A fair story from Laura Dolce in today’s (March 11) York County Star, and we invite your comments after you read the story. Here is the link to the story if you’d like to read it at the York County Star site, http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100311-NEWS-3110351.
Neighbors split over Goose Rocks Beach lawsuit in Kennebunkport
KENNEBUNKPORT — When 28 beachfront property owners last fall filed a lawsuit against the town over their property rights at Goose Rocks Beach, they said it was a legal issue to be decided by the courts. Some of their neighbors, though, have called it drawing a line in the sand and have vowed to take on that challenge.
The group Save-Our-Beaches, led by founder Mic Harris, has been the most visible and vocal opposition to the suit. Three of its members, along with the state of Maine, have filed as interveners in the suit, and on Saturday, March 13, they’ll host their second public forum to discuss the issue.
SOB has a Web site, buttons emblazoned with its own colorful logo and two Facebook sites with more than 1,500 members.
“I just love this beach so much and couldn’t stand by and watch it happen,” said member Mike Downing, whose family owns a house on Bartlett Avenue. “I’ve seen an awful lot of people being asked to leave (the beach). We rent our home out for the month of August. The people who rent our home were asked to leave. Friends were asked to leave.”
Downing said he thinks discussion of the issue should be passionate but fair. But at the same time he said he’s worried over the divisiveness he’s seen spring up around the suit.
“It’s probably the most destructive thing to hit Goose Rocks Beach since the ‘47 fire,” he said.
Harris said the suit and its repercussions have spilled over to the beach itself, where dozens of people have been walking — and talking — in the early spring sunshine.
“It’s become a standard greeting at the beach now,” Harris said. “Which side are you on?”
Beachfront property owner Bob Almeder, who is participating in the suit, said that the lawsuit hasn’t divided the town, the misinformation circulating regarding the legal issue is.
“There’s a lack of accuracy that’s spinning things to the town’s advantage,” said Almeder, who feels SOB is behind much of the inaccurate information he’s heard. He said he’s heard tales of people being told that the beachfront owners want children arrested if they walk on their property, or that they want the beach closed altogether.
“It’s not true,” he said. “Nobody wants to stop people from walking (on the beach). We want the town to post signs informing people it’s a private beach and what the rest of the restrictions are. We want equal enforcement of the trespassing laws. Not arresting children and jailing them.”
Almeder said one of the central issues to the case is preventing the commercialization of a residential neighborhood. To do that, he said, the town must be prevented from making all of Goose Rocks Beach a public beach.
Bill Case, a Kennebunkport resident and Realtor, said he’s seen firsthand what suits like this can do to people. Case himself was involved in the Moody Beach lawsuit of 1989, which the property owners won.
“I’ve been through this whole thing before,” he said. “The end result was that nothing really changed. If the town of Wells had (acknowledged property owners’ rights), it wouldn’t have happened. I see Kennebunkport going through the same thing.”
Case said in his eyes the case is one of property rights and beachfront owners simply wanting the town to acknowledge what has always been theirs. He worries how long the suit can drag out — and how much it will cost.
Case said the Moody suit ultimately cost both the litigants and the town of Wells hundreds of thousands of dollars and that it’s a bad time for Kennebunkport to be facing the same kind of spending.
“It’s tragic this is happening at a time of so many budget cuts,” he said. “It’s a foolish and unnecessary way to spend taxpayer money at this time.”
Some SOB members agree on that point at least. Heather Motes, the owner/broker of Sand Dollar Realty, said she doesn’t want to see the suit go forward, either. She’d like to see both sides sit down and discuss the real issues, so that she and others can go on enjoying the same beach that has been a part of her life since the day she was born.
“I’d like to see the oceanfront owners and others all come together as a community,” she said. “We have a great community. There’s no reason we can’t work together to solve the problems. There’s no reason why we can’t.”
Geoffrey Bove said he, too, grew up on Goose Rocks Beach, but he sees things a little differently.
