The town of Alna and resident Jeff Spinney have reached a potential settlement agreement in their years-long litigation against each other over a boat ramp to the Sheepscot River on Spinney’s Golden Ridge Road property.
If the settlement proceeds after a public hearing on Thursday, Oct. 19, the ramp will stay in place for noncommercial use, Spinney and the town will drop pending actions, and both parties will pay their own attorney fees.
According to the settlement document, Spinney made an application to the Alna Planning Board in February 2020 for resurfacing and regrading of his boat ramp, plus a pier alteration that he dropped from the project two months later. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection approved the project with the condition of local approvals that March.
When the planning board considered the project in June 2020, a 2-2 vote meant it was not approved, a decision the Alna Board of Appeals upheld in October 2020. Later that month, Spinney filed an updated second application for earth work on the existing ramp and use of a seasonal aluminum mat and separately entered court mediation with the town.
In December 2020, the planning board approved Spinney’s second application and the code enforcement officer issued a permit. Spinney then completed the work. The same week, he and then-members of the select board agreed on a settlement draft and the board voted to enter it.
Other residents filed an appeal of the planning board’s second approval, which the board of appeals overturned in March 2021, and the town issued Spinney a notice of violation in November 2021. He did not return the ramp to its condition before the project, leading the town to file the land use enforcement action still pending against him.
The previous settlement agreement was ruled invalid by Lincoln County Superior Court last November because the select board did not have the authority to enter it, according to Justice Daniel Billings. The current select board has all new members from that time.
Spinney filed an appeal of the board of appeals’ two decisions, which is still pending in Lincoln County Superior Court.
Court findings in the proposed judgment note “genuine controversy” between Spinney and the town and significant private and public funds spent by the respective parties. The judgment states the settlement has been proposed to end these expenses.
If the select board votes Oct. 19 to enter the agreement in court, Spinney would consent to the court finding that the project is unpermitted, nonconforming, and violates the shoreland zoning and building code ordinances.
The proposed court order would allow him to keep the project in place due to his belief in the former settlement agreement, statements by the former code enforcement officer, and the environmental disruption of removing it. He could maintain the ramp with permits for the work, but not expand or resurface it. Spinney would also waive his right to the aluminum roll-out mat.
The ramp could be used by Spinney and his personal guests non-commercially, and the right to do so would transfer if he sold the property. He and 10 or fewer members of the Golden Ridge Sportsman’s Club would be allowed to launch nonmotorized craft there each year.
If the judgment is approved, the town will drop its enforcement action against Spinney and he will drop his filed appeals. Both parties will pay their own attorney fees.
The terms of the proposed judgment will be open for comment at a public hearing on Oct. 19. The select board will then decide whether to enter the agreement.
According to the announcement of the hearing, any changes made on Oct. 19 will have to be agreed upon by both parties, and if an agreement is not reached the board will only vote yes or no on entering the judgment.
The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Oct. 19 at the Alna fire station. The proposed judgment is available at alna.maine.gov.
