WEST PARIS – Selectmen agreed Thursday to research state rules and regulations regarding minor repairs to Moose Pond Dam in North Paris and to arrange a meeting with adjacent landowners and the state.

The meeting would allow landowners to voice their concerns about flooding when the water level is raised.

Selectman Wade Rainey said the town already consulted the state Department of Environmental Protection regarding its plans and determined that no permit for the repairs is needed.

Rainey said the town replaced brackets that hold planks at a level of 18 inches to keep the pond from becoming a mosquito-infested bog and provide recreation.

“We want to have a recreation area where people can go out on the pond with their boats and children can swim,” Rainey said, “but without the planks being replaced, the boat ramp is useless and there is not enough water there for swimming. And according to the DEP, we have a right to raise the water level.”

Speaking for some landowners, Dan Connell said, “There was an agreement many years ago that planks were not to be put in there. Also, that the water level was to be kept at the low level of the cement, so I think you are out of line with what you are doing there.”

There are no records of any agreement concerning the planks. The town plans to install planks in May and remove them in late October to avoid making the water level too severe during the spring melt and runoff and the heavy late fall rains.

“We are not going to flood anyone’s land and will be watching water levels there carefully to make sure we don’t flood anyone’s land,” Rainey said.

Town Manager Donald Woodbury is going to check to see if a DEP representative will be willing to attend the meeting and answer questions from the landowners.

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