Friday night on Zoom in Alna, Jeff Spinney and his lawyer described his use and planned use of the Sheepscot River, and resident after resident spoke of impacts they don’t want to see and hear. Then resident Ralph Hilton harkened back to the days the river was busy with barges, mills and boatbuilding.

That didn’t hurt the river, Hilton told the public hearing. “Traffic on the river was quite heavy ... And I’m sorry that people who moved in here after 1920 haven’t seen those ... But the Sheepscot River was always commercial and didn’t suffer any damage from it. My point is, what’s the big hoo-rah? You’ve already got 15 or 18 people from the Alna line to the Head Tide Dam who have floats, ramps, docks. Mr. Spinney’s is no different ...”

Hilton asked the planning board to look strictly at the application “and don’t worry about the public comment.”

Spinney’s lawyer Kristin Collins told the dozens of attendees, much of the public concern over his dock project seems to involve his forming of Golden Ridge Sportsman’s Club. He did it because he and friends put in boats at the waterfront property he bought in 2002, and Maine Department of Environmental Protection encourages dock sharing, but likes it formalized, Collins said.

She said people are concerned the club will launch boats by the hour; it will not, she said. “This is just an affiliation of people who already use the river, already would be putting in their boats, and now they just have a formal organization that gives DEP some comfort.”

Collins added later in the presentation, “No queuing of vehicles, no craziness down there. There’s no room to do so. It really is not going to be any more significant than it is today.” Collins said the upland support piles are permanent. But if the ramp and float are removed seasonally, the dock is temporary, which is allowed with planning board approval, she said. Spinney and Collins said he seeks to stop vehicles from getting stuck and keep the ramp from eventually falling into the river. Collins said Spinney is asking to remove material to regrade the ramp, and bring in material to stabilize it.

“Earth moving is certainly allowed ...,” she told the board. “It really is just a continuation  of the road, a road has no other purpose than to get to the water.” She said for earthmoving, the town requires stabilization, and riprap “might be a structure, but it’s a structure ... required by the ordinance if you’re doing this earthmoving work. ” 

Abutters voiced concern over club use of the property, especially if the club grows. According to Jeff Philbrick’s presentation, access to Spinney’s property is through his, and club use “is akin to a small subdivision accessing our property.”

Abutter Bill Weary said he has known the river in all its seasons, for 70 years. Like other speakers, he cited the river’s quiet and beauty, “which grabs me every day when I get up.” As for boats, he said, “If it’s not going to be anything more than we’ve had, it’s one thing. It’s another if this club takes off.”

Resident Ed Pentaleri asked the board to deny the permit request. “Tonight, I just want to appeal to your common sense not to be distracted by the ... needle-threading interpretations of our ordinances that Jeff (Spinney) and his attorney propose. Instead, I ask you to consider the (ordinances’) plain intent ... to protect the shoreland zone from use of this scale and intensity. To do otherwise would open the door for others to use the same playbook to bring unregulated development to the shores of the Sheepscot River ...”

The hearing resumes at 6 p.m. June 11. 

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