Nearly nine months after residents in Pine Point argued vociferously that the town should do everything possible to retain the traditional Avenue 2 right of way, a popular beach access point, Scarborough town leaders are still trying to find a compromise.

At a meeting last Saturday, more than 50 residents turned out in continued opposition to a proposal by homeowner Charlie Gendron to use a portion of the 50-foot-wide Avenue 2 right of way to increase the size of his lot at 37 King St.

Under documents submitted to the town late last year, Gendron would like to tear down the aging A-frame on his lot and replace it with a larger home. However, he is unable to do that based on the current width of his property.

At a Town Council workshop held in early February, councilors were adamant about continuing to allow public access to the beach via Avenue 2 and not taking any definitive steps without first determining what the town’s rights were.

Since then, according to Bill Donovan, the council chairman, questions have arisen about whether the town still has Avenue 2 rights of ownership. It’s a paper street that was never built and may not have been retained by the town.

Donovan, who is running for re-election, is hoping that a compromise can be reached between Gendron and the town that would allow continued public access to the beach, but also allow the Gendron family to own enough of the right of way to build their dream house.

At the February workshop Jim Fisher of Northeast Civil Solutions, who is representing Gendron, said his client has no plans “to limit access or change anything.”

All the Gendron family is asking for, Fisher said then, is for the town to formally discontinue Avenue 2 and then accept a 10-foot-wide easement that would maintain the public path to the beach, while increasing the width of the lot at 37 King.

At the Oct. 15 neigborhood meeting, a landscape architect working for Gendron presented a proposed landscaping plan that would continue the traditional beach pathway, but make it more formal and also provide a vegetated buffer between the path and Gendron’s property.

In an email blast sent out by the Pine Point Residents Group detailing the results of the meeting it said, “Group members were overwhelmingly in agreement on their opposition to the plan and the premise that Gendron already owns the public street/beach trail.”

In addition, in an email sent to both Donovan and Town Manager Tom Hall prior to Saturday’s meeting, the group said, “As you can imagine there is tremendous concern about this plan. We see no renderings of the expansion to the home … should the town give the owner our land and increase his oceanfront lot size by 50 percent. Obviously this is a huge issue.”

At the end of the meeting, the Pine Point Residents Group said it still had a number of questions and outstanding issues it would like addressed, including a request for their own workshop with the Town Council and clarification of the legal issues.

Speaking to the Current last spring, longtime Pine Point resident Nicolette Yattaw summarized the feeling of many of her neighbors.

“It would be tragic,” she said, “if the community lost access to Avenue 2, which has served as a public path to the beach for many generations.” The path is “used faithfully, 24-7 and in all seasons. It’s mind boggling how the town can even entertain this request. We’ve had these rights of way here for generations, but once it’s gone, it’s gone. What we want is a policy so we don’t keep doing this over and over.”

Neither Gendron nor his representatives could be reached for comment before deadline.

A landscape architect’s rendering of a proposed relocation of the Avenue 2 right of way in Pine Point, along with added vegetation to protect the property at right, which is located at 37 King St. and owned by the Gendron family.

Another look at the more formalized proposed plan for Avenue 2 in Pine Point.