“I was always there,” he said. “And I was taught as a kid that the beach was the private property of the owners.”
Bove has tried to fight that battle on the Facebook sites, but said the rude remarks he got in response led him to give up.
“It is a loaded issue,” he said.
And support for the SOB side of the issue seems to be gathering steam. Each day, new “fans” join the Facebook pages, Downing said, and last month’s meeting drew nearly 100 people.
Town Manager Larry Mead said the public support for the town’s efforts has been “gratifying.”
“It’s very, very important that this effort be seen as more than just the town structure itself against the plaintiffs,” he said. “It really should be seen as the community itself wanting to preserve access to the beach.”
Mead said the town’s upcoming budget process, where he will request $250,000 to cover this year’s share of the lawsuit’s anticipated legal costs, which could hit $500,000, will give town officials some idea of how the public feels about the suit.
“The budget process will give people the opportunity to talk about the issue in public, in a town forum,” he said.
The SOB members are hoping to do the same thing. This Saturday’s forum on the issue will start at 10 a.m. at the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust building on Gravelly Brook Road and will feature legal experts discussing the merits of the case.
The meeting will also include an “introduction” to the litigants in the case, something Harris said will help the public understand who is suing and who is not. It’s not meant to foster an “us” versus “them” mentality, he said.
“We are aware of their concerns,” he said. “We want to live with these guys five years from now.”
Harris said the group just this week sent out a registered letter to each of the beachfront owners involved in the case, asking them to sit down privately and discuss what can be done to solve the suit amicably.
“We want to discuss what the issues are,” he said, to see if a compromise can be reached. And ultimately, “we want to get them to drop the lawsuit.”
At this time, that doesn’t look likely. Both sides of the legal case sat down for arbitration just last month and both walked away more certain than ever that a court case is in their future. For Almeder, that’s the only option left, as unpopular as it might make him to some of his neighbors.
“You don’t try to solve a legal issue by communal conferences,” he said. “Public opinion is no substitute for the law.”
I appreciate most of the views represented here, except that I take huge exception to the inference that our Save-Our-Beaches organization is behind any ludicrous comments. Do we think the lawsuit threatens status quo? Sure, when we all sit in front of the Tides as they have suggested, we may notice a slight change in things, especially at high tide.
But we have not hinted that children are at risk of being arrested, in fact, we want everyone to know that status quo for this wonderful beach is in full swing. Enjoy the beach exactly as you and your families and visiting friends have for decades. Our friends from other towns, other beaches, other states and other countries are welcomed to walk, sunbathe and enjoy the beach just like they always have, and this is straight from the Town of Kennebunkport.
Until we have to ask permission one day, or get up and move at an owner’s whim (and legal right if the lawsuit wins) let’s continue to enjoy the beach. Walk the entire beach. Sit and read. Talk with friends and neighbors as you walk. And support Save-Our-Beaches if you’d like to keep the status quo. No commercializing the beach (total smoke screen), because we’d all have to vote on something like that and it wouldn’t happen! Save-Our-Beaches stands for appreciating and supporting all beaches, and not letting what’s happening in Hills Beach happen here (go eat lunch at Buffleheads up there and ask Karen, the owner, what’s changed!)
So come to our meeting, bring your opinions, and let’s talk this thing out.
One final point–aren’t we in fact a democracy, where communal and public opinion actually shapes laws? They are not seperate–they are vitally connected, which makes this such a great country–thanks Janice for putting that the best
One core reason for all the concern is why a lawsuit? The beach is a poor place for a business. Ask the operators about the General Store and the gift shop. Twenty years ago there was an ice cream stand on Dyke Rd, but it was more profitable to convert it to a house. Commercialization can’t be the reason. The Police chief has said that he receives just a few calls about behavior on the beach, so that is not the problem. In the absence of some credible explanation for the suit, anger and frustration from the community at large are inevitable. The possible loss of the beach is too huge to sit back and hope for the best