POLAND – Beneath a bare light bulb in his century-old barn, Glenn Peterson pulled on a pair of glasses and began quoting the Bill of Rights’ protection of private property.

When he was done, his shoulders sank.

“I just want to be compensated,” he said.

In the next few weeks, movers will haul away the barn’s contents.

They include branches of a tree set he built for the local high school’s drama program, materials he collected for future art works and boxes of books that constituted his late dad’s library.

Everything must go.

By mid-July, contractors will tear down the 4,000 square-foot barn at Maine Street and White Oak Hill Road to make room for the long-planned widening of Route 26.

Peterson has resigned himself to the loss of the barn. He bought the building and an accompanying acre-and-a-half of land eight years ago at auction for $36,000.

“I thought it was a good deal,” he said. “It was appraised at $56,500.”

But when the state seized the property in December via eminent domain, officials suggested a much lower value.

Their price for the barn and a slice of property: $3,290.

“It’s a nice building,” Peterson said. “I feel like I’ve been taken advantage of.”

That’s not the state’s intention, said Mike Danforth, senior property officer for the Maine Department of Transportation, which took barn.

That price is fair market value, he said.

“(We) look at this like it has a ‘For Sale’ sign on it,” Danforth said. The state’s aim is to pay the same price someone would if they bought the land today on the market.

And the offer may change.

Even as the state gets ready to demolish the barn, Danforth’s office and Peterson are discussing the price.

“This is an ongoing negotiation,” he said. And the initial offer – sent via certified mail on state letterhead – isn’t necessarily a final offer, he said.

“The language is dry and bureaucratic,” said Mark Latti, spokesman for the Department of Transportation.

Yet, everybody who loses property to the state is given a pamphlet explaining the rules and numbers to call about their rights, Latti said.

They include the right to haggle, though most people don’t.

Between 60 percent and 70 percent of all eminent domain cases begin and end with the state’s offer, Danforth said. By the time the two sides meet and negotiate, the number surges to 90 percent or so. Fewer than 10 percent ever get decided by the State Claims Commission, the final arbiter in such cases.

On the current leg of the Route 26 project, the state has 79 properties, Danforth said. Many are bits of people’s yards, where light posts and mailboxes have been taken. But there are others. At least two homes – including a house where the son of Poland Spring’s founder lived – have been purchased. The historic house was moved to another lot less than a mile away.

“We take our work very seriously,” Danforth said. Especially when a home is at stake, a seizure can be “traumatic.”

It has been for Peterson, who bought the property because of its barn. He’s an artist who likes creating large installations. The space made it possible for him to create in any weather. He also needed the storage space from the former carriage house to house an eclectic mix of old bicycles, carefully stacked wood and pieces from his dad’s estate.

It was worth enough for him to incur a $1,200-a-year tax bill on the property. The town assessed the land at $36,300 and $20,000 for the barn.

Though some windows have been broken and a corner of the roof leaks, the building is mostly sound. Wide beams and boards still sit comfortably on the barn’s granite foundation.

Peterson figures the barn ought to be worth at least $10 per square foot, which would cost the state about $40,000.

He has compiled a two-inch-thick folder of materials, including state statute on the eminent domain and lots of correspondence between him and the state.

“I’m just trying to get the most for the building,” said Peterson, who has yet to hire an appraiser or a lawyer. Both would cost him thousands of dollars. It’s money he can’t afford, he said.

“It either costs a lot of money or a lot of effort to fight the state,” he said. “I’m not giving up.”