SOUTHPORT — During the federal government shutdown, it seemed like government moved at a snail’s pace and never reached consensus. Sometimes at a local level, however, government can move swiftly to get things done.
In the span of one short public meeting in August, residents responded to a petition to buy a beloved piece of beach on Hendricks Head that had hit the real estate market.
According to planning board member Jeffrey Brown, public debate was short, encompassing no more than a handful of comments. A vote was called, and a motion to buy the beachfront for $1.25 million passed by a ratio of more than 10 to 1 in a gathering of about 125 residents. In October, town officials completed the sale.
“I was surprised there weren’t more people against it,” Brown said.
The swift move to buy the beachfront, and the adjacent house included with the property, stems from the fact that generations of Southport residents already considered the beach public property.
It was owned by longtime citizen Ruth Gardner until her death. Gardner let Southport residents treat the beach as their own, said Steve Bornick, the real estate agent in charge of the sale for her family.
“She was an artist and she liked to draw them and talk to them,” Bornick said.
Often, negotiations over public purchase of private waterfront property can be difficult and lead to litigation. The town of Kennebunkport is locked in a legal battle with several landowners who had blocked access to Goose Rocks Beach; a 2012 Maine Superior Court ruling sided with the town, but it is still being appealed.
Meanwhile, the town of York is gearing up for a similar battle with landowners over access to a waterfront trail called the Cliff Walk. York town manager Robert Yandow said the town is waiting to see the final verdict of the appeal of the Goose Rocks Beach case before deciding on a legal course of action.
There was not much controversy in this case. Gardner’s three relatives who owned the property after her death were receptive to selling it to the public. And support for buying the beach quickly grew once word spread that it was going to hit the market, Bornick said.
Selectman Smith Climo said it probably didn’t hurt that the Southport government often is fiscally conservative with expenditures. It helped citizens grant permission to open up the purse strings in this case, he said.
“People tend to trust us that we are very frugal with their money,” Climo said. “They also recognize opportunity. This was a moment in time.”
Not everyone agrees with the pace at which the town bought the property. Brown, for example, still had questions when the vote was taken. He worries about the sale’s potential impact on the local property tax rate. However, Climo believes the town most likely will sell off the house attached to the property and recoup a good chunk of the $1.25 million spent.