Dam owner, town resolve dispute in Winterport

WINTERPORT – It appears that the long dispute between the town and the owner of the West Winterport Dam has ended.

Selectman Sam Butler said Thursday that dam owner John Jones has agreed to end his attempt to remove the dam and has pledged to restore the structure to its former condition.

The selectmen have scheduled a special town meeting at the Samuel L. Wagner Middle School at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13, to review the town’s settlement with Jones.

“He wants to drop everything,” Butler said of Jones. “He just wants to walk away from the whole thing and bring the dam back to exactly the way it was.”

Jones operated the dam as a hydroelectric station for nearly 20 years but shut it down in the late 1990s when deregulation brought about a reduction in the price of electric power.

In 2000, Jones entered into an agreement with the conservation group Facilitators Improving Salmonid Habitat to remove the dam. FISH wanted the dam removed in order to open the Marsh Stream to anadromous species such as Atlantic salmon.

The stream forms the border between Winterport and Frankfort and residents of both towns reacted with concern when they learned about the plans of FISH and Jones. The towns had used the dam’s 50-acre impoundment for swimming, fishing and boating and did not want to lose that source of recreation. The impoundment also was viewed as a source of water for firefighting. In addition, the dam also acted as a flood control device during spring runoffs, according to residents.

The towns banded together and charged Bangor attorney Charles Gilbert with spearheading a legal challenge to the dam removal proposal. When towns were unsuccessful in preventing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection from granting permits and easements to remove the dam, they focused their efforts on taking the dam, Jones’ land abutting it and the permits and conservation easements by eminent domain.

The towns had planned to formally take the property on Sept. 30 but tabled the matter when Jones indicated a willingness to negotiate a settlement. Gilbert said Thursday that Jones and the towns had discussed “four or five” settlement agreements before a final agreement was reached this week.

Although the agreement has yet to be signed, Gilbert said, “We certainly hope it is done.” Gilbert said the settlement has no financial component.

Under the terms of the settlement, the towns would cease their efforts at obtaining Jones’ interest in the dam and his surrounding land in exchange for his agreeing not to take future steps to remove the dam without permission of the town. He agreed to grant a right of first refusal to the town to purchase the property in the future.

Gilbert acknowledged that Jones’ agreement to the settlement does not remove FISH from the equation. He said FISH took part in the settlement discussions “up to a point” but withdrew after realizing that Jones had changed his mind about removing the dam.

“Assuming this settlement goes forward, we would still have to figure out what issues that FISH may have had [with Jones],” said Gilbert. “Once Jones drops out, it may be possible that FISH could say they have an independent right.”

An attempt to reach FISH president Bill Townsend at his Skowhegan law office Thursday was unsuccessful. Jones is visiting Montana and also could not be reached for comment.