Town of Greenville and snowmobile club still working on access issues

Staff Report

    GREENVILLE — The Greenville Board of Selectmen and the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club are still working on a route for a northbound snowmobile trail on the east side of Moosehead Lake, now that a major access point has been cut off.

    At the Dec. 3 board meeting, MRSC President John Cobb noted that a number of people were in the audience and others have emailed the town to show support for finding a solution to the problem, according to minutes of the session.
    Cobb said that the MRSC will not be grooming trails on the east side of the lake unless they can find a way to have a continuous trail northbound.
    In a letter to the Wilson Pond Association, the MRSC summarized the problem of access with some suggested solutions. “The MRSC and the town, which serves as the grant applicant and responsible party for ITS contraction and maintenance, made a $30,000 investment of donated time, labor and grant funds into an alternate route over Scammon Ridge,” Cobb wrote
    “However, with the passing of Richard ‘Stretch’ Kennedy, his heirs’ attorney has notified the MRSC that this land will be closed to snowmobile traffic indefinitely. We are unclear whether this is a short-term or long-term prohibition, nor if the reason for it is simply for concern about encumbrance of land which is going through the probate process, or if this is a directive of the heirs,” he added.
    Town Manager John Simko explained the options available to the board to create a public easement along outer Scammon Road for the purposes of some version of a town way with an adjacent snowmobile trail.
    Simko recently wrote to several Scammon Road landowners, outlining some options and possible incentives.
    “While the town has authority to ‘lay out and to take’ a public easement, the board of selectmen and I, as town manager, do not want to do so,” Simko wrote. “The town would much prefer to work with the landowners to find an amicable course of action which would achieve a win-win for all users of this road. We believe there is financial and practical benefit for abutting landowners should the town establish any sort of public easement and assume any responsibilities for road maintenance.”
    Simko emphasized that the easement would be for snowmobile traffic only “and does not propose to make this a trail for ATVs.”
    Specifically, Simko asked the landowners to consider three options and respond by Wednesday, Dec. 31.
    1. Pursue options to create a public easement of some sort over outer Scammon Road, to include a permanent snowmobile trail off the road.
    2. Allow access this winter for snowmobiles in exchange for plowing and traffic enforcement.
    3. Take no action — leave everything as it is.
    After the discussion period, the board voted to have Simko “rework” the letter to the Scammon Road property owners, which could include a self-addressed, stamped postcard; and include the correspondence from the MRSC.
    In other action taken at the Dec. 3 meeting, selectmen approved a personal property tax abatement request of $77.91 to Marlin Leasing Corporation, and authorized a supplemental real estate property tax bill of $464.61 to Daniel Nein and Christine Schwartz as a Tree Growth Removal penalty.
    Following an executive session, selectmen directed Simko to review the town’s lease with the municipal airport fixed-base operator and report back to them at a later meeting. The board noted that the town “has invested heavily in infrastructure at the airport, and our current capital improvement plan calls for further improvements in coming years. However, operations at the airport as well as compliance with current regulations could be improved.”
    The FBO was taken over by Dr. Peter Thompson in August 2013 from longtime operator Max Folsom of Greenville.
    Toward the end of the meeting, Piscataquis County Commissioner Eric Ward addressed the board, noting that the boundaries of his district have changed and that Fred Trask of Milo will be Greenville’s new representative. Ward did not seek reelection this year.
    Selectmen thanked Ward for his support of county projects to benefit the Moosehead Lake region, a sentiment shared by the town manager.