Scarborough’s purchase of a privately owned parking lot at Higgins Beach will guarantee continued public access to the popular town beach, councilors said last week in approving the deal.

The Town Council voted unanimously on March 17 to authorize the purchase of the approximately 1.3-acre parking lot, guaranteeing that it will stay undeveloped and open in an area with a lack of summer public parking.

The town is paying for roughly half the cost of the $1.27 million deal, which includes not only the parking lot, but also more than 10 acres of land on Mussey Road, which town officials said might aid with the conservation of the nearby Nonesuch River. Money from the Land for Maine’s Future program will fund the rest of the purchase cost.

The gravel parking lot, which has an estimated 80-100 spaces, is the only place where the general public visiting the beach can park in the summer, because no parking is allowed on the roads at Higgins Beach during the summer season.

The town is expected to take title to the lot, located between Pearl Street and Ocean Avenue, at the end of this month. However, the public will see no changes this summer.

That’s because the Higgins Beach Inn, which currently operates the parking lot, has a lease that runs through April 2011.

The town intends to honor that lease and use the year to plan with Higgins Beach residents and other beachgoers how the town parking lot should be operated and whether it should include such amenities as bathrooms, Town Manager Tom Hall said.

Janice Parente, a Scarborough resident and chairwoman of Surfrider Foundation Northern New England Chapter, said she is delighted with the council’s decision.

Parente said late last week that she wanted to “scream right now with happiness.”

Surfers consider Higgins Beach one of the best on the East Coast, and want to ensure the parking lot remains accessible to the public.

The surfrider group has been working with a national nonprofit land conservation organization called The Trust for Public Land to help raise funds for the parking lot. As of late last week, the group had raised $15,000, mostly from Scarborough residents, Parente said.

That money will go toward legal fees and other expenses involved in the purchase, and any money left over will go in an endowment fund that could help pay for amenities to the lot, Hall said.

The parking lot, currently owned by the Vasile family, is not the only land the town acquired in the deal with the Vasiles.

The town also will get 10.1 acres that the family owns on Mussey Road near Payne Road that slopes down to the Nonesuch River.

Hall said the town did not seek that land in the deal, but the seller insisted it be part of the purchase.

Hall said some of the 10.1 acres might be used when the town realigns Mussey Road as planned. Also, he said, there may be space on the land for a small parking area to allow fishermen and others access to the river.

The Higgins Beach parking lot also comes with a small rental cottage. Hall said the town will have to decide what to do with the cottage. “I don’t relish the idea of being in the summer rental business,” he told the council.

The council authorized the town’s share of the deal – $637,855 – to come from bonds previously approved by town voters in 2003 for the town to purchase green space and other public land. The remainder of the money, $632,145, will come from Land for Maine’s Future funds. That state program was created to help acquire land for public access, open space and recreation.

The parking lot land at Higgins Beach has been appraised at $1,010,000 and the land on Mussey Road appraised at $510,000, Hall said. That means the total appraised value of the land the town is acquiring is $1.52 million.

Hall characterized the $1.27 million price for which the Vasile family is selling the property to the town as “a bargain.”

The council took the unusual step last week of approving the land purchase on first reading, waiving a later, second reading vote.

That’s because The Trust for Public Land, which is brokering the deal between the town and the family, said the closing needs to take place by the end of this month.

Terry Turner, a spokesman for the Trust for Public Land, told the council last week that he couldn’t give specifics on the negotiations. However, he said, “the timing is critical.”

Hall said the closing is expected to take place either March 30 or 31.

However, Councilor Judith Roy, while she supported the land purchase, said that “the timing is bad” from the town’s perspective.

That’s because the Town Council is just beginning to wrestle with the 2010-2011 town budget. Due to falling revenues and rising costs, the school and town budget proposals combined would result in a 4.53 percent increase in the tax rate. Even with such a tax hike, the school budget proposal calls for eliminating about 34 jobs, and parents have been calling for the town to do more to fund the public schools.

But Roy said the budget situation and the land purchase were not related. She said people should “separate the two.”

She noted that Scarborough residents had already voted to create the town fund that sets money aside for such purchases. And she said the parking lot is “a vital piece of land.” If there is no parking available at the beach, the public can’t access it, she said.

Councilor Ronald Ahlquist called the purchase “a solution” to parking problems at the beach. “The project benefits everybody in town, the whole town, and I think it’s terrific,” he said.

Councilor Karen D’Andrea said, “I don’t think it’s going to solve the parking down at Higgins Beach, but it will help.”

She also added that the acquisition of the Mussey Road land could help the town in its effort to conserve the Nonesuch River.

In other action at its March 17 meeting, the council approved sending to the Planning Board some proposed zoning amendments designed to better protect the Nonesuch River’s 40-square-mile watershed, which is the town’s largest watershed, according to Dan Bacon, the town planner.

Parente, the head of the surfrider group, praised The Trust for Public Land, the town, and the Vasile family for all working together to preserve the parking lot and ensure it remains accessible to the public.

The beach is particularly loved by surfers, Parente said, because “it’s just got one of the nicest breaks on the East Coast … just the way the swells come in and the nice clean lines to surf on.”

Yet the only way most surfers, swimmers and other beachgoers who don’t live at Higgins Beach can get there is to drive. And with a street parking ban at the beach that runs from April to September, the parking lot is essential for public access during the warm months, Parente said.

“Without it, there is none,” she said.

Surfers and other beachgoers also use Higgins Beach during the winter months, when they are allowed to park on the streets from Oct. 1 to April 1.

A recent proposal by the town to extend the off-season street parking to run from Sept. 15 to May 1 is still pending before the council. The change would make the parking regulations at Higgins Beach consistent with those at other town beaches.

Parente and other surfers support the change, but about 70 Higgins Beach residents signed a petition opposing it. They say surfers are creating problems at the beach, doing such things as illegally parking overnight and stripping down to the buff in public as they change into and out of their wet suits.

Parente said that the majority of surfers are law abiding and good stewards of the beach.

The council has referred the issue to its Ordinance Committee.

Beach residents have said previously they supported the town’s purchase of the parking lot, saying they hoped that bathrooms and changing rooms could be added to accommodate the public.

Hall said late last week that he is pleased that there is an existing lease on the parking lot for a year – for which the Higgins Beach Inn pays $3,500 per month – because “it will give us time to sort through our process.”

He said the town likely will draw up a draft proposal for use of the parking lot and seek public input from beach residents and others this summer.

The Land for Maine’s Future funding places certain restrictions on the town-owned parking lot. For example, the town won’t be able to sell the land without state consent and must keep it open to the public. Also, any fees the town charges for the lot must be reasonable, on par with similar facilities and win approval from the state.

It previously has cost $5 to $10 to park at the lot.

Beach lovers were able to rejoice early this spring as Saturday brought unseasonably warm temperatures. People flocked to Higgins Beach to catch the rays and enjoy some respite from the normal March weather. (Staff photo by Brandon McKenney)

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