Category Archives: Association News

Posts about Clary Lake Association stuff.

14 April 2019: Ice Out!

Finally, Clary Lake is ice free! I know most of you on the north and northwest shores have had open water for the better part of a week, but ice persisted on the south and east sides until yesterday. Even this morning (picture at left) there was still a large raft of ice down by the State boat launch, which largely disappeared by noon. While ice out seemed to take forever this year, the median date for ice out is April 13th (half occur before and half occur after that date) so we’re really right about on schedule. Ice out means ALL the ice is melted. Check out our Ice-In and Ice-Out page which has records going back to 2001.

Let the boating begin!

05 April 2019: Test #1 Of Email Alert System Sent

Yesterday I posted that we were going to start testing our “Lake Shore Owner Notification System” soon. This afternoon I actually sent the first of likely several test emails to Clary Lake shore owners and Clary Lake Association members. This mailing went out to 132 people and so far at least, there have been no bounces.

If you think you should have received an email but didn’t, first check your spam folder and if you find it there, just tell your email program that it isn’t spam! Another possibility is that we don’t have your email address on file. If that’s the case, please email me and I’ll add your address to our list. If you’re one of the few people left who really don’t have an email address, relax: I’ll be sending around a test postcard sometime next week. I’ve also created a simple Google Spreadsheet to keep track of the alerts and have added an Email Alert System page with information about the system. You can also sign up for E-Alerts.

Stay tuned. The fun is just beginning.

04 April 2019: Testing of Lake Shore Owner Notification System to Start Soon

Now that the lake level staff gauge installation has been approved by DEP, the remaining requirement of the Clary Lake Water Level Order already under way but yet to be completed is a Water Level Management Plan [WLMP], defined in Special Condition #5 of the WLO. The Board has been working on it off and on for most of the winter and it is now in the final review stage. We’ll make it available as soon as it is finished and has been approved by the DEP. Copies will also be posted at the Whitefield and Jefferson Town Offices.

One of the requirements of the WLMP is that we develop a procedure for alerting people 1) of possible flooding events and 2) repair or maintenance procedures on the dam that are expected to appreciably affect lake levels. We propose to 1) post notices on this website and on Facebook and 2) send email notices to those people for whom we have email addresses and by postcard to those people without email. We’re in the process of setting up this notification system now and will start testing it in the near future. I’ll soon be adding a page on this site to keep track of water level related events and notices sent. Continue reading →

02 April 2019: Midcoast Conservancy to Offer Informational Meeting on Browntail Moths

We have a growing Browntail Moth problem in our area. Several people around Clary Lake have recently brought the problem to my attention. They’ve been around a while, so you may be familiar with them already. If not, you should familiarize yourselves with these critters. They’re nasty. Besides being bad for the trees (primarily Oaks, but they infest other varieties), the caterpillars have tiny hairs which can cause serious problems for people. Our area has until recently been considered a “Low Risk” area for Browntails, but from my recent observations it sure looks like they’re rapidly becoming a significant problem. Continue reading →

30 March 2019: Fire Spreads to Multiple Buildings at N.C. Hunt Lumber

N.C. Hunt Lumber Company on Route 215 in Jefferson suffered a major loss due to fire that apparently started late last night. Fire crews from Jefferson and surrounding towns were still there this morning pumping water out of Clary Lake. Here’s an article from the online version of the Lincoln County News:

Fire Destroys Sawmill at N.C. Hunt Lumber in Jefferson, Business Plans to Rebuild

DSC_6269I stopped down this morning when I heard about the fire, and took the photograph at left of fire trucks pumping water out of Clary Lake. We have been planning for some time to install a dry fire hydrant at this location. Fortunately, the lake is almost full and they were able to get plenty of water or they might have lost more structures in the fire. 

NCHunt_Fire-03-30-2019Jack Holland sent me a the drone photo at left which I believe was taken by Mark Allen. You can clearly see the main sawmill structure and associated buildings are totally gone. It is amazing they didn’t lose more structures.

This is very unfortunate. Norman Hunt has donated generously to the Clary Lake Association in the past. We wish him the best of luck in rebuilding.

15 March 2019 Central Maine Papers: Whitefield lakeside property owners not entitled to monetary damages over low water, court rules

Central Maine Papers staff reporter Jessica Lowell has written an article about the Rubin v. Smith lawsuit.

Lake side property owners not entitled to monetary damages over low water

Here’s a link to an archived copy if you have trouble getting off the newspaper site:

03 March 2019: Judge Rules In Rubin Lawsuit In Favor of Smith

IMG_20150828_155836 (Custom)On February 22, 2019, Justice Billings finally ruled in the Rubin/Ayer v. Smith/Aquafortis Associates [AQF] lawsuit, finding in favor of Richard Smith. At the start of the litigation back in January 2016 (see Clary Lake Shore Owners Rubin & Ayer File Suit in Superior Court), both Paul Kelley and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC [PPM] were defendants in the suit along with Richard Smith and AQF but first PPM and then Kelley subsequently filed for bankruptcy, staying the civil suit against them. Rubin and Ayer decided to pursue a judgment against only Richard Smith and AQF. They almost won, which is to say, they lost. There were a lot of very interesting elements in the suit, I’ve followed it closely since it was filed, and I testified when it went to hearing on December 20th (see Update on Rubin v. Smith Lawsuit). I have not written about the case much on this website, at the request of Bob Rubin who told me he did not want the publicity. In any case, here’s the Judge’s Order:

At the risk of over-simplifying the case, Rubin and Ayer basically had to prove three things, 1) that their use and enjoyment of their property was impacted due to low water conditions and that their property value had been damaged, 2) that Richard Smith was personally liable for the actions of AQF (a procedure referred to as “piercing the corporate veil”) and 3) that AQF and PPM were effectively alter egos of each other, in other words, one and the same and hence AQF/Smith should be held liable for the operation (or lack thereof) of the dam. Continue reading →

22 February 2019: Whitefield Library Association to Purchase Arlington Grange

Two years ago the Whitefield Library Association was formed and moved into Whitefield’s historic Arlington Grange Hall. This structure, built in 1884, has acted as a community gathