FRENCHBORO — A proposal to repeal the new Frenchboro Town Dock, Float, and Harbor Ordinance was soundly rejected by a vote of 12-1.
The vote came at a special town meeting on Nov. 11, held at the request of David Lunt. Lunt has consistently registered his disapproval of the ordinance adopted Aug. 26 after a lengthy drafting process with the guidance of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Leading up to the Nov. 11 vote, Lunt said the new ordinance is not consistent with the tenor of a traditional fishing community going back 200 years.
“It doesn’t have anything to do with fishermen,” Lunt said. “These outside people come in and try to take over the town and try to do things that will help them.”
The process to improve harbor management began when the Corps alerted this tiny community that some folks had illegal moorings in the main thoroughfare, Lunt Harbor. This was a violation of federal law because much of the inner and outer harbor, and the channel that connects them, are federally maintained navigation areas.
Throughout discussions over at least the past three years, some residents said some family-held moorings date back generations and should be allowed, regardless of how they are used.
Federal law allows moorings in the federal areas for privately owned recreational and fishing boats, as authorized by the town’s harbormaster. Rental and service moorings, and encroachments such as a float extending from a pier, are not allowed.
Lunt proposed the town look into deauthorizing part of the federal area. But Corps senior project manager Jay Clement said deauthorization doesn’t rid the town of federal oversight. The Corps would remain in the picture as the agency issuing permits for structures related to commercial use. And the town would have to pay for its own dredging in the future—a ticket that could mean hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Lunt’s proposal was to ditch the new ordinance and tweak the old ordinance. But the general sentiment in this latest vote was to keep the new ordinance as a good start to meeting federal requirements, and to encourage local input for further tweaks as needed.