Wiscasset asked a court Dec. 13 to give the Maine Department of Transportation more time to respond to the town’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent MDOT from demolishing the Haggett building on Water Street.

According to the motion, the town and MDOT were in settlement talks and were making progress toward a resolution. The town’s argument was due Dec. 14, with an MDOT response due Jan. 11; the town’s reply memorandum was due Jan. 25; and a court hearing or oral argument were due to begin Feb. 2.

In its filing, Wiscasset’s attorney John Shumadine argued, since the parties are making progress and are considering a judicial settlement conference in late January, the town is hoping to extend the time the parties have to go through the adversarial process – in order to see where the settlement talks lead.

During a conference call Dec. 12, the court said it could hold a hearing on the preliminary injunction in late March.

The new agreement would let MDOT hold off on its answer until Feb. 9, with other memoranda following, until the hearing at the end of March, if it is still needed after the settlement talks.  According to the filing, MDOT had no objection to the agreement.

Justice M. Michaela Murphy is expected to respond within the next few days.