NORWAY – The state Department of Transportation’s commissioner will meet with Norway officials next month as they attempt to work out a solution that will keep the Route 118 scenic turnout open.

“We continue to maintain it until there is an agreement,” said Don Hutchins, superintendent of operations at the Dixfield DOT office.

Area residents have put pressure on the DOT for months to keep the scenic turnout on Route 118 open. Norway officials were notified in May that the turnout was one of nine in the region that the agency would abandon and turn into what the state calls a motor vehicle turnout.

While the Norway site will not be closed off, picnic tables, a restroom, grills and shelter overhangs would be taken down unless the town agrees to take over the maintenance.

Selectmen have expressed concern about paying the estimated $3,000 annual cost to maintain the site and have asked for a meeting with Commissioner David Cole to discuss their concerns.

Town Manager David Holt said Thursday that a meeting will be held during the last week of September with interested people and organizations, such as the Rotary Club, which may be willing to assist in the care of the site.

The scenic turnout, a highly popular place for both residents and tourists who stop to eat and take in the spectacular view of Pennesseewassee Lake, was opened in 1959 within the state’s easement of the old layout of the highway. Before then, two turnouts existed on the lake side of the state road above and below the present site, said Bob LaRoche, DOT supervisor of landscape architecture.

While the state does not technically own the land, LaRoche said the landowner would have to petition the state to remove the easement. LaRoche said the state will undoubtedly continue to need an easement on the property because of drainage and other issues regardless of whether it continues to maintain the site as a scenic turnout.

The land is part of a 150-acre property that the Western Foothills Land Trust has under a purchase agreement with the Growth Council of Oxford Hills for $279,000. The Growth Council acquired the 161-acre parcel from the Roberts family, which farmed the land from 1884 to 2000, but plans to build a technology park there fell through.

Lee Dassler, program coordinator for the trust, said Thursday that even if the trust purchases the property it would want to do what was in the best interest of the town.

“It would be a huge loss for the community to lose that. It’s a great asset,” she said of the scenic turnout.

LaRoche said the state does not always own the land where a scenic turnout is located. Sometimes there is a lease agreement, other times, an easement.

“We will continue to maintain the turnout until there’s an agreement. Norway was supposed to get back to DOT. We were just waiting for their reaction,” Hutchins said.

Hutchins said the state has already closed the Greenwood scenic turnout and the tables and overhang and other items there will be taken out before winter. There are no plans to physically close off the site unless there is a safety issue involved.

The scenic turnout in Bethel will remain and one at Snow Falls in West Paris will remain open with the DOT continuing to take care of it.

Waterford’s scenic turnout has been taken over and will be maintained through town funding. Scenic turnouts in Wilton and Dixfield were closed and gated because of vandalism and safety concerns.