Decision on Nash’s Lake access awaited

CALAIS – Residents along the Hardscrabble Road will know today if a neighboring landowner will remove the boulders that restrict their access across a city-owned right of way to the city’s largest lake.

Billy Howard, who owns property in the area, placed the boulders in the right of way last year. The city was not opposed to the boulders’ being there during mud season, but residents who met with the City Council last week were determined to have the boulders removed so they can have access to Nash’s Lake during the summer.

Howard said he would be talking with his lawyer and would let the city know today whether he would move the boulders.

The property is in a remote area, about eight miles south of downtown. At the end of the Hardscrabble Road is a woods road that winds uphill toward Nash’s Lake and a granite dam that was built in 1839.

The city acquired the 640-acre parcel on the shore of the lake in the 1950s. Several years ago, the city hired a local wood harvester to cut some of the wood. He built a road across his property. Later, he deeded a right of way across his land to the city. The harvester subsequently sold the land to Howard.

In addition to access to the lake, the residents also would like the city to improve the lakeside area with a small park that would include a few picnic tables and a play area for children.

The councilors agreed that they did not want to do anything that would harm the lake, but they said they also believe that residents of the area should have access. They agreed that Howard should remove the boulders. They also directed assistant City Manager Jim Porter to provide an estimate of how much it would cost to build a small park at the lake. They suggested he submit the cost estimate and plan to the city Planning Board. Money to fund the project could come from the sale of timber that was removed from the city land adjacent to the road.

Howard was dissatisfied with the council’s decision. Property owners Arnold and Philip Clark also urged the council to restrict access to the lake.

The three said they were concerned about the ecology of the lake and about the council’s decision to open the area to residents.

Howard said he believes the manner in which the access road was used was an issue. He said he did not believe the councilors had given enough thought to their decision.

“Where is your bathroom facility? … You’ve got more liabilities opening up right now than you can imagine,” he said. “These are answers we need to know before you go making that road public as far as I am concerned.”

Arnold Clark asked the councilors how they could allow picnic tables in an area that is zoned for resource protection.

“The public has access to that property now, and they always have,” said attorney Dennis Mahar, who served as interim city solicitor at the council meeting last week. But Howard said people have been using the road only for the past year, “and seven months of that it has been blocked off.”

Mahar reminded Clark and Howard that all the city had done was open the road. He reminded them that any decision to construct a small park there would go before the planning board.

Howard asked the city’s fire chief, Danny Carlow, about the department’s fire response time. Carlow agreed that if the city opened the area to public use, there was a greater potential for fire. But Carlow reminded Howard that if a fire occurred, the boulders would make the response time even longer.

Councilor Ferguson Calder said that when Howard proposed closing the road last year, he did not indicate that it was to prevent access to the lake. “It was to protect the road,” Calder reminded Howard. “You didn’t tell us the whole story when you came before us.”

“Are you proposing not to allow the public out there?” Calder asked.

“Until you guys are going to do it right, that’s what I am proposing,” Howard said.