The Portland Water District has notified Cumberland County Superior Court that it would like to drop half of the lawsuit it has against the town of Standish.
The original lawsuit asks for a declaratory judgment that the District is the sole owner of the land under Northeast Road Extension. The road leads to Sebago Lake and the town’s boat launch area. The suit further asks the court to decide whether a public utility can have eminent domain suits brought against them.
Judge Thomas E. Delahanty, II has been assigned the case, and in some early procedural rulings has seemed to favor Standish in the question regarding the ownership issue. The town requested that the rights of the heirs of Pearsontown (original name of Standish) be considered in the case. The judge agreed and indicated that the heirs should now be identified and contacted.
Michelle Clements, District spokesperson, said in an interview that the District Board of Trustees and attorneys thought that the time and money necessary to locate and contact all heirs would be cost prohibitive.
“Since it would require a great deal of effort to locate the heirs, the board decided that the issue of who owns the title to the land under Northeast Road Extension was not the primary issue for us,” said Clements.
The remaining issue in the lawsuit brought by the District concerns whether Standish has the right to claim eminent domain over lands the town has used for more than 20 years at the boat launch.
Standish contends that the town has maintained the road and parking areas at the boat launch for more than 50 years, and that the public would be damaged if those rights were not continued. The District contends that they are a quasi-municipal entity and cannot be sued over eminent domain issues because the District is an extension of the State of Maine, just like a municipality.
Clements said, “In dropping our question about ownership of the land under Northeast Road Extension, we have asked the court for a decision on the eminent domain issue within the next 30 days.”
“It is our intent to make our property more lake friendly. We did have a plan to create an educational and ecology park on that site. The board would most likely revisit their plan for that area. But we still want the public to have a safe boat launch area, too,” added Clements.
When asked about the current use of the property, Clements responded, “There are some issues with soil erosion and storm water mediation. If we win this suit we would move the parking to the right-of-way areas in Northeast Road Extension. We would install some new culverts. If we were to lose, then the status quo would be in place for now, and the board would have to determine our next step.”
Gordon Billington, Standish town manager, in an interview said, “They want the parking lot. That appears to be their objective.”
“The judge’s ruling gives us until November for the discovery process. Thirty days is not enough time,” added Billington. “The parties to a lawsuit need time to see the cases and develop strategies.”
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