POLAND — Jacob Legee received a thank you and little else at Tuesday night’s Planning Board meeting after he explained his opposition to the temporary third dock installed last year at Cyndi’s Dockside Restaurant in Middle Range Pond.

Since July 2021 Legee has questioned the validity of the approval given to Cyndi Robbins to construct the dock that would house 22 additional boat slips at the shore by the restaurant.

Legee contends constructing a third dock, though a temporary structure that is dismantled after boating season, violated the town’s shoreland standards: “No more than one pier, dock, wharf or similar structure extending or located below the normal high-water line of a water body or within a wetland is allowed on a single lot; except that when a single lot contains at least twice the minimum shore frontage as specified in Section 507.2 a second structure may be allowed and may remain as long as the lot is not further divided.”

He said the town’s code enforcer, Scott Neal, told him, “the approval was based on the footnote applying to marinas.”

Docks ready to be put in the water sit on the side of Middle Range Pond on April 22, right in front of Cyndi’s Dockside Restaurant off Main Street (Route 26) in Poland. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

The marina footnote states, “Existing marinas under single ownership at the of adoption of this Code may expand within the marina lot area.”

“That footnote only applies to shoreland zone,” Legee told the Planning Board.

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Legee added, “I’ve been told numerous times that property has never been part of shoreland zoning so I’m wondering, so what standards were applied.”

Mike Morse of Morse Environmental, the agent on the application for the dock, told the Planning Board in June 2020, “Shoreland zoning standards don’t specifically apply to this project.”

Planning Board Co-chairman James Porter said, “We approved (the dock) as an expansion” … because the lot is at least 250 feet horizontally. “So this project is within that so we approved that under the shoreland zone regulations and … under that footnote (marinas) you were talking about.”

Legee countered that the property was designated in village one zone and not in limited residential or limited commercial zones.

These zones are cited as such in the Comprehensive Land Use Code and apply “Land Uses in the Shoreland Area.”

A chart titled “Table of Land Uses in Shoreland Area” categorizes all land use activities.

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These are indicated in the table which, “shall conform to all use standards in this Code, Chapter and Section.”

This table includes the marina footnote.

Porter said the marina is grandfathered as an existing marina at Cyndi’s Dockside Restaurant.

“We approved on what was correct in here (pointing to the Comprehensive Land Use Code book),” he said. “If you have a different interpretation as an aggrieved party, there is a solution for that in order to go about it.”

Legee said, “I shouldn’t have to go to court to get simple questions answered.”

Porter replied, “Once again, would, should, could, whatever, all I am saying we approved it based on what we believed is correct in” the Comprehensive Land Use Code book.

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Robbins received approval for the dock from the Planning Board in July 2020.

The Appeals Board denied listening to Legee’s argument due to his filing the grievance past the deadline, as well as pointing out that the board cannot “review the merits” of a site ratified by Planning Board.

Legee later contacted the Maine Department of Environmental Protection with his concerns that shoreland statutes had been overlooked in awarding the approval to Cyndi’s Dockside.

Following the meeting Legee said, “If the dock goes in I will file a violation.”

Cyndi Robbins did not attend the meeting in person.

Mark Bosse, general manager of Poland Springs Resort, which Robbins also owns, was present but had no public comment.

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