INDUSTRY — Every spring, the town spends $1,500 to repair and reseed the small, town beach on Clearwater Lake after it has been torn up during the winter by vehicles getting on and off the ice.

A warrant article to be considered at Saturday’s annual town meeting will ask voters whether they want to ban cars and trucks from using the beach.

The meeting will held at 2 p.m. at the Industry Town Hall. Voting will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the position of first selectmen, currently held by Lee Ireland who is seeking re-election.

The proposed 2011 budget for municipal operations is $386,742, just 1.8 percent or $6,714 more than last year, Ireland said. The spending requests again include $100,000 for summer roads, part of a long-range effort to gradually improve the town’s network of gravel roadways.

Ireland said he expects the lake access article will generate discussion. He recalled that five years ago, the town was in the process of improving the small public area that abuts a boat ramp and the town’s veterans memorial and flagpole. Selectmen attempted to block trucks and cars from using the beach in the winter, a practice that churned up the new lawn into mud.

An uproar from residents and nonresidents, who use pickups to haul trailers with ice shacks and snowmobiles on to the lake, forced the board to remove the barriers.

“Every year, local people have to pay to have the damage repaired and have it seeded or hydro-seeded,” Ireland said. “It is getting more expensive and we want to know, do people want to continue doing that?”

If voters agree to prohibit the use of passenger cars and trucks on the public beach, the next article asks voters to raise $2,500 to maintain and improve the beach front. Ireland said there are more permanent improvements that could be done to make the area more attractive.

He said the prohibition would not bar all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles from using the beach for access. The boat ramp is not used for heavy vehicles in the winter since it opens into an area of water by the outlet where ice is historically thin.