Future of Toddy Pond, Alamoosook Lake dams on ballot Nov. 4

The dam at Toddy Pond. File photo.

By Tricia Thomas

Voters in four area towns will decide the future of local dams when they head to the polls on Nov. 4.

In Orland, voters will be asked whether to establish two quasi-governmental entities to take over aging concrete dams at both Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond that their owner, a Canadian firm, wants to abandon.

Orland is voting on the takeover of both dams because both bodies of water lie within its boundaries.

Meanwhile, voters in Blue Hill, Penobscot and Surry, all of which border Toddy Pond, will vote on whether to establish a public entity to take over only that dam. The referendums balloted in each of the towns also include requests for funding first-year start-up costs.

Voting next month follows public information meetings in September and public hearings this month in each of the towns. Members of the Narramissic Watershed Coalition, a group of town officials and residents formed to study the proposed takeovers, also have been publicizing the issue on social media and a dedicated website. Links to more information also have been posted on each town’s website.

A bit of background

Both Toddy Pond and Alamoosook Lake, popular spots for water sports, were dammed more than 100 years ago to provide water to a now-shuttered paper mill in Bucksport. When the plant was sold in 2014, ownership of the dams also changed hands. Last year, new owners AIM/Bucksport Mill LLC petitioned the state to relinquish ownership of the two dams, along with a third dam at Silver Lake in Bucksport. The company’s second application for abandonment was approved by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) last November.

Proponents of the takeovers have said that abandoning the dams would trigger draining the lakes, with dire consequences for wildlife and the environment, as well as property values and tax bases in each of the towns.

A plan for the future

Blue Hill, Orland, Penobscot and Surry voters will be asked on November 4 to create and fund the Toddy Pond Watershed Management District, which would repair and maintain Toddy Pond Dam. Orland voters will decide whether to also create and fund the Alamoosook Lake Watershed District, which will repair and maintain the dam there.

Jeff Roth, a coalition member and Toddy Pond homeowner, said that a majority of those recently surveyed support preserving the dams. They also wanted the costs to be shared by the towns and those living on the lakes, Roth said.

“As a lakefront owner, I think there certainly should be [cost-sharing],” Roth said. “Obviously, we’re on the lake, we own the properties or camps, and we’re taking advantage of being on the water…so, it makes sense that we’re going to share in the costs.”

Under the proposed plan, half of the costs associated with owning and maintaining the Toddy Pond dam would be borne by pond property owners through monetary “assessments” levied by the waterfront district. The other half would be proportionally funded by taxes from Blue Hill, Orland, Penobscot and Surry. In Orland, half of the costs of owning the Alamoosook Lake dam would come from waterfront assessments, with town taxpayers funding the remainder.

Cost calculation

The coalition has developed an online calculator to help taxpayers estimate how much the plans will cost them. Estimates of cost for each of the towns are based, in part, on the number of taxable properties on the lakes.

Using the calculator that is specific to Toddy Pond dam ownership, a Blue Hill taxpayer with an assessed property value of $350,000 and 150 feet of shorefront on Toddy Pond, using a median $150,000 in total district operating costs as an example, can expect to pay a $106 waterfront assessment, plus about $1 more in annual town property taxes if the referendum passes. Blue Hill taxpayers who do not live or have a property on Toddy Pond won’t need to pay a waterfront assessment, and will pay about $1 in additional property taxes per year.

In Penobscot, using those same calculations, pond homeowners can expect a waterfront property assessment of $151 and an additional $22 more in taxes annually. Non-waterfront taxpayers in Penobscot will pay an estimated $22 per year in additional property taxes.

In Surry, also using the same calculations, taxpayers on the pond will pay a $121 assessment to the district, and $16 more in property taxes per year. Non-waterfront taxpayers in Surry will pay an additional $16 in property taxes.

In Orland, the estimates are higher. Using the specific calculator for ownership of both dams, an Alamoosook Lake homeowner with an assessed value of $350,000 and 150 feet of frontage, using the median $150,000 in total district operating costs, can expect a waterfront assessment of $360, and a $93 increase in property taxes per year. Homeowners on Toddy Pond in Orland can expect to pay a $128 annual waterfront assessment, and $93 more in taxes per year.

Gina Bushong, an Orland select board and coalition member, told a Blue Hill audience in September that the costs involved with abandoning the dams and draining the lakes would ultimately be higher for each municipality than taking them over. Those higher costs can be viewed in the cost calculators, she said.

What a ‘no’ vote would mean

Bucksport Mill LLC’s abandonment of the dams and a collective “no” by voters on dam ownership would trigger draining of the lakes, resulting in up to an eight-foot drop in water levels, Roth said. That drop in water levels would have long-term environmental impacts, render existing boat launches on both lakes unusable, and affect area fire departments’ ability to use water from the lakes for firefighting.

Draining the lakes also would result in an estimated $50 million reduction in property valuations. That reduction, in turn, would erode each town’s tax base, Roth said.

“If the water is not in the lake, or is 400 feet from where my current shoreline is today, then the value of my property goes down, market-wise. I won’t be able to sell it for the same [amount] that I could if the water was there,” Roth said. “But, in conjunction with that, from a tax revenue perspective, if my property value goes down, so does the amount of taxes the town can collect.”

Businesses that depend on revenue from homeowners and users of the lakes, such as restaurants, grocers, and marine and outdoor sports suppliers, also would suffer, losing about $9 million per year collectively, Roth said.

What a ‘yes’ vote would mean

Establishing the watershed districts would put control of the dams in local hands, Bushong said.

“The districts would be made up of local people. It’s not some giant corporation making decisions that we simply have to live with. This will [provide for] a free-standing board that has the ability to make decisions based on input from their community members,” she said.

Blue Hill select board member D. Scott Miller said that the November referendum is only asking voters to form the watershed districts and pay for first-year operating costs. Any future projects to repair the dams would need to be put before voters at separate town meetings, Miller said.

“[The referendum] does not include any money for actually owning and operating the dam. It’s basically money for getting ready to do it,” Miller said. “We’ll be ready to assume ownership of the dams whenever they’re available.”

At least one municipality must vote to form the district for it to be established. Also, if voters in a specific town do not approve funding, its share of the budget will be transferred to lakefront property owners.

Additional information on the issue, and the cost calculators, are available on each town’s website.