Legal row on Clark Point Road far from over; 2nd couple appeals permits for dwelling
SOUTHWEST HARBOR, July 10, 2025 - A second couple has appealed the decision to by the code office to approve what neighbors have called a “monstrosity” of a second dwelling at 72 Clark Point Road, in one of the oldest summer vacation enclaves on the island.
Daniel and Ann Selmi of 66 Clark Point Road, directly across a side street - Harbor Avenue - from the dwelling under construction, filed their appeal on July 1.
Their appeal was not mentioned by the appeals board at its July 2 meeting when it voted 3-2 to reject the first appeal by another abutting neighbor Bill and Kay MacIntosh of 76 Clark Point Road because the MacIntoshes waited too long to file their appeal - 137 days after being notified when they had a legal deadline of 30 days.
Members Alyson Meiselman and Adam Babbitt voted against the motion that the MacIntoshes did not have good cause for their delay. Scott Preston, Chair John Izenour and James Geary voted in favor.
The Selmis stated they did not receive any notification nor did several other abutting neighbors.
Thus, their case is not dependent on whether they waited too long. They are saying they didn’t get notified at all.
Background:
The couple who owned both 72 Clark Point Road and 76 Clark Point Road more than 20 years ago received a variance to build a greenhouse on the latter property. There was little pushback since they owned both abutting properties.
The appeals board agreed with attorney Andy Hamilton, who represented New York investor Justin Podjasek, that errors made in 2003 did not give the MacIntoshes “good cause” to wait 137 days to file their appeal.
What was fuzzier was whether the permits were legally granted.
On this point, Daniel Selmi said, “How can you take a variance granted for a greenhouse, have the greenhouse be removed from the property before it's sold, and then continue to use the variance for an entirely different use there?”
Secondly, “It was very clear from the evidence that you can call it a mistake, or whatever you want, but the foundation that's there exceeds the variance. That's a violation, and if it wasn't a problem when the greenhouse was there. The time that that should have been corrected is when this new building went up.”
By ordinance, the code officer is required to notify “abutting neighbors” as defined by code using First Class mail with no certified return receipt required.
Most of the abutting neighbors are seasonal residents subject to USPS’s unpredictable mail forwarding processes. (My local postmaster in Somesville apologized repeatedly for the chaos which ensued USPS’s address verification system which went into effect last year.)
So whose responsibility is it to prove receipt of notification?
That will be Task No. 1 for the appeals board.
It will not be as easy as a well-defined 30-day deadline.
At the July 2 meeting the appeals board brought up the possibility that a 45-day notification period may be more appropriate, a tacit acknowledgement that current practices need refining.
But wait. There’s more.
I asked Daniel Selmi in an interview if he had a lawyer.
“No,” he said. “I’m representing myself.”
Asked if he was a member of the Maine Bar, Selmi suggested I Google his name.
And here is what I found:
Daniel P. Selmi is a professor emeritus at Loyola Law School and the Fritz B. Burns Chair in Real Property.
According to the school’s website:
“Professor Selmi specializes in Land Use Law, Environmental Law, and Appellate Advocacy. He also taught Torts and Natural Resources Law. Professor Selmi held the Fritz B. Burns Chair in Real Property Law and was a full-time member of the faculty from 1983-2021. He served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Loyola from 1990 to 1993.
“Professor Selmi is co-author of the casebook Land Use Regulation: Cases and Materials, now in its fifth edition, and co-author of the two-volume treatise, State Environmental Law.”
The appeal will be the second item on the agenda July 30 starting at 5. It will be a long night.
I think I’ll Zoom in this time.
FOOTNOTE: Appeal board member James Geary retired from the board after the July 2 meeting. He will stay on an an alternate, so there was no effective change since Alyson Meiselman goes from alternate to a regular member.
Southwest Harbor holds a very special place in my heart. In the mid-1950s, my parents, Warren and Elizabeth Walsh, built a house on what is now Sail Mountain off Fernald Point Road. The land, for which they paid $750, was in the middle of a large area which had just recently been timbered. The land was stark and quite unattractive, but the view was amazing..
Over time, the blueberry bushes (and some raspberries) attractedlarge numbers of pickers. I was fortunate to be able to spend every summer all summer in our little house on the hill .after. After I started college the time I could spend there shortened, but I went whenever I could for however long I could stay. When my sisters and I inherited the house, one of my sisters and her husband opted to retire there and winterized and altered the house to meet their needs.
All this is a preface to saying that in addition to the natural beauty of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park, the town of Southwest Harbor was what we might call charming nowadays: a small town with one policeman, Charlie Foss; generally older and often modest but well tended at homes; and wonderful townspeople.
Of course, things change over time, but the appeal of Southwest was part of what drew people like my family to it. The picture of the new construction appalled and saddened me. Clark Point Road and its surrounds are lovely. They should stay that way.
I say all this in part because my husband and I owned a vacation home on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, which is connected by a short bridge to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Assateague National Seashore. The town of Chincoteague has always reminded us of Southwest Harper: a Main Street, small shops, wonderful towns people, modest homes. No building could be over one and 1/2 stories. We have seen major changes over the past many years. There are now expensive condos that face the marshes between the island and the mainland, a gaudy waterpark, a McDonalds, million dollar plus homes, and other changes to attract more and more visitors. Local families have been forced to sell their homes and move to the mainland because taxes have gotten so high. Schools have been consolidated, making school children commuters.
In other words, Chincoteague is rapidly losing its charm and its way of life. I hope Southwest Harbor’s leadership will not let that happen to their town. Some things are worth keeping.
Please feel free to delete this probably overly long comment. I know that my perspective will offend people, which I do not want to do. I just wanted to put in my two cents worth..
Hopefully the knight in shiny armor can show the confused board members the error of their ways.