WATERBORO — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has canceled a scheduled hearing that had been set for Monday concerning a 10 -year-old petition regarding water levels on Little Ossipee Pond.
Selectmen in July unanimously approved an ordinance designed to keep water levels at Little Ossipee Pond under local control. They further amended the ordinance in early August at the suggestion of the DEP. Passage caused the DEP to agree that the local ordinance conformed with the state law that allows municipalities home rule over lake levels. That action canceled the hearing the DEP had earlier set on the 10-year-old petition.
The town had controlled the level of Little Ossipee Pond since the 1700s, and through policy since 1969, when the summer level was set at 6 feet, 6 inches.
A petition filed in August 2007 asked the state to lower the lake level to try and head off an erosion problem.There was no movement by the DEP on the petition until recently. The agency did not comment on why it took them 10 years to proceed.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
