SKOWHEGAN — Somerset County commissioners are set to ask the Maine Department of Transportation to reduce the speed limit on Lake Moxie Road in The Forks.
During a public hearing in January on a request to allow all-terrain vehicles to share a 2.2‑mile stretch of the paved road, commissioners heard from several people who said drivers often ignore the current 45‑mph speed limit. Many of those same residents recommended lowering the limit to 35 mph if ATVs are allowed access.
Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said he supported lowering the speed limit if ATV use was approved, but commissioners voted Feb. 4 against allowing ATV use.
Even so, the suggestion to lower the speed limit caught commissioners’ attention, and they voted Wednesday to ask the state Department of Transportation to consider reducing it to 35 mph.
Commissioner John Alsop, who voted against allowing ATV use, said he was surprised the board would consider lowering the speed limit when no change in use on that road was approved.
He said he recalled someone at the hearing noting that getting state approval to lower a speed limit can be difficult, and added, “I know we had talked about this in approving ATVs, but given that we did not approve ATVs … why don’t we just keep it the way it is?”
Commissioner Joel Stetkis, who supported ATV access on Lake Moxie Road, said he recalled hearing several people speak in favor of lowering the speed limit.
“I’m not going to die on this hill,” Alsop said, but he reminded commissioners that they also heard from people at the public hearing about the lack of enforcement of the existing speed limit.
He added, “If we lower the speed where people are accustomed to going 45 and make it illegal for them to go 45,” that will make the lack of enforcement even more of a problem.
Chairman Robert Sezak said a formal request to MDOT was required if commissioners wanted to lower the speed limit.
That request was approved 4-1, with Alsop voting against.
In other matters, commissioners received an informal report from Jackman Town Manager Richard Petrie on the importance of reliable broadband access, particularly because the local paramedicine program uses telehealth to connect paramedics with emergency room physicians at St. Joseph Hospital in Bangor.
Petrie also said the lack of housing has become a major issue in Jackman because many residents own what he called “occasional use” houses that they offer for rent.
“We need to find a way to provide housing for people to work here,” he said. “There’s a reason people come to Somerset County. It’s the time to fish and relax,” and housing for workers who support the recreation economy is difficult to find.
He encouraged more collaboration across Somerset County to sustain tourism and other income streams.
“We need to find a way to survive,” he said, “and the key is walking that very fine line between finding sources of income and not becoming Portland, Bangor and Lewiston.”
Commissioners also approved the final $50,000 payment to the Somerset Humane Society toward construction of its new building.
Bonnie Brooks, executive director of the Skowhegan‑based agency, told commissioners that 4 acres next to the current facility had been donated for construction of the new building, and that an architect has been hired and is expected to produce a design within the next couple of months.
Brooks said that once construction costs are known, the agency’s capital campaign is expected to begin in earnest. The goal is to keep building costs less than $3 million.
