Mon, 09/04/2023 - 8:45am

SUSAN JOHNS

File photo

If Alna removes the rocks placed last spring at Pinkham Pond and subsoil gets into the pond, “according to (Maine Department of Environmental Protection), you will have a problem,” roads committee member Jeff Averill told selectmen Aug. 30. “(They were) very satisfied with the way things are right now. All you have to do is get a permit by rule, it’s all done, forget it.”

The rocks are “just fine,” he recalled of DEP’s site visit. Averill said the rocks are starting to soak in and will continue to.

DEP “also said it would be perfectly fine to take them out,” and the area would then be monitored, First Selectman Ed Pentaleri said.

Residents were sharing their thoughts on the months-old spread of rocks Second Selectman Steve Graham called a mistake.

In the meeting at the town office and over Zoom, Averill, Graham and Pentaleri recalled the site visit, and Graham recalled other contact with DEP. Graham said anything the town does will need DEP’s nod and the planning board’s. He added, DEP said whatever is done cannot destabilize the area; if the rocks are removed, monitoring would be needed, Graham said.

The spot is no longer convenient to walk over, Graham said. A resident concurred, saying it is especially hard for small children and older people, and people are asking for the rocks to come out.

Past planning board chair Jeff Spinney asked, why field ideas when the selectboard does not know yet what will meet town rules? Selectmen said their decision will meet both state and town rules. People have all kinds of creative ideas, and the board can hear them all, Third Selectman Coreysha Stone said. “There might be a solution bore out that’s a beautiful compromise, that nobody has thought of. So we’re just going to keep an open mind.”

The board had put off the matter Aug. 24. And for about the first 20 minutes Aug. 30, selectmen mulled whether to put it off again due to when a Zoom link was announced. Pentaleri said some people interested in attending did not. He apologized for not getting the Zoom link out sooner and said legal counsel advised putting off the pond item until the next regular board meeting.

Stone asked who was there to discuss the pond issue. Multiple hands went up. She said she wanted to value that and was concerned, due to the delays, “We’re going to lose voice, because (this has been) pushed and pushed and pushed.” She proposed the board take comment from attendees, but decide nothing; and on Sept. 7, when the pond issue is back on the agenda, take any other comments.

Graham thought breaking the comment into two nights could be unwieldy and the pond issue could wait one more week. Moments later, Graham announced he was waffling.

Stone, still hoping the board would take comment on the pond issue, told Graham it was OK he was waffling. “Waffle this way,” she said laughing. Graham mulled taking comment that night, but did not support Stone’s idea to also take it Sept. 7. He apologized to attendees and Pentaleri apologized repeatedly. Spinney asked how the Aug. 30 meeting with the late announced Zoom link was different from recent meetings that went on despite Zoom issues.

Those were all working meetings, which do not include public comment, Pentaleri said. When the board ended up taking comment Aug. 30, some attendees chose to hold their comments for next time.