A gravel road to nowhere is about to give the Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District Board of Trustees (BRRDD) some breathing room.

After an executive session with the Boothbay Board of Selectmen to discuss terms of the district's Industrial Park Road site lease last Thursday, trustees voted to move ahead with construction of a 100-foot gravel road.

Though minimal, the work satisfies caveats in an August 2004 Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) license that mandates construction on the property begin within two years and be completed within five.

"If we start construction, no matter how minimal, it will keep our permit. It doesn't make us dead in the water," BRRDD Operations Manager Steve Lewis said in a phone interview Monday. "There's no intent of finishing it off right now."

In part due to differences of opinion amongst board members about the site's future and costs associated with moving the district's wood chipping operations there, discussion has consistently focused on keeping options open rather than forging ahead.

As part of the DEP license application an engineer hired by the district estimated the cost of a new facility to be around $300,000, well short of the $585,000 lowest bid the district received after advertising the project.

"What I asked the board to do is sit on this for a couple of years," Board Chairman Mike Leighton said in a phone interview Tuesday. "You're going to see us waiting. We want to make sure it's necessary. I don't really want to do it if it's going to come down to a vote."

Some board members had also expressed concern with terms of the 25-year lease the district has with the town of Boothbay. Last week's executive session allayed some of those issues, according to Leighton.

"We are totally set with the Boothbay selectmen and the property," he said. "It was just some of the wording that was funky. That was just fine-tuning some stuff."

Though he wouldn't discuss specifics of the lease, Leighton said trustees were seeking a longer lease and the ability to renew it.

Ross Edwards, chairman of the Boothbay board of selectmen, said in a phone interview Monday that the district's potential move to the site is a win-win for both the district and town.

"It's a big move, a big job," Edwards said. "It seems like a good spot to put that operation. It works both ways."