I watch in disbelief when Falmouth Councilor Bonny Rodden and her committees, Community Development and Long Fange Planning, work on Route 1. This has been going on since 2005 with Bonny and since 1995 with former Councilor George Thebarge. It’s about time the council closed down both committees.

Maine is already rated No. 50 in the country for being business friendly and Bonny wants to make it worse. She wants to prevent Walmart from expanding into an existing footprint which already meets existing ordinances because she thinks Falmouth residents do not want big-box stores. There may be a few people who do not want them, but I’ll bet it’s a very small percentage. I for one would like a Super Walmart and a least a Home Depot or Lowe’s on Route 1. Right now the Falmouth Shopping Center is about half full and Route 1 has more vacant areas. If Bonny keeps this up we can have an annual “Vacant Building Festival” in Falmouth and dedicate it to Bonny.

The two committees mentioned have town planning staff dedicated to studying Route 1, restricting and regulating business and private property.

Its time for the council to put an end to this stuff and get the Planning Department back to one planner as it was six years ago. The planner needs to work on some of the previous ordinances as there are many problems with the ones put in place over the last 10 years. The taxpayers can no longer afford this nonsense.

Bruce Macmaster
Falmouth