Dear Editor:

I am encouraged that Edgecomb may be able to acquire property for public boat access to allow residents who do not own shore property the opportunity to enjoy our public rivers, all which are public without non-private access. 

I have now been invited to serve on two town committees which are supportive of public access, The Conservation Committee and the Waterfront Committee. There is money set aside for waterfront access, mostly from boat access taxes voted annually to be added to the fund. 

With water frontage becoming more difficult to find, I feel the town should work creatively to acquire a piece of property suitable for public access.  One possibility I thought of would be to buy a few hundred feet of frontage from an existing lot owner.  This would give the owner some cash up front, reduce their taxes and allow them to retain private access beside the new town dock.   

This would allow the town to build and maintain a handicap accessible seasonal dock with a small picnic area and seasonal bathroom facilities.  The owner selling the town property, along with other residents would have use of a new dock maintained by the town. 

The property could be small, say 1/2 acre, allowing a few parking spaces.  Being small, the lot would be unbuildable so would remain public into perpetuity.  Design, construction and maintenance could be coordinated by the Waterfront Committee using grants or boat excise tax funds held in the Woodend investment account set up over 50 years ago when an avid boater, Phil Chaney, was a selectman and the Federal Government, realizing the town needed public access to the water, gave the town property seized from Woodend. That property was deemed unsuitable for public access was sold and the proceeds started the Woodend Fund for a future purchase of a suitable piece of property for public access. I feel it is time to make that future purchase.

Interested landowners should contact either a committee member or a selectperson.

Tom Boudin 

Edgecomb