It is a gross oversimplification to describe “Bleak House” by Charles Dickens as a story about a legal dispute coming to a conclusion only when the opposing parties run out of money. In Dickens’ novel, the heirs find at the end of a lengthy probate process that there is no inheritance to be claimed: the financial legacy was exhausted on legal fees.
It isn’t too much of a stretch to see similarities between “Bleak House” and the litigation that parties are engaged in over the ownership and control of Goose Rocks Beach.
Saturday, June 18, 2011, marked the second time some Kennebunkport voters attended Town Meeting to vote to spend a significant sum of money to litigate this dispute. A total of $700,000, more or less, has been spent or appropriated by the taxpayers. One can only wonder the financial cost to the private property owners.
The beach case, expected to cost the Town at least $1 million, and which will probably cost the property owners/Plaintiffs the same, will be a drain on many other worthy causes which won’t be funded by the Town. Consider the public projects which might be funded if the Town set aside a quarter of a million dollars annually for 4 years: expansion of sidewalks, free summer recreation access for all children, purchase of waterfront land for a public boat launch or a massive tree planting effort, just to name a few. Think of the money not being donated to non-profit organizations because of the private money tied up in the litigation.
One wonders what might have been if Selectmen recognized the private beach ownership and concentrated their negotiations on finding an acceptable amount of money or other compensation (property tax reductions, for example) so that the townspeople could be offered a long term recreation lease on the private beach areas.
Instead, we are all paying for this complex litigation to wind its way inevitably to the Maine Supreme Court. Who wins, besides the lawyers? There’s already so much bad feeling within the community about the litigation that it may take a complete turnover in property ownership to clear the air. By that time Goose Rocks will be overrun by more people than the delicate beach can handle.
Most appalling of all, the Town’s acting Police Chief has recently announced in the newspaper that there will be a change in policy for the 2011 summer season: police officers will not enforce “no trespassing” signs at Goose Rocks Beach.
If you own land in Kennebunkport and someone trespasses on your property, you call 911 - unless your land happens to be on Goose Rocks Beach.
Considering how high emotions are running, it’s inconceivable that law enforcement or Selectmen would permit a festering of arguments over the use of private land. No good will come of this.
Potential trespassers now know that the police will not come to ask anyone to move along to the public beach. The homeowner is helpless to stop someone from erecting a tent or leaving lawn chairs permanently on his or her land.
This is very bad public policy. It should send a chill through anyone who thinks our home is our castle. In Kennebunkport, castles are indeed made of sand.
