Washington will not seize Forest City land from owner

By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    FOREST CITY — News that the Department of Homeland Security will not seize private land and keep its existing footprint when it renovates the port of entry in Forest City was applauded by residents and Sen. Susan Collins over the weekend.
    Jane Johnson, a property owner, said government plans to expand the facility would have robbed her of the peaceful life she has enjoyed for 34 years on nearly four acres of pristine land. “I was greatly relieved and very happy that my land wasn’t going to be encroached upon or seized. And, I was greatly relieved for the community of Forest City that did not need this great big government complex that would have cost taxpayers many millions of dollars for something that was not really needed given the volume of traffic in the port of entry in Forest City.”
    Intervention by Collins, the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and residents’ anger over spending up to $16.5 million in economic stimulus funds on a little used port may have played into DHS’s decision to reverse its original proposal and come up with a smaller renovation instead.
    Johnson said there are only eight year-round residents. “We are a very small community. There are many days when a car doesn’t come through here.” She added that in the summer the car traffic swells to as many as 30 vehicles.
    The decision ended weeks of continuing debate as state and local officials along with residents and Collins lodged their misgivings and concerns about the plan. DHS said Friday that it would limit renovation to land already owned by the government. Earlier plans would have meant acquiring or seizing land owned by local residents.
    Collins had sent a letter of concern to DHS, asking that the department reconsider its proposal for the new port of entry in Forest City. She urged officials to meet with local residents about their concerns over the size of the project which they did in March. Collins also spoke personally to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
    “This is a welcome change in the Department of Homeland Security’s plan for upgrading the Forest City port of entry,” said Collins in a statement to the Pioneer Times. “It addresses the concerns of local residents and will help ensure that taxpayer funds are not wasted on an unnecessarily large facility for a location that is well-known as a low-volume point of entry.”
    Johnson shared news with neighbors who, she said, were equally pleased. She has maintained throughout the process that she and her neighbors support border security and that she wants them “to have everything they need to achieve their mission.”