A private squabble went public Monday when a resident read a letter to the state before the Westport Island Board of Selectmen, challenging a building permit for home construction next door.
The letter dated Mon., Sept. 21 to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) basically charges the Town of Westport with failing to enforce or administer its shoreland zoning ordinance properly.
In the absence of the letter’s author Deirdre Dunlop, Dunlop’s daughter Teresa read the letter, addressed to Richard Baker, shoreland zoning coordinator for the DEP, concerning the property of George “Chuck” Richardson, III on Dewey Way regarding his permit application.
“I have had great difficulty obtaining information from the town and find significant irregularities in the permitting process of Westport Island in this case,” Dunlop wrote.
Dunlop, sister to First Selectman George Richardson, requested that Richardson absent himself from the board during the reading, but Richardson saw no reason for that to happen and remained. George Richardson is Chuck Richardson’s father.
Selectmen responded to the matter, which took up about an hour of the selectmen’s regular weekly board meeting Monday, with a 2-0 vote to send a letter to the Maine Municipal Association asking for advice. Richardson abstained for the voting.
On Tuesday Westport Island Selectman Gerry Bodmer said the board could not act because the letter was written to the DEP and not to the board. He said he considers a lot of the allegations as “shotgun complaints” a matter of opinion, and personal charges against Selectman Richardson, code enforcement officer Gary Richardson also Selectman Richardson’s son, and the property owner Richardson.
It baffled selectmen as to what the Dunlop expected the board to do with the public presentation, and they did not feel it would be appropriate to respond to any of the allegations during the session, Bodmer said.
The location of the proposed construction lies 30 feet from Richardson’s and Dunlop’s property line, which has apparently become a source of contention.
Groundwork for the construction has already begun, including electric wiring and footing for the foundation, according to Bodmer, who also serves as town plumbing inspector. Dunlop voiced questions about the validity of the plumbing permit, which concerned land surveying issues. Bodmer said surveying is not in his domain.
Allegations include questions about the surveying of the lot being incomplete or in error and whether the survey the deputy code enforcement office referenced for her shows acreage to the low water mark which she claims cannot be used for determining minimum lot acreage according to the town shoreland ordinance.
Dunlop also complained about an alleged relocation of the right of way to Jewett Cove Rd. and alleged inaccuracies in the town tax records. “I am concerned that he will try to restrict access to our driveway and interrupt our right of way to the lower wharf,” she said.
Selectmen do not intend to take any action before hearing from the MMA and the DEP concerning the allegations, since the matter is a civil complaint addressed to the DEP, Bodmer said.