilor Edward Coffin suggested Winthrop Street may date to the settling of the area by the Kennebec Proprietors, which could mean the city actually owns the land in question, unlike other roads where, generally, the city only has a right of way to the property.
Coffin said that could be used to distinguish Winthrop Street from other areas, to avoid setting precedent if the city agrees to mow the esplanade there.
Bridgeo said he and other staff will look into the issue and report back to councilors with more information in 30 to 60 days.
Keith Edwards — 621-5647
kedwards@centralmaine.com
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