By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Dropping temperatures may keep beachgoers inside this time of year, but representatives from the Maine Coastal Program, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. and the Maine School of Law are just beginning to visit coastal communities for a series of public forums designed to address coastal access issues for all waterfront users including commercial fishermen and out-of-state tourists. 

Sponsored by Maine Sea Grant, Maine Coastal Program, Island Institute and the Center for Law and Innovation at the University of Maine School of Law, the first “Accessing the Maine Coast” forum at the National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells last month attracted property owners from all over York and Cumberland counties, Center for Law and Innovation Director Rita Heimes said. 

“It appeared to be folks who owned the land rather than commercial users, which was pleasantly surprising,” she said, adding that she expected more commercial fishermen to attend the next forum in Walpole on Wednesday.

Most landowners who attended the forum were frustrated with the lack of public knowledge about beach access, Heimes said. She said Maine and Massachusetts both recognize a landowner’s right to own property up to the low tide mark and often tourists from other states mistake all beachfront below the high water mark as public property, a law common in most other coastal states. 

Heimes said beachfront in Maine’s inter-tidal zone may be used for commercial fishing, fowling and navigation, however, recreational activities are not allowed despite several movements to amend what some consider “old fashioned” law. The Maine Supreme Court refused to allow recreational activities in the inter-tidal zone in 1989 and again in 2000.

“Some are of the opinion [the law] needs to be updated,” Heimes said. “[The argument is] the needs have changed over the years and [the law] should be changed to include recreational uses.”

The letter of the law may be black and white, but Heimes said often there are gray areas along Maine’s coastline when it comes to allowing beach access.

“Most landowners are happy [allowing beach access] but want people to be respectful,” she said. 

What to do when coastal visitors are not so courteous? Heimes said landowners can post “no trespassing” signs and press charges on those who ignore them, but said perhaps the best way to deal with unruly visitors is to meet with abutting property owners and establish clear guidelines for the beach.

“Using the law is expensive and not very user-friendly, it feels like politics have more of a role,” she said. “There are no perfect solutions.”

While Heimes fields legal questions from concerned property owners and users at the forums, Maine Coastal Program Senior Planner Jim Connors is looking to spread the word about various state funded programs in place to help balance coastal development with the preservation of commercial access for fishermen. He said the organization offers two grant programs through their “working waterfront” program to assist municipalities with zoning and right-of-way clarifications to help preserve access for commercial fishermen, something Saco and Scarborough officials have already begun to safeguard by developing municipally-owned facilities available for commercial, recreational and municipal use.

“These facilities allow municipalities and local fishermen to resolve their own needs,” he said.

Efforts to preserve commercial waterfront property also target coastal landowners who are commercial fishermen through a pilot program sponsored by Coastal Enterprises Inc., described by spokesman Hugh Coperthwaite as a “grass roots mix of people who have an interest in Maine’s working waterfront.” 

Coperthwaite said the organization endorsed Maine’s Working Waterfront Tax Law, which allows commercial landowners to have their coastal property assessed at a rate that does not consider the land’s value should it be redeveloped, typically resulting in lower taxes. Once enrolled in the program, the property must remain a commercial fishing facility, he said.

“We have 40 properties enrolled in the program and we want to see more,” he said. “Some landowners don’t want to enroll in the program so they retain their value for real estate companies or second homebuyers, but we need to make sure people understand this is how fishermen make their living.”

In addition to the tax program, Coperthwaite said Coastal Enterprises Inc. works closely with the state to preserve commercial fishing access by reimbursing property owners the difference in value their land could be worth as a residential development versus its current use, should they agree to maintain it as a commercial fishing facility. If a commercial fishing property is worth an estimated $750,000 but could be worth $1 million as a condominium development, Coperthwaite said the state would offer the landowner the difference – $250,000 – to keep them from redeveloping.

“We ask them to sell their rights away,” he said. “The land owner is giving up a potential for profit and the state is willing to fund that.”

To learn more about “Accessing the Maine Coast” and the participating organizations visit the forum Web site www.accessingtheMEcoast.blogspot.com.