More parking at Upper Range Pond boat ramp may take several years

POLAND — There is room for additional parking near the Upper Range Pond boat ramp on Range Hill Road, but it could take several years for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to design and engineer a plan before it could be built.

Diano Circo, chief planner for inland fisheries, told the Select Board on Tuesday night that there is a three-year lag time for projects that are in the process of being built.

Circo said the time frame has more to do with federally imposed constraints due to wildlife habitat and ecological concerns than funding and actual construction schedules.

According to Circo the current ramp was built around 1990.

He said the property was originally a camp lot with a small boat launch acquired by the town.

Poland later requested the assistance of inland fisheries to build a more adequate boat ramp, which exists today.

Circo said the property cannot provide any more parking spaces.

Circo added, however, that the property on the other side from the ramp, which is owned by the state, can be developed to hold up to eight vehicles or four vehicles with trailers.

To get a larger parking area or to erect concrete bulkheads to anchor floating boat docks, the town would have to contact neighboring property owners to see if they would sell part of their property.

Circo also mentioned that even though the property is resource protected under shoreland land use codes, inland fisheries has some leeway when it comes to providing access to public waterways.

The meeting with Circo came about from a November workshop that dealt with the health of the Range Ponds, which included the overburdening of residential street parking.

In other business, the Select Board appointed Marissa Dodge Robinson to the Scholarship Committee, Rob Dwyer to the Community and Economic Development Committee and Paul Drowns to the Conservation Commission.