As a key date nears on Wiscasset’s possible easement at Chewonki Campground,  the town and business have been working toward a deal, Town Manager Marian Anderson and one of the campground’s owners confirmed in separate phone interviews July 26 and 28. The agreement would need selectmen's OK,  Anderson said July 26.

In recent years, officials have said the town needs to clear trees near a Wiscasset Municipal Airport runway, for safety and access to federal funds. The campground has said losing the shade and privacy those trees provide would impact the business.

For voters this November to consider getting an easement by eminent domain, the town would need to start the steps Aug. 21, Anderson said. The parties want to avoid that and reach an amicable resolution,  she said. The campground is an important part of the business community, and is beautiful, she added.

Anderson said she, the campground’s owners and the parties’ lawyers had a positive, productive meeting July 18. No new dates were set; the parties want to make sure of the agreement’s terms before selectmen consider it, she said.

Pam Brackett has co-owned and run the Chewonki Neck Road business with sister Ann Beck nearly half a century. Brackett said in a phone interview Saturday, the recent talks lasted about two hours. "We met and just tried to figure out where we were on this whole thing and move forward." Each party had questions for the other, she said. "We're still working together in a positive manner ... I am in hopes that this can be resolved before the 21st."

The campground will go on, Brackett said. "We're going to continue this business. We're just going to move forward with making Chewonki Campground even better than it is now. We have talked to contractors and landscapers," she said.

The Federal Aviation Administration told Wiscasset last spring, until the town gets the easement, the FAA would fund no Wiscasset projects except obstruction removal. The letter from FAA’s New England Region Airports Division Director Mary Walsh stated the issue is 15 years old, inaction “has a significant liability implication,” and getting the easement is paramount to safety.

Airport Advisory Committee Chairman Steve Williams provided the letter at the Wiscasset Newspaper's request July 18 after he told members about $1 billion in new, match-free federal grants airports can seek.

"Wow," member Ray Soule said.

Towns must notify the FAA by Aug. 8 to be considered for a grant before October, and by Oct. 31 to be considered for one from this October through September 2020, according to a July 17 email Williams provided from Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association Regional Manager for Government Affairs Sean Collins.