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LEA Pushes For Stiffer Penalties on Shoreland Violation in Naples

April 22, 2010 - NAPLES -- Everyone–landowner, DEP and town–agrees there’s been a serious violation of state and local shoreland laws on Long Lake in Naples. Agreement has been harder to come by on what to do about it.


Selectmen, who must sign the eventual consent agreement, were persuaded by Lakes Environmental Executive Director Peter Lowell Monday night to intervene in the developing negotiations among landowner John Chase, the Department of Environmental Protection and Naples Code Enforcement Officer Boni Rickett.


Parties will be invited to a special meeting of the selectmen following this Thursday evening’s special town meeting. Lowell is pushing for stiffer penalties, more in keeping with the severity of the violation. “It’s a horrible example, and a very visible example,” Lowell stated Monday. He called it the worst shoreland violation of its type he’s seen in his 40 years with the LEA.


The property is on Map U38, Lot 2-1, on Big Bear Point.


The 123 feet of shore frontage, which used to be “basically forest,” was completely cleared, mostly over one weekend this spring, Town Manager Derek Goodine said, leaving 33 stumps and very little else. There was “no meaningful erosion control,” Lowell said.


The LEA had asked to be included in the process, but hadn’t been invited in. Lowell feels the plants recommended for mitigation are too small, and suggested mitigation might prove ineffective over time. Further, state and local laws call for restoration to former levels of vegetation, where possible. “The landowner himself admits that it was basically ‘a forest’ on that lot,” Lowell said. “We know what was there. Also, the plan developed pushes most of the larger trees to the edges.” Additionally, many of the plants shown on the proposed mitigation plan are groundcover, only two inches high, he added.


Lowell showed before and after pictures; first, a close-packed bunch of vegetation along the shoreline, then, a muddy clearcut.


Finally, the currently0recommended fine of “not less than $10,000” is not stiff enough to be a deterrent in the future, Lowell contended. “I don’t think for this type of thing $10,000 is even in the ballpark”: he said. The DEP recommendation is for a fine of $20,000 to $40,000 and the town ought to be thinking in that range when any consent agreement is signed, the LEA director said.


Selectmen, who seemed to find Lowell’s photographic evidence and arguments convincing, noted that further local fines could accrue, and these are to be calculated on a daily basis from the date of the violation. And, as Selectman Thomas Mayberry said, mitigations beyond the 100-foot setback have not been addressed in the current plan; and they should be, he felt.


Selectman Christine Powers spoke strongly of sending a clear message of unacceptability for such violations, in order to protect “the standards of our land and water in the future.”


CEO Boni Rickett’s report noted that tree stump diameters varied between four and 36 inches, with an average diameter of over a foot. In her report, she called the violations “very egregious.”


Selectmen agree, and want to make sure the punishment fits the crime, since theirs will be the signatures on any final consent agreement.



Selectman Chairman Bob Caron said Monday, “We have a responsibility to the environment and the town.” An insufficient penalty “doesn’t look good at all,” he said. People might do violations with impunity, he said, then pay their penalties and profit from mitigations that left properties more valuable for resale than when they started.


Thursday’s selectmen’s meeting will follow the 7 p.m. special town meeting at Naples town office. Voters will deal with a fire suppression system for the Causeway, $35,000 from Unexpended Fund Balances for legal and other expenses, and road balance transfers.


By Mike Corrigan, April 22, 2010, The Bridgton News

Lakes: Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


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