Southwest Harbor Select Board Chair Dismayed by Needs for Cameras and Engineering at Chris' Pond
Proposed shellfish ordinance changes, EMS committee bylaws and more news
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—During the Southwest Harbor Select Board meeting, January 28, Chair Carolyn Ball expressed her dismay over the situation at Chris’ Pond.
“I'm really disgusted that we have to put into our budget cams, and we are going to put in webcams. That's part of the budget because we've had vandalism, and we've had to put in money into our budget—not only to have an engineer engineer the dam that's in our budget—now for webcams, and I'm truly disgusted,” Ball said.
The pond hosts skating and other winter recreational activities. The pond is an approximate five-minute walk from town proper. The pond’s dam structures have also been vandalized multiple times.
Earlier in January, the select board approved a sign that board members hope will deter vandalism of the dam that allows the pond to hold water.
“We’ve had to put the dam back six times this winter,” one volunteer had said at that meeting.
That, she added, is discouraging to the volunteers who take care of the pond, which has a long history of hosting skaters.
Some members of the public attending the meeting worried about the legality of fixing the dam repeatedly as well as any potential impacts to land owners downstream.
On January 28, select board member James Vallette said he’d like to know how much the town has spent on legal fees for the pond.
One member of the public worried about the pond’s upkeep in the summer season, saying that the town needed to get the right people in there to determine what to cut. She said that she’s taken “hideous pictures” of the area in the summer, which she said she’s shared with the board.
Anne Ratcliff said, “It is completely and utterly untrue that nothing happens up there in the summer.”
Ratcliff said that the volunteers monitor it weekly.
The woman in the audience stressed, “They would like to know, if, when they go up there in the summer if they're going to sit there and try to eat their lunch and enjoy the mallards and the heron, and all that, are they going to be watched on these spy cams that they put up there?”
The camera surveillance in the area is meant to help deter vandalism. The proposed budget will likely include $10,000 for those cameras.
“Dams have been made for years and years out of wood and sticks and mud. And that's how it's been made for years and years and years,” Ball said. “We've had vandalism. We're going to have to have an engineer. We'll look into again, having a permit. By and large, we know that we don't need a permit. But yes, we have put in money for a permit, just in case. I’m just dismayed.”
Ball added that she’s dismayed that the town has to spend legal funds on the site, when they have a new town manager, which is exciting, and when there are serious financial concerns in the town.
“In fact, we have serious, serious financial concerns in this town. We're going to build a town garage in the future. We have a water and sewer department that we're going to be funding by bonds, set aside money for our Manset dock to have it rehabilitated because of the storms we had. All of this is causing financial concerns that we, as board members, need to be concerned. We have assigned the Conservation Commission to take care of Chris' Pond, and we will continue to do so,” Ball said.
The town’s code enforcement officer has not recommended any changes to the Southwest Harbor Land Use Ordinance related to streams or dams. The review was a request as the town continues to focus on the management of Chris’ Pond.
After that review, the Southwest Harbor Select Board confirmed that there are no legal impediments preventing Southwest Harbor from continuing the pond’s management and upkeep.
This has been an “established tradition since 1957 and further supported through a conservation easement in I995,” Town Manager Karen Reddersen wrote in a memo to the board. “Any land use ordinance violations are subject to determination by the code enforcement officer.”
Proposed Shellfish Ordinance Changes
The board members reviewed potential changes to the town’s shellfish ordinance, for placement on the ballot of May 6, 2025.
The town cleared up some minor technicalities in the shellfish ordinance, concerning that the minor license. The board changed some proposed language to gender-neutral language.
The changes will come again for public hearing on February 25 and then back on April 22, and if the changes continue to go forward, it will be on the ballot for town meeting.
The state DMR looked at the town’s past ordinance and wasn’t explicit about the categories of junior licenses, which have always been free. They can dig freely up to the age of 15. This doesn’t change that. It just changes them as junior resident or junior non-resident. It’s a way of being explicit in a policy that has been in town since 2002.
Review of Southwest Harbor & Tremont EMS Planning Committee Bylaws
The board moved forward with the proposed bylaws for the Southwest Harbor and Tremont EMS planning committee. The composition of the committee and some wording was slightly tweaked previously. Tremont’s select board approved a draft at its January 6 meeting and the changes.
Congressional Designated Funds (CDS) for Public Works Facility-Local Funding
Reddersen said that she’d received a request from the USDA’s rural development loan specialist “to clarify availability of estimated local funding for the public works facility project.”
The town has been allocated $2,415,000 in CDS funding, and the USDA has estimated the remainder of funding needed at the local level to be $805,000.
The voters at town meeting will have to approve that funding prior to the start of the project’s construction.
“I respectfully request passage of a motion to approve the local funding needed for this project through bond proceeds upon approval by the Town of the Public Works Facility,” Reddersen wrote in her memo. The select board agreed.
OTHER BUSINESS
Sustainability Committee: David Krueger and Craig Kesselheim were unanimously appointed to the sustainability committee for terms effective until June 30,2025.
Shellfish Commission: William "Billy" Norwood was unanimously appointed to the shellfish commission for the remainder of a three-year term effective until June 30, 2027. Chair Jim Calhoun attended and observed.
“I made a living for over 20 years plus one,” Norwood said of his desire to be on the commission. He also helped replant a resource in Tremont.
Southwest Harbor Housing Authority Board of Commissioners: Mr. Moorside had resigned. Terry Shinn, who is originally from North Carolina, applied. She has children on Great Cranberry and her son is a lobsterman.
Terry Shinn was unanimously appointed as tenant commissioner to the Southwest Harbor Housing Authority Board of Commissioners for the remainder of a five-year term effective until June 2026.
Water/Sewer District Trustee:
On the board’s request, Town Manager Karen Reddersen had contacted the district to ask questions about the process.
“I just wanted to say thank you so much for these answers. They’re super helpful,” Vallette said.
The trustees’ representative said that its website is unfriendly, but they are trying to update and download all the minutes. Those answers were detailed in a hand-out, but not the original packet.
Ben "Lee" Worcester. Ill was reappointed for a term effective until December 31, 2027.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Southwest Harbor Conservation Commission
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