Hundreds of Harpswell residents voted to approve changes to the town’s floodplain management ordinance, land use policies and other articles on the agenda at a special Town Meeting on Saturday, June 15.
All five articles were approved overwhelmingly with little discussion during the brief, 10 a.m. meeting at Harpswell Community School. They included:
– A repeal of Harpswell’s current floodplain management ordinance and adoption of a new ordinance that incorporates updated flood insurance rate maps. Passage will allow the town to remain eligible for federal flood insurance and all forms of disaster relief.
– Authorizing a multiyear lease with Francis Bichrest for a commercial wharf on town property on Holbrook Street in Cundy’s Harbor. Passage will enable a wharf destroyed by recent storms to be rebuilt.
– Changes to an existing ordinance that allows single-unit residential lot owners in interior zones to add an accessory dwelling unit without having to meet the minimum lot size per dwelling unit, provided that it meets certain standards. The changes will ensure the ordinance complies with state law.
– A measure that will allow existing single-family homes in non-shoreland areas to be converted into two dwelling units, subject to certain limitations.
– A provision to allow the town’s Code Enforcement Office to retain outside help to oversee the development of larger commercial projects.
Only one resident spoke during the meeting, to express support for the Bichrest lease and recommend that the town not charge him for it.
Bichrest has operated a wharf in Cundy’s Harbor for decades, but there was no lease agreement on record with the town. Saturday’s vote will enable Harpswell to issue a new lease, thus allowing him to rebuild.
Lobsterman Paul Prosser, of Cundy’s Harbor, noted that his family owns property adjacent to Bichrest’s wharf, which he said has been there “since I was a kid.”
“There shouldn’t be any fees associated with that wharf, if the town decides there needs to be a lease,” Prosser said during the meeting.
Another article on the agenda, the floodplain management ordinance, had received pushback from the commercial fishing community after it was revealed that the revised ordinance contains new development restrictions imposed by the state.
Harpswell worked with state personnel to make limited changes to the proposed measure, primarily eliminating a requirement that a professional engineer review nearly all proposed development in the floodplain.
The approved wording only requires a “qualified professional” to perform the assessment, which town officials said includes local wharf builders.
After the meeting, fishing community advocate Jerry Leeman III, of Orr’s Island, called the change “a step in the right direction.”
“I think there are still going to be further talks about changing some of that language,” said Leeman, CEO of the New England Fishermen’s Stewardship Association.
Harpswell Select Board Chair Kevin Johnson said afterward that he hadn’t been expecting much debate or discussion at the Town Meeting, despite local fishermen and wharf owners’ previous criticism of one of the articles.
“I thought (the meeting) would last 20 minutes – it lasted 23,” Johnson said.
Correction: This story was updated a 12:40 p.m. on Monday, June 17, 2024, to correct Jerry Leeman’s place of residence. He lives on Orr’s Island.
