Much has been written about Mayor Levesque’s plan to open Lake Auburn’s Watershed to commercial and residential development. Lawn signs proclaiming: “PROTECT LAKE AUBURN” have sprouted. Lewiston has filed suit to protect the Lake. Letters to the editor state that we must protect Lake Auburn lest we lose our waivers and be required to build and operate a filtration plant at a cost of tens of millions of dollars.

Thus far, opposition to the mayor’s efforts have had no discernible impact on him or his allies. Their initiatives to change zoning laws and septic standards to permit development in the watershed march ahead. Instead of reconsidering, the water district hired a public relations team.

Decisions being made now are irreversible. Once there is development in the watershed, there is no way to put that genie back in the bottle.

Levesque’s efforts, and those who support them on the city council, planning board and water district, are wrongheaded and reckless and have potentially disastrous consequences. I offer five reasons why:

Reason #1: Fiscal impact

It will cost $30 million or more to build a filtration plant. The annual operation of the plant will cost hundreds of thousands. Rate payers in Lewiston and Auburn will pick up that tab, doubling or tripling water rates. This will have a substantial impact on property owners and devastating effects on our industries that are heavy water users and employ thousands. And what will be the impact on our ability to attract new industries when we have lost the competitive edge we now enjoy?

By then, Levesque and his allies may well have moved on. They will have made the decisions that cost us all millions but will not suffer for their fecklessness.

Reason #2: Why should we follow the mayor?

Levesque apparently thinks developing the watershed at the risk of polluting Lake Auburn is a great idea. Those who voice disagreement are bullied and belittled. In his view, we should put Lake Auburn in his hands and do whatever he says, even though most folks think it is lunacy.

What expert qualifications does Levesque bring to this issue? He has no engineering or legal expertise, is not a scientist and knows nothing about operating public drinking water supplies. Why are his opinions entitled to any greater weight than ours?

Reason #3: Interlocal cooperation or lawsuits

Lake Auburn belongs to Auburn, the mayor tells us. Yes, we have agreements, contracts and commitments with Lewiston. But in his world, contracts are made to be broken.

Lewiston has been our partner in this resource for decades and has anteed up every year its fair share of the cost of operating and protecting it. Folks in Lewiston will bear the brunt when water rates skyrocket. Lewiston should be treated as the partner it is, not as the enemy.

Levesque has already undermined decades of progress in interlocal cooperation between the cities. Instead of cost sharing, cooperation and mutual respect, he has brought us to name calling, litigation and retribution.

Reason #4: Economic development

Our mayor is a businessman and purports to be a development expert. Most real experts know that the best way forward is to focus on industrial and commercial development. Those properties don’t require schools, dispose of solid waste at their own cost and require little police or fire service. They are typically situated in areas already serviced by good roads and utilities and create jobs.

Levesque thinks this is all wrong. The route to economic development in Auburn is to build more houses, he tells us. Auburn will be required to educate the children in those houses, collect their trash, pave and plow their streets, maintain streetlights and respond to police and fire calls. And build a filtration plant that results from their runoff into the lake.

Does this make sense?

The mayor invokes affordable housing to justify his conduct. Will three-acre house lots with a lake view be more affordable than lots already on the market in Auburn for $50,000? And construction costs, not land, drive the price of housing.

Levesque insults our intelligence by preaching affordable housing. It’s a pretense. We aren’t that stupid, Mr. Mayor.

Reason #5: Regulators regulate

There are precious few unfiltered surface water public drinking supplies in America. Waivers from filtration are extraordinarily exceptional. Government regulators exist to regulate and are risk averse. Changing any of the laws or rules affecting the watershed in a manner which permits development that was previously prohibited is an invitation to have our waiver revoked. Levesque will cost us that waiver as surely as night follows day.

There have been many mayors of Auburn over its long history. Few have succeeded in making history. As the mayor who led us down the path of developing the watershed that protects our single most vital natural resource, Jason Levesque will make history.

He will never be forgotten.

Infamy lives forever.

Ronald Lebel has practiced zoning and municipal law in Maine for 46 years. He has chaired the Lewiston Zoning Board of Appeals, served as legal counsel to the City of Lewiston and other Maine municipalities and chaired an Auburn Charter Commission. As attorney for Lewiston, Lebel was one of the two lawyers who created the Lake Auburn Watershed Protection Commission more than 30 years ago which was instrumental in obtaining a waiver of filtration for the lake. He is a resident of Auburn.

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