The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Hartford Cabin Application Goes to Second Meeting

January 24, 2011 -
January 18, 2011 - HARTFORD — The Planning Board on Monday scheduled a meeting for Feb. 10 to further consider an application for an after-the-fact permit on repairs to a cabin on Lake Anasagunticook.

Bob and Sue Brown replaced a deck and shored up the foundation of their cabin at 55 Pine Haven Drive without required permits from the town.

The Planning Board voted 4-1 on Jan. 3 to reject the couple's application for an after-the-fact permit because it was incomplete. The Browns were not present at the meeting.

Chairman Tom Harvey called Monday's meeting, speaking with Sue Brown in person and her husband by phone from Pittsburgh, Pa.

The permit application said the deck was 34 feet from the high-water mark, but Harvey said, "Morrill Nason and I measured the distance and found it to be 25 feet.”

Bob Brown said he would agree to that, though the lake level has changed over the past year of so due to the dam.

Harvey also said the drawing of the replacement deck showed the structure as being smaller than what he and Nason measured.

Bob Brown said he estimated the size.

Harvey said he also noticed stairs were built onto the deck and asked if there were photos to prove there were stairs there before. Brown said he would try to find some. He said the work was done not only to make the structure safe, but to preserve history on the lake.

“I love the lake and the history of the cabins along the lake,” he said.

Brown said he understood the board’s concerns, but he and his wife did not know that shoreland zoning laws applied to repairs.

“I’ve seen lots of things going on around the lake,” Brown said.

Harvey suggested Brown might try to educate his neighbors before they did any construction on a site that was 100 feet from shore.

The shoreland zoning law states that if a structure is damaged by less than 50 percent of its market value, reconstruction may occur within the footprint of the structure with a permit from the code enforcement officer.

Brown said he considered the damage to his cabin was about 25 percent of the market value.

Planning Board member Arthur Harvey said it is becoming a pattern in town for people to get permits after construction is done.

The board voted to reconsider the application and have the code enforcement officer Bill Kennedy share communications he has had with the Browns. Tom Harvey also requested that photos be provided, if possible, of what the cabin looked like before repairs were made.

The Feb. 10 meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m., recess for a public hearing on stream protection at 5 p.m. and then reconvene. The meeting will be held at the Town Hall.

By Mary Standard, Special to the Sun Journal, January 18, 2011


Lakes:
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News