BREAKING NEWS: Tremont campground owners admit to ordinance violations; select board asked to approve consent agreement today
TREMONT, May 2, 2022 - In a hastily arranged agenda for this afternoon’s meeting, the select board is being asked to approve an agreement between Acadia Wilderness Lodge and the town for admitted violations of the land use ordinance and to pay a small fine.
This comes after Code Enforcement Officer John Larson, in a heretofore undisclosed letter on April 26, cited AWL’s campground on Kelley Town Road with a “notice of violation” for building 11 yurts that were “significantly larger” than the original proposal.
To comply with ordinance, Larson ordered that AWL build no more than eight yurts which the owners agreed to in the consent agreement.
Neighbors filed suit against the town earlier this year alleging multiple violations. The consent agreement was fashioned without the knowledge of the lawyer for the neighbors. It only came to light over the weekend when a few residents noticed its sudden appearance on the agenda.
This is not the first time the town has gone to extraordinary steps to accommodate AWL. On Nov. 1, minutes before midnight, the Planning Board voted to permit AWL’s second, larger campground on Tremont Road with 55 yurts. The next day residents, by a 428-215 vote approved a six-month moratorium on new campground development.
(The appeals board last month declared that project in violation and is scheduled to make its penalty known on Thursday.)
The QSJ asked select chair Jamie Thurlow by email why the town is in such a hurry to approve the consent agreement which metes out a small $2,000 fine and $2,500 in legal fees. He did not reply.
AWL’s web site is booking the yurts starting May 15. The next select board meeting is scheduled for May 16.
The consent agreement seems to end run the Planning Board, the principal overseer of the town’s land use ordinance and which has not had a chance to question Larson in public on his citation. Are there other issues which have not been fully addressed, such as set-back requirements?
The select board has the authority to approve legal agreements, but will it do so today without the matter fully vetted by the planning board and the lawyer for the neighbors?
The admission by AWL to the violations is a huge blow to its credibility as it circumnavigates its second project - the construction of the 55-yurt campground through a residential neighborhood.
The citizens group Concerned Tremont Residents have successfully won legal skirmishes now in both campground projects.
The agreement being considered today releases AWL from all action taken by the town; the town will take no more enforcement action against the smaller campground on Kelleytown Road, if select board approves.