Dear Editor:

Alna’s planning board recently displayed a disappointing disregard of the intent of Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance.

In a stunning display of mental gymnastics, a newly appointed majority recently approved a new rock boat launch in a pristine tidal stretch of the Sheepscot River by deciding that it did not constitute a “structure,” reversing a decision made just a few months ago. This shocking reversal was made despite repeated admissions by the applicant himself that it is a structure.

Alna’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance clearly defines a “structure” as “anything constructed … with a fixed location on or in the ground.” A dredged and rock-surfaced motor boat launch is unquestionably “constructed with a fixed location on the ground.”

Why did this majority of the planning board overturn a recent decision?

The Dec. 10 board deliberations revealed that the board’s majority was determined to approve the ramp.

This is a textbook example of bias and the reason that members with a bias, either for or against a proposed application, should not be the deciders.

How do we conclude that these members were biased? One recently appointed new member had signed five public documents in support of the proposed boat launch and served on the board of the private club that will use the ramp. The other new member had signed two public letters in support, and vigorously defended the proposed boat launch on Facebook.

Alna’s selectmen who appointed these members should have known that these individuals were strong supporters of the proposed motor boat launch, which is strongly opposed by over 90 Alna citizens, and that they could not be fair and impartial decision makers. The selectmen should never have appointed them after having publicly declined to appoint anyone who had opposed the project.

This is a very sad day for Alna, when the way to get a permit for a project clearly not allowed by the town’s ordinances is to stack the planning board with biased supporters.

Cathy Johnson, Alice Smith Duncan, Allen Philbrick, Andrew Fuller, Anzia Shea, Athena Gordon Taylor, Bailey Bolen, Betsey Hall,

Brett Donham, Bridget Mullen, Carol Ervin, Carol Gardner, Carolyn B. Aldrich, Cathryn Jones,,Charles Culbertson, Chris Kenoyer,

Corey Lander, Collin Culbertson, Dale E. DesMeule, Doreen Conboy, Eileen Fairley, Elaine Pew, Ellen Gordon, Erik P. Huber, Ethan Jones,

Gerry Flanagan, Honor Sage, Ian Hammar, Jacob Fullmer, Janet Manahan, Jeffrey Philbrick, Jesse Cheney, Jon Luoma, Jon Villeneuve,

Joseph Barth, Karen Philbrick, Kate Aldrich, Katherine Elise Papagiannis, Kinne Stires, Kristina Favaloro, Les Fossel, Linda Kristan,

Makoto Sato, Mark P. DesMeules, Meg Taft, Meredith Fossel, Michael Kristan, Michael Pew, Michael Walker, Noah Jones, Ona Brazwell,

Priscilla Donham, Samuel Jones, Sara Cawthon, Stacey J. Rees, Stephanie Cheney, Susan Stires, Tessa Fullmer, Thomas P. Aldrich, Tom Manahan,

Tristram Jones, Virginia Flanagan, Xavier Comas and Yasmin Libardi

Editor’s note: This letter was sent by Johnson with 63 other Alna residents’ and landowners’ names attached. Also, Second Selectman Doug Baston said the selectboard chose to make no planning board appointments until the town appeals board had finished its work with the Jeff Spinney proposal the planning board had rejected. Selectmen’s subsequent planning board appointments preceded Spinney’s latest proposal the board passed with conditions Dec. 10.