By FAITH DeAMBROSE
By a measure exceeding four to one, with a vote of 60 to 16 at a special town meeting November 19, Sedgwick voters authorized the board of selectmen to use the process of eminent domain to secure two strips of land from Blue Hill Heritage Trust to be used for access to property the town now jointly owns with the town of Brooksville on Walker Pond. Voters also authorized the selectmen to pay $13,500 for the land taken.
The move to take the land was not without some expressed concern for process, present and future costs, and environmental impact. However, the majority of those at the special town meeting expressed a desire to gain access to the town’s land.
The history
According to the town’s attorney, Jim Patterson, the town purchased its property on Walker Pond 15 years ago “knowing at the time that there was no deeded right of way to get to it.” Since the purchase, the town has revisited the situation many times, becoming more serious about it over the last two or three years.
Last year the townspeople entered into a cost-sharing arrangement with the town of Brooksville to jointly make improvements to the property. Patterson said the Sedgwick selectmen have since decided that public access to the great pond (which neither the town of Sedgwick nor Brooksville has) is a priority and that the next step in the process is to create a public way to get to it.
The process of creating the public way required the town to file a Notice of Intentions to explain the land it was taking.
Patterson said the impediment to the process has been the fact that BHHT could not rightfully “give” the land to the town, even if it wanted to, because of deed restrictions imposed on the property.
According to documents from the Registry of Deeds, previous owners Emma Patton Casey and Sarah Patten Gwynn did create language that would have allowed BHHT to enter into an agreement with the town for access but would not have allowed land to be given to the town. It would also not have allowed “a ramp or launch site for motorized watercraft” and would have limited any agreement to a renewable term not to exceed five years. Other “best management practices” were also specified in the deed and would have had to have been followed by the town through the arrangement with the trust.
The Notice of Intentions, said Patterson, which was filed in October, was followed with a Condemnation Order filed in November that more specifically laid out the taking of land from BHHT, as well as a right of way to continue across property owned by the James Condon Trust. Additionally, the order specified the removal of deed restrictions to the BHHT property, clearing the way for the town to proceed without future impediment.
The discussion
Speaking on behalf of BHBT at the special town meeting was attorney Ellen Best of Blue Hill. Best said that she had formerly served as president for the organization and was not paid for the work she did on behalf of BHHT.
Best said that BHHT supports the idea of access, believes the town’s idea is a “laudable idea” and “hopes the land can be taken care of and preserved for future use.” Best also said the organization has some concerns and that she wanted to express them for the record.
Among those concerns, she said, was how the area would be managed in the future, the impact that construction and use would have on the property, and the impact that utility poles would have on the “view shed.” Best explained that, legally, since the town was developing a public way, it would have the option to install utilities to the land. “We all know that land gets developed, and with development comes utilities,” she said.
She also expressed concern about the cost of the project, asking if this access point was necessarily the right one based on the cost versus benefit. “Whatever you decide, you decide,” she said to voters, “but I hope you will all take this seriously.”
Best was not alone in wondering about the cost of the project. Resident Pam Johnson, who identified herself as a BHHT board member, asked for a tally of cost spent to date. Town Clerk Cindy Reilly provided a breakdown of costs totaling approximately $60,000. First Selectman Nelson Grindal explained that the project was a joint one between Sedgwick and Brooksville and that costs would be shared jointly. He said the town of Brooksville has given Sedgwick $100,000 as its share of the property, which has been placed in an escrow account to be used for the project.
Discussion from those in attendance also included concern about the use of eminent domain and the precedent it might set for the future, as well as concerns about the town’s ability to maintain the roadway.
The final bit of discussion came from former selectman Neil Davis who said he had served on the board for a number of years during the early discussions of the project and believed that the present culture necessitated the need for eminent domain.
“Over the years [the town] has made a lot of effort to freely go about providing a way to get to its property. In the old days people just worked things out but that, for one reason or another, has not been able to happen here and the town has found little cooperation from any of the entities involved in terms of finding access,” he said, adding that the issue was much larger than a physical issue or an ecological issue, but rather was a moral issue. The moral issue, said Davis, involves looking at “why it is wrong to deny access” to people to get to property they own. Davis said that despite much effort, the process of eminent domain was “a last resort that had to be taken” and that it certainly was not the first choice. “Many hours have been spent trying to get access, and to deny this right is immoral.”
With those words, Davis moved to “call the question.”
In quick time voters approved the taking of land and approved a sum of $13,500 to be paid to BHHT for the land it had taken.
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