YORK, Maine — A centuries-old border dispute between Maine’s two oldest town is inching towards a solution.
In separate meetings Monday, the town managers of Kittery and York sought to appoint members of a group tasked with mediating the dispute.
This step in diplomacy comes as the two municipalities still stand far apart on the issue. The town of York had previously filed a lawsuit, claiming the current town line doesn’t follow the initial – mostly straight—boundary marked by Massachusetts colonial authorities in the 17th century. A judge dismissed that suit, calling for a new perambulation on the border. Now, with that finished, many in York are continuing to push for the line to change to its original drawing. The town manager, Peter Joseph, declined to give his own view, but he's entertaining a change from the current boundary.
“They could decide to leave it where it is now. They could decide to do something in the middle,” Joseph said before Monday’s meeting.
Right now, around a dozen houses lie in the disputed area. To Joseph, no matter what happens, the changes would be minor.
“[It’s a] small area, small number of properties, small impact,” he added.
But officials in Kittery fiercely disagree. The town’s attorney, Stephen Langsdorf, sees York’s attempt to change—or entertain a change—to the border as problematic and bizarre.
In a letter to the York Selectboard earlier this summer, Langsdorf wrote, “The very biggest question here is, why is this even being considered?”
Langsdorf went on to call an altering of the borders “a grave injustice.” Beyond what he sees as a potential disruption in the schooling, taxes, and property deeds of the homes in the disputed area—all over a colonial interpretation of the line that was left alone for centuries—many in Kittery are also pointing to times in the 1800s and 1900s when the two towns agreed to the line as it is today, contradicting the 1600s border.
“Everybody had agreed at that point to the boundary as it is,” Langsdorf added.
Now the negotiating table awaits. Kittery is steadfast in not giving up the current border, and York is committed to making sure this issue doesn’t go away.
Correction: An earlier version of this web story referred to an incorrect first name for Stephen Langsdorf.