Lobster Pound Appeal Placed On Hold

(Lamoine) — While not much is happening in public, an appeal of a Site Plan Review Permit issued to the owners of the Seal Point Lobster Pound is still active, and the same appellants have also filed an appeal of a Shoreland Zoning Permit issued by the Planning Board.

Initially, the matter was to come to a hearing on February 26th, but the attorney for the appellants requested that it be postponed due to a family illness. The attorney for owners Anthony and Josette Pettegrow and Appeals Board Chair Melody Havey agreed to the request, but the three have not come up with a new date for the hearing. Ms. Havey reports the two attorneys are trying to agree to stipulations—undisputed facts about the case—that can be entered at the start of the hearing in order to allow the key points of the appeal to proceed efficiently. This would allow the Appeals Board to better focus on the points raised by the lobster pound neighbors. Because of the wording of the Site Plan Review Ordinance, all appeals have to proceed “de novo”, or just like the Appeals Board was hearing all the evidence for the first time. The Building and Land Use Ordinance allows for administrative appeals that focus on just one issue.

Meanwhile, the Shoreland Appeal was filed at the 30-day deadline by attorney Gary Hunt, representing neighbors of the lobster pound. The Planning Board issued the Shoreland Permit for a re-configured parking area after the Board of Appeals ruled last year that a previous permit was not properly issued and not supported by paper work from the Planning Board. The appellants claim that the Lobster Pound has turned into an industrial application and the buildings, driveway and parking area cover more ground than allowed under the Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. It’s not clear when the hearing on the latest appeal will be scheduled.