BELGRADE — A houseboat owner has approached Belgrade wondering if regulations exist for mooring the vessels on in lakes within town boundaries – and town officials are wondering if an ordinance is needed.
“We need to figure it out before something happens, not be forced to deal on the fly,” Selectwoman Melanie Jewell said.
Messalonskee Lake stretches several miles from Belgrade to Oakland.
The town will form a committee to decide whether such an ordinance is needed, and if so, to draft one.
Some of the concerns the committee will address were raised at Tuesday’s selectboard meeting. They include:
n How to enforce a potential ordinance;
n How to protect the rights of shoreline property owners;
n What the environmental impact would be, including for disposal of garbage and how wastewater holding tanks would be emptied;
n Where mooring might be allowed; and
n Whether a harbormaster might be needed.
Eric Conrad, a spokesman for the Maine Municipal Association, said mooring houseboats on lakes is a growing trend in the South that’s gradually working its way north. There have been some instances of it in Maine.
“They are catching the eye of (MMA) members and state people,” he said.
Sidney and Livermore Falls are among inland towns that have created ordinances. Sidney’s was drafted when a boat was moored in a dangerous area, according to town administrative assistant Angela Nelson. Voters approved that ordinance in 2017.
Last year, a Belgrade landowner complained that a person had moored a sailboat in front of the landowner’s shorefront. According to Maine law, a boat may not be moored more than 200 feet from land, minus the boat’s length, Keschl told the board.
Belgrade shoreland owners pay higher taxes for access to and views of the water – views some property owners might lose if a boat moors nearby.
“Suddenly the houseboat has that view,” Conrad said.
Resident Shawn Grant told the board that he and his family “moored all over the lake” one summer while their house was being built, an experience about which his now-grown children fondly reminisce.
“I would hate to see some families not be able to enjoy the same experiences we did,” Grant said.
The committee will include year-round and seasonal landowners in shoreland areas. The town will also invite members of the 7 Lakes Alliance and the Belgrade Lakes Association.
Residents interested in participating on the committee may contact the town manager or visit the Town Office at 990 Augusta Road.
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