CUMBERLAND — The Town Council heard strong arguments Monday evening for and against a $3 million municipal bond referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot that would establish the town’s first public beach.
The town would borrow the money to buy 23 acres off Foreside Road that includes nearly 14 acres of shorefront property and nine acres of forested land.
The land is part of a 100-acre parcel, assessed for tax purposes to be worth $6 million, that the Payson family sold this year to a private developer, the Bateman Group. The property already has three homes and the developer can build seven more houses on the remaining 77 acres.
A majority of opposition to the referendum came from residents of Wildwood, an adjacent beachfront neighborhood of 65 year-round homes that started as a summer community in the early 1900s. Several of them questioned the cost, transparency, legality and feasibility of the town’s proposal.
“We don’t know what we’re getting, exactly, for $3 million,” said George Marcus, a lawyer and one of about seven Wildwood residents who spoke Monday. “What is the opportunity cost of this project?”
Harland Storey, one of three residents who spoke in favor of the proposal, questioned the “selfishness” of townspeople who have waterfront access and don’t want to share it.
“I don’t think money’s the issue,” said Storey, who lives in Cumberland Center. “When you get 25 acres on the shore, that’s protecting our future. I think it’s a real good investment.”
Six of seven town councilors spoke in favor of the referendum; Councilor Michael Edes recused himself from addressing the issue because his wife works for a member of the Payson family. The other councilors defended the town’s $3 million appraisal of the land, the cost of which was shared with the developer, and expressed their desire to secure public waterfront access for future generations.
“We have never had access to the water,” said Councilor Ronald Copp Jr., a fifth-generation Cumberland resident. “I’m here for the greater good of this town.”
Councilor Shirley Storey-King, Harland Storey’s daughter, said she regrets the issue has divided the town, but supports the referendum so she can one day sit and have a cup of coffee on the waterfront “just like John Lambert,” a lawyer and Wildwood resident who spoke against the referendum.
Councilor George Turner acknowledged that the property doesn’t have a perfect beach and isn’t ideal for boating, but he questioned whether there would be “such an uproar” if Wildwood residents didn’t realize what they have is so “precious.”
The pending deal with the developer is affected by a conservation easement, signed by the former owners in 1997 and enforced by the Chebeague and Cumberland Conservation Land Trust.
Penny Asherman, president of the trust’s board of directors, told the council that the board “strongly believes that expanded access to the property, which is permitted under the easement, if managed properly, can occur while still protecting the natural and scenic features of this remarkable property.”
The land deal would provide public access to 2,200 feet of narrow beachfront – all but 500 feet of which is flooded at high tide – as well as a 200-foot pier. A town proposal for low-impact recreational use of the property would allow for a few parking spaces near the beach and a 25-space parking lot about a half-mile away.
Currently, Cumberland’s only public access to waterfront is a boat landing flanked by private property, Town Manager Bill Shane said. So, the only public waterfront activity currently allowed in town is fishing, bird hunting and boating, he said.
If town voters approve the $3 million bond issue, future use of the property off Foreside Road would be guided by the Ocean Access Committee, a nine-member advisory panel that’s scheduled to meet for the first time at 7 p.m. on Oct. 15.
This story was updated at 11:15 a.m. Oct. 8, to correct the reason that Councilor Michael Edes recused himself from addressing the referendum.
Kelley Bouchard can be reached at 791-6328 or at:
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