The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Bill Aims to Reduce Buffer Zone Around Lakeshore

February 14, 2011 - Rome -- Peter Beckerman has seen firsthand what a 75-foot shoreland zone could do to the value of his property.

Beckerman, a retired lawyer who owns a camp on Great Pond, said his neighbor illegally cut down 14, 95-foot trees within 50 feet of the shoreline -- some within 10 feet.

Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, has sponsored a bill that would shrink the protected area around shorelines from 250 to 75 feet.

Snowe-Mello said her bill returns private property rights to owners while providing adequate habitat protection. She said many of her constituents who own waterfront property can't build retirement homes with the current 250-foot shoreland zone.

Environmentalists say removing trees around waterways degrades water quality by allowing runoff of fertilizers and sediment into lakes and streams.

Great Pond is on the state Department of Environmental Protection's list of "impaired" water bodies -- meaning that, during the past 30 years, water clarity on Great Pond has declined. Long Pond and East Pond are also on the list.

Already looking at a denuded shoreline, Beckerman now worries about the effect a "green" lake would have on his property value.

"If the lake gets degraded like East Pond, absolutely I'm against (Snowe-Mello's bill)," Beckerman said.

"I have so many constituents in a lake district," Snowe-Mello said. "And I've also got folks who live up in Down East that this has affected greatly. What this bill does is merely allows us to assure the governing laws are meeting our needs without being over restrictive."

Dick Greenan, who serves on the Rome Planning Board, said the board is dealing with the illegal cutting next to Beckerman.

Meanwhile, though, Rome planners also are assessing a developer's plan to build a 2,400-square-foot, year-round home 71 feet from another Great Pond site.

If the law changes, he said that would be allowed.

"Right now, you can put up the Taj Mahal but it has to be set back a certain number of feet," Greenan said. "But all that will go out the window. You'll be able to put septic systems within 75 feet, plus commercial parking lots and everything else. It will be no holds barred at that point."

Greenan said lawmakers "have more sense than to pass" Snowe-Mello's bill, citing public referendums that backed Land for Maine's Future bonds, working waterfront preservation and investment in state parks.

"To do so would go against that trend," he said. "I think (Snowe-Mello) has lost her marbles. Something has got to be going on behind the scenes. It goes against public opinion."

Snowe-Mello said she wants more "scientific inquiries" conducted around the issue of lake quality.

If, in the end, science shows that a 250-foot shoreland zone actually makes a difference in the quality of Maine lakes, Snowe-Mello said she would fully support it.

"I just think we need to look more extensively than we have in the past," she said.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency national lake assessment in 2010 found that lakes with poor lakeshore habitats are three times more likely to be in poor overall biological condition than lakes with good quality shorelands.

In making the assessment, the study looked at the amount and type of lakeshore vegetation and concluded vegetation protects lakes from the effects of polluted runoff and stabilizes the soil along the lake's edge.

"A natural lakeshore does more than help the water quality of the lake; it helps the value of property along the lake, and it's good business," the study said. "Lakefront property generates millions of dollars in revenue . . . Studies show that when water clarity decreases, so do lake property values. Increasing development pressures are putting our lakes in peril."

Scott Williams, executive director of the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program, agrees with the federal government's assessment.

He said Maine scientists and volunteers have gathered scientific data on lake quality for 40 years.

"There's been a lot of talk these days about science-based environmental laws -- and the shoreland zoning law is based on science, clear and simple," Williams said. "There's been a great deal of research taken place about the effectiveness of natural buffers and the role they play to help remove various types of pollutants from stormwater runoff."

Williams said a reduction in the shoreland zone also would have a major economic impact on the state.

People come to Maine, he said, for our lakes.

"A study done by the University of Maine says our lakes generate $3.5 billion annually in overall economic activity and supports something like 50,000 jobs," he said. "That's a strong economic argument for helping to protect Maine Lakes."

Jack Shultz, who owns a camp on Great Pond that has been in his family for 74 years, said Snowe-Mello's bill is "a disaster waiting to happen."

"When I was a kid, we used the lake for drinking water," said Shultz, of Belgrade. "The water was beautiful, like a reservoir.
"The lake is on the endangered list now. What do you think it will be if you allow people to cut all the trees down and build within 75 feet of the lake? What will the quality of the water be then?"

Mechele Cooper, Portland Press Herald, February 2011




Lakes: Great Pond
Regions: Belgrade


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News