KENNEBUNK, Maine — Selectmen have slapped the Kennebunk Land Trust with a $500 fine and a consent agreement for its involvement in an illegal cutting of vegetation along the town’s shoreline last year.
Selectmen based their Tuesday decision to fine KLT on a land-use violation stemming from the cutting of invasive rosa rugosa bushes along a 12,000-square-foot area of beach on Great Hill Road, known locally as Strawberry Island.
Last fall, KLT hired Dayton-based Boiling Spring Landscape Inc. to prune bushes of the invasive Asian rose species along the shoreland. City officials say KLT did not obtain the proper permits to trim the plants, putting it in violation of the town’s zoning ordinance, which prohibits cutting existing vegetation within 75 feet of the high water line.
In the past, KLT has asserted it could prune the bushes with permission from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection – permission the organization didn’t seek, local officials said.
“If KLT wasn’t aware, they should’ve been, especially given what they’re about,” said Selectman Shiloh Schulte. “The extent of that violation was large and went onto private property, and they should’ve known about that.”
Part of the land is owned by the Kennebunk Beach Improvement Association, a nonprofit organization that provides recreational activities to children. The land also lies within the town’s resource protection and shoreland overlay districts.
KLT intended to prune the rose bushes from about 6 feet tall to 15 to 18 inches in height. But contractors accidentally trimmed the plants to about 6 to 8 inches tall, according to a Friday letter penned by Brad Meserve, owner of Boiling Spring Landscape Inc., which was made available in the selectmen’s meeting packet.
Meserve’s letter also alleges he was unaware that clearing the bushes in that area was not allowed, despite being partially located on private property. Town records say it “does not appear that KBIA was a willing participant in the violation.”
“We do want to apologize to the town and KBIA publicly for the transgressions we have done,” said Tom Wellman, vice chairman of KLT. “We get that we broke the rules, and we just want to make sure the public understands the property has not been damaged by what we did.”
KLT faced upward of $2,500 in fines for violating land use regulations of Title 30-A of the Maine Revised Statues, which, In lieu of court action against the KLT, regulates penalties for local zoning violations.
Selectmen settled on the $500 fine, but also imposed a consent agreement upon the KLT for violating the Kennebunk Zoning Ordinance.
As part of the consent agreement, KLT must devise a remediation plan for the area affected by the illegal pruning and agree to not cut in the area again.
KLT must also pay Kennebunk $10,554, which will be held by the town for two years to cover costs of the remediation plan; reimburse KBIA for $957.50 in legal costs incurred during the time since the cutting; and pay back $2,200 owed to KBIA for the cost of a surveyor to evaluate the site after the cutting took place.
“Our remediation plan is to not touch them; to let them grow. I very much want to stress the purpose of the pruning was for the health of the plants,” Wellman said in reference to the roses – which, though invasive, are holding the beachfront sand dune together.
“I do want to stress to the people that the property is in pristine condition at this point and has not been harmed by the actions of the land trust,” Wellman continued, when asked about potential erosion issues that may present themselves as a result of the pruning. “We didn’t dig anything; we didn’t stir up the soil at all. We left the soil alone. We just cut the plant.”
The board based KLT’s fine on the organization’s knowledge and awareness of environmental and zoning regulations, extent of its violation, permanency of environmental impacts, and impacts to wildlife habitat and any history of violations.
Town Manager Barry Tibbetts said in a memo to selectmen that he believes the permissible uses of the property are now well understood, and that a restoration plan is available to the town.
He also said KLT is working with KBIA to settle the matter, and that there seems to be no significant environmental impact as a result of the clearing, nor does there appear any negative impact on habitat.
These factors were considered as the select board issued its fine to KLT, the money from which will be applied to the town’s Open Space Fund account and be used for future land preservation.