Dexter council rejects Community Bill of Rights Ordinance

Observer photo/Mike Lange
    DEBATING — Former Dexter Town Manager Dave Pearson, foreground, waits to speak at last week’s public hearing on the Community Bill of Rights ordinance.

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer
    DEXTER — After a 50-minute public hearing Thursday night, the Dexter Town Council unanimously rejected a proposed Community Bill of Rights Ordinance as most members agreed with a legal opinion that the measure would be unenforceable.
    Although the proposed East-West highway was not specifically mentioned in the ordinance, the statute would have affected “any strip of land used for the specified and restricted purpose of building any multi-country private or public-private transportation and distribution corridor.”

    Attorney Philip Saucier of Bernstein-Shur wrote, in part, that although “it does not appear that any Maine court has directly ruled on the validity of a rights-based ordinance such as the CBRO, in our view a court would likely invalidate many of the provisions … as legally unenforceable since it would violate established federal and state constitutional principles and Maine law.”
    Sangerville and Parkman residents have both approved rights-based ordinances during the past year, also based on concerns about the proposed route of the 220-mile, limited-access toll road.
    Jill Jones, a CBRO supporter, suggested that the council and proponents of the ordinance get together and create an improved version that would be acceptable to both sides. Council Chairman Mike Blake said that while he was not totally opposed to the idea, “I’m not an attorney. And I have to look at the opinion from the guy we pay a lot of money to (Saucier). From my own piece of mind, I’d want to sit down with these folks.”
    Blake and others also said that a decision on passing something as monumental as a CBRO “should not be in the hands of just seven people (the council). I think it needs to go to the voters.”
    Opponent John Lawson quipped that he “wasn’t a lawyer but I’m not a dumb person, either.” He questioned how some of the provisions would affect private landowners, such as “ruining a scenic view.” He asked if he could plant an apple tree between a house and a lake, thus blocking the view of the water. “Could I go to court for this?” he asked. “I think this is an absolute insult to the elected officials in this community. We have a land use ordinance and we have shoreland zoning.”
    Some also questioned why the East-West highway wasn’t specifically mentioned in the proposed CRBO. But former town manager Dave Pearson said that the town has already approved a referendum opposing construction of the East-West corridor through the community.
    “These folks (CBRO proponents) are trying to give you the tools to do that,” he said.
    Pearson was also town manager of Sangerville when that community passed a similar ordinance at the 2014 annual town meeting. “Having being through this before, I agree that there are some points that should be discussed. But one attorney’s opinion is just that, an opinion,” Pearson said. “Bernstein-Shur discusses this as a regulatory ordinance and it’s not. It’s basically a bill of rights ordinance. These things are going on all around the country.”
    Gerry Rudmin questioned the section on “rights of natural communities and ecosystems … to exist, flourish and naturally evolve.” Rudmin said that the town office “could be defined as an ecosystem. Shouldn’t something like this (a CBRO) be coming from the town council instead of a citizen’s group?”
    Rudmin said that he didn’t want to see “the town’s financial resources wasted on frivolous lawsuits.”
    Proponent Linda Tisdale agreed that some of the language in the CRBO “needs to be clearer as to the intentions of the document.” She added that the last thing her committee wants to do “is create a document that causes division within the town. We don’t want that. We want to work with the council.”
    On a related note, the council voted to hold a public hearing at its May 14 meeting to extend the moratorium on construction of “private corridors, including paved highways, pipelines and high-tension transmission lines” for another 180 days. If passed, this would be the fourth extension of the moratorium.
    The text of the defeated CBRO is posted on www.dextermaine.org.