Council agrees to suspend practice until more info is available
CARIBOU, Maine — Four out of six councilors voted to suspend the application of chip seal in Caribou’s Solar Slopes subdivision during their August 8 meeting until they could discuss the matter further with Public Works Director Dave Ouellette.
This decision was made after two Solar Slopes residents, Greg Collins and Andrew Bouchard, expressed concerns with the quality of their roads.
“I was quite surprised to learn that the city is still using,” Collins said. “When I addressed the roads committee roughly 15 years ago, I was told that, at the time, there weren’t enough homes in the subdivision to justify the cost of a structural asphalt pavement. At that time, they were probably right. Fast forward to the present day and we have about 20 houses in that subdivision, yet we’re still driving on chip seal roads.”
Collins also brought up a conversation he had with Steve Buck, Caribou’s former city manager, regarding the roads.
“Steve said that we shouldn’t be using chip seal anywhere anymore because it costs us more in the long run,” Collins recalled. “Any of the residents that are here tonight can tell you that on any any month of the year, you will see city trucks patching and filling holes from the chip seal, which is not a structural pavement.”
Collins claimed that Solar Slopes residents pay some of the highest city taxes, yet they have “the worst road conditions.”
“I don’t know if any of you have been on a chip seal road before,” Collins said, “but I can tell you that most of it will be in the snowbank by December. Then, in the spring, they will be patching the holes as they’ve done for the last 20 years.”
Along with Collins, Andrew Bouchard also asked City Council to consider paving with Solar Slopes with asphalt.
Bouchard explained to Council that he grew up in Caribou, moved to Portland, and recently moved back to central Aroostook County with his wife to raise a family.
“We initially looked at both Caribou and Presque Isle,” said Bouchard, “had we known about the road conditions, it would have deterred us from moving into that neighborhood.”
The resident also mentioned that city trucks are a common occurrence in Solar Slopes, concluding that chip seal does not hold up.
“Just last week there were city trucks working on the ditches, and their equipment alone actually dug up a lot of chip seal in front of our house,” Bouchard said, adding that a large portion of the road was “wiped out” while Solar Slopes was plowed last winter.
“I just want to reiterate that it would be great if you could suspend the chip seal work and consider putting down structural pavement that will last and hold up,” Bouchard concluded.
Mayor Gary Aiken was unsure about starting a discussion about the chip seal, and did not wish to explore the subject much further until Public Works Director Dave Ouellette was available.
Councilor Phil McDonough II stated that he would like to know the assessed cost of applying black-top to the roads before making any final decisions.
“I live on the Lombard Road,” said Councilor David Martin. “We don’t have pavement or streetlights, and the road is chip seal. I bet you there’s more traffic on the Lombard Road in half a day than there is all day in Solar Slopes.”
“The process is actually much better now than it used to be,” McDonough said, and Councilor Joan Theriault added that she liked chip seal roads.
Councilor Shane McDougall made a motion to suspend the chip seal work until more information was available, which Council narrowly voted to pass.
