New boat launch could end lake dispute

DEXTER – A mediator has given the town and the Dexter Utilities District some homework assignments to settle a dispute over the public boat launch on big Lake Wassookeag.

The district was to seek an objective technical analysis to assess the risk of the boat launch to the public drinking water supply’s intake system located 681 feet away. The town was asked to search the lake’s shorefront for an alternative site for a public boat launch.

The issue came to a head in 2005 when the planning board first granted a permit to the state Department of Transportation to construct a permanent boat launch at the Route 23 picnic area, where a primitive launch has been used for years.

Although local boards initially approved construction of the permanent boat launch, the utility district remained opposed to it because it was so close to the public water supply intake.

The district, worried the water supply could become contaminated from use of the boat launch, filed a complaint in September 2007 in Superior Court to prevent work on the launch.

The town and planning board filed motions in October 2007 to dismiss the utility district’s complaint, but the court denied those motions in July. That allowed the district’s complaint to go forward. A mediator then was hired to try to settle the matter before a lengthy court process began.

The town recently concluded its assignment and discovered a parcel that’s for sale, acting Town Manager Dave Pearson said Friday.

“We actually think we’ve got a possible candidate for an alternate boat launch on the south side of the lake,” Pearson said. A state Department of Conservation official was expected to view the site Friday to see whether it meets the state’s criteria.

Those criteria eliminated quite a bit of the lakefront, Pearson said. For example, a boat launch may not be placed on property that has deed restrictions, nor may it be located where there is aquatic vegetation, where the water is too shallow or near streams, he said.

If the property is suitable, Pearson said, an appraisal were done, and if money is available in the Land for Maine’s Future fund or in the Department of Conservation or Department of Transportation, those funds would pay up to the appraised value for the property. The site would have to go through the permitting procedures of both the town and the state.

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