RANGELEY – Planning Board members voted unanimously Wednesday to send a proposed zoning ordinance amendment to selectmen for consideration after a public hearing.
The proposal is likely to be included in the next town meeting warrant.
The amendment would establish the Round Pond Watershed Protection District within 2,000 feet of Round Pond. It was brought to the board by the Crossroads Coalition, a group of Rangeley residents and several from surrounding plantations who are determined to manage Rangeley’s development to support tourism and retain the natural environment that draws tourists.
“We’re very concerned about the area around Round Pond,” said Jim Proctor, a member of the group. There are four ponds in Rangeley listed on the Department of Environmental Protection’s list of most susceptible in the state to development, he said. Round Pond is one of them.
Proponents of the zoning change said Round Pond is unique, and were concerned with Rangeley’s rapid growth. Many said it was one of the few remaining unspoiled ponds in the area.
William Booker, a master Maine guide who lives on adjoining Dodge Pond, said Round Pond is the only body of water in Rangeley that has a self-sustaining salmon population, which is very fragile. Other ponds and lakes are stocked, he said.
“It’s good quality water and any drop in the quality will have an adverse effect on the salmon fishery,” he said.
The amendment would require lot sizes to be no less than 20 acres and have a minimum shore frontage of 1,000 feet. Uses would be limited to single-family residences, bed and breakfasts, home occupations, open space and timber harvesting. Currently, a 250-foot swath of land around about half the pond is in resource protection, 1,000 feet from the shoreline around its totality is in shoreland zoning and the land outside that is woodland zone. The proposal would extend into the woodland zone and will also include several homes built on the north side of Dodge Pond just south of and connected to Round Pond.
The proposal was prompted by a Massachusetts family’s plan to build a youth summer camp on 350 acres on Round Pond. Though an application has yet to be submitted, the developers are meeting with significant resistance.
Representing the family, Mary Glick, who said she drove eight hours to be at the meeting Wednesday, made some comments though Planning Board Chairman Robert Silvio told her a public hearing was not the place “to make speeches.”
The warrant article is not necessary, she said. “Our intention is to make a significant contribution to this community.” She said townspeople’s “prejudgment (of the plan) does not reflect reality.”
“This investment is the result of a lifetime of hard work and now our investment is in jeopardy,” she said. She urged residents “to step back and imagine the good that could come out of it.”
“My investment in Dodge Pond is also a lifetime of work,” David James, a longtime resident of Rangeley, retorted. “Our most valuable natural asset is our natural asset,” he added.
Peter Johnson, a former Planning Board member, was the only dissenting voice at the hearing. He said he thinks a youth camp utilizing only 15 percent of the 350 acres is a good use of the land since Glick said she plans to leave the remainder natural. If they sell the property, it could lead to exactly the type of development residents are attempting to avoid, he said.
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