Dear Editor:

Alna residents have supported strong protection for the Sheepscot River since at least 1974. That’s when Alna adopted its first Shoreline Zoning Ordinance.

The very first sentence of the Alna Comprehensive Plan, also adopted in 1974, says ”the first and most easily recognized goal is that of safeguarding the beauty and natural resources of Alna, the Sheepscot River and its banks, our wooded areas, open spaces and clean air.”

In 1993, residents revised Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance into the form it has today. Strong protections for the Sheepscot continued, including a prohibition on permanent structures in or along
the river and other water bodies.

In 2010, residents updated the Ordinance. Again residents prohibited permanent structures below the high water line of the river, while allowing temporary structures like docks and floats.

Now some residents have filed a petition to change the Ordinance to allow permanent structures below the high water line. This would allow permanent changes to the river that would affect everyone, and over time alter the river as we all know it.

This petition has been hastily developed. It is a piecemeal change that would cause inconsistencies with other parts of the Ordinance. For example, the petition includes no standards for the new permanent structures that would be allowed.

The petition fails to identify real problems with the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance that need fixing, and runs counter to the thousands of dollars spent to restore the river fisheries. If any changes are needed, they should be made after a thoughtful and lengthy discussion among town residents as occurred in the past, not by a piecemeal, isolated change to one part of the Ordinance. Our Shoreland Zoning Ordinance has served the town well, as evidenced by its beauty and relatively undeveloped state.

Alna residents have shown for decades that they love the natural beauty of the Sheepscot River. We should not throw out this tradition.

I will vote “no” on the Petition to Amend Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. The ordinance has stood the test of time, and the river shows the results.

Jeff Philbrick

Alna