By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

The South Portland Land Trust held a debate Oct. 22 to allow council candidates to speak their minds on topics related to the environment, including open space, fees for access, pesticides and growth.
Questions were taken from the public, the South Portland Dog Owners Group, Save Willard Beach, Share Willard Beach and other organizations.
All three council candidates from District 3 were present: Chris Kessler, Rosemarie DeAngelis and Gary Crosby, as well as incumbent Maxine Beecher from District 4.
The candidates agreed on the need for acquiring as much open land as possible.
Caroline Hendry a former member of South Portland’s Open Space Committee, reviewed presrvation of open spaces for public use in 2001.  She said that in 2001 South Portland had 23 lots of open space available, and now  only 10 lots remain open.
“It’s shocking to realize how much we have lost,” said Beecher.
The candidates were quick to point out that the lack of acquired land was due, in part, to little available money for open land to be purchased.
 South Portland has a land bank that acquires and preserves open spaces in the city. Currently 5 percent of the sales tax from the sale of open and developed parcels of land goes into the land bank, but the council is considering changing the percent going to the land trust.  The council wants to deposit 100 percent of open spaces sales tax and 50 percent of developed spaces sales tax into the land bank account, of which DeAngelis was the sole supporter among the candidates.
The other three candidates felt 100 percent of the taxes in question is a lot because the sales tax currently is split into a number of different sectors in the city, including open spaces.
All candidates were against charging a fee to access to public places in South Portland during the summer.
“Charging people to use public spaces takes away from the fun,” Kessler said.
Tom Ayres of Share Willard Beach asked about a ban on pesticides in public areas of the city because runoff could contain toxins.  All were in favor of a public ban and Crosby, Kessler, and DeAngelis also supported looking into banning pesticides in private areas use due to their harmful effects.
Kessler and DeAngelis were in full in support of allowing dogs on Willard Beach during the hours currently on the books. Crosby, who spearheaded the referendum question that will be on the ballot this election that curtails the times dogs are allowed, spoke against the current hours. Beecher stayed neutral, saying only that she was happy the issue will be resolved by voters.
Sarah Greeney, a professor at Southern Maine Community College, turned the debate in a different direction by asking how to stop young people from leaving the state at a rapid pace.  
Beecher said, “Kids want to venture away, most of them end up coming back to South Portland.”
Crosby, who came up to Maine to attend Southern Maine Community College  (SMMC) when it was still a technical school,  said the lack of jobs in the area may be the reason for the exodus.
DeAngelis, who is also a teacher at SMCC, said she tried to help by giving her students opportunities to shadow business leaders for a day so the students can see firsthand how to work in a professional setting.
    
Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.