PHIPPSBURG
Despite overwhelming comments against the project from local residents, Maine Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Land Resources has issued a permit granting permission for Jackson and Susan Parker to remove the Popham pilings, which are located near their Phippsburg home.
Jackson Parker, CEO of Reed & Reed, Inc. in Woolwich, and his wife petitioned the government for permission to remove the dilapidated pilings at their own expense in September of last year.
Parker stated at a Phippsburg meeting and in the application that he was concerned that the pilings were having an erosive effect on the beach. The removal of the pilings, he claimed, would return the shoreline around the pilings to a more natural shape and prevent further erosion. The Maine DEP agreed with the substance of his findings.
Although the Army Corps of Engineers approved a permit for the project back in November, it wasn’t until June 16 that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection issued a draft order approving the project, providing only one week for public comment.
According to Maine DEP Communications Director David Madore, the draft order racked up 19 comments in opposition to the removal of the pilings and only one comment in favor. Despite the opposition, the department officially granted the permit on June 29.
“This project is reviewed under the Natural Resources Protection Act standards and there was no evidence provided in the comments that the project did not meet the applicable standards,” said Madore.
The pilings are located in a subtidal zone owned by the state, according to published reports.
Jon Seamans has vacationed in the area for nearly two decades, and says that he hopes to eventually retire here. Seamans has been wade fishing at the pilings the length of his time in Popham, and said that he knows the area well.
“I have not seen substantial erosion around the pilings since 1991,” said Seamans. “I like to fish, so I know those pilings well.
“It shifts, it moves. You sometimes have to watch it when you go out there, because it drops where it didn’t drop the year before,” he added. “It shifts, but there hasn’t been major changes.”
Andres Villamil, whose family comes from the Bath area and whose mother owns a home overlooking the pilings, didn’t think the application made much sense.
“It seems a bit erroneous and a bit bizarre that they’re saying it causes erosion when the pilings have been there for about 140 years,” said Villamil, noting that the area has appeared fairly stable over the years. “To be honest and fair, I think there’s just no way of knowing what would happen (if the pilings were removed).”
Villamil repeated a common complaint, that the Parkers were looking for a place to moor their boat. Parker repudiated this claim last fall at a public meeting, saying he had no intention of mooring a boat at that location.
“Nobody wants to see them go,” said Villamil. “The Parkers are completely isolated in this. There’s nobody who agrees with them.”
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