Dear Editor:

This fall the Alna Board of Selectmen appointed three new members to the Alna Planning Board. One of the selectmen had publicly stated that that no Planning Board appointments should be made from the body of citizens who had expressed public opinions on Jeff Spinney’s controversial proposal to construct a motorboat ramp into a pristine stretch of the Sheepscot River. As it turned out, two of the appointees the selectmen made had expressed written support for the proposal and at the time of the appointment, one of those two appointees was a director of the Golden Ridge Sportsmen’s Club, a co-user of the proposed motorboat ramp. Then, two weeks ago, these two new appointees approved Spinney’s newest motorboat ramp proposal after the previous Planning Board had failed to approve an essentially similar one. To an outsider looking in, it appears as if the “fix” was in.

This is too bad for three reasons:

1. It undercuts confidence in local government and the expectation that all citizens will be treated equally.

2. It will allow construction of a harmful and disruptive structure in the river that violates the intent the citizens of Alna had when they approved the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance.

3. It creates a precedent that will make it impossible for the Planning Board to turn down similar intrusions into the river in the future.

Brett Donham

Alna