BUCKFIELD – Voters at the annual town meeting Wednesday rejected a proposal to change the shoreland zoning map so Scott Gowell could build a seasonal cabin 50 feet within South Pond’s shoreland zone. The vote was 67-43.
Residents poured into the Buckfield High School Auditorium, forcing the town officials’ table to be moved farther and farther back to accommodate them. The nearly 90-minute discussion to change a 600-foot section along South Pond from forest management to limited residential generated some heat.
Gowell said the building site is a flat, which would have less environmental impact than having the building set farther back.
He said Town Manager Glen Holmes had drafted a deed restriction on the 5.5-acre site calling for no more than two dwellings, with no dwelling closer than 200 feet, and requiring that the septic be moved beyond the 250-foot line.
Wes Ackley, former Planning Board member and abutter to the Gowell property, said he was not on the board when this issue arose, but the board didn’t have all the information when it voted to recommend the amendment.
“I am horrified over what this would do for setting a precedent to open development on all the ponds in Buckfield,” he said. He argued that the forest buffer was put in so the pond would have a natural setting for views, as well as habitat for fauna.
Scott Williams, a lake biologist, said little is known about the history of South Pond water quality, but that it would be considered very sensitive to development. He said he had spoken to Rich Baker from the Department of Transportation, who recommends that land not be taken out of forest management when little is known about impact.
Planning Board Chairman Dick Piper said the warrant article was not the proposal put in front of the board, which asked to change a 600-foot section.
Gowell said he never wanted that much taken out of forest management and was only asking for a 50-foot strip.
“It is not our intent to put houses all the way down Sodom Road and into the meadow. We treasure the environment very much, and that’s why we asked for a variance – so the dwelling would have less impact on the environment,” he said.
Selectman Skip Stanley, who works in construction, said, “I think the environmental impact would be less if we let him move the 50 feet inside the zone.”
Piper tried to pass an amendment to consider the request in the form it was initially posed to the Planning Board, but it failed as well.
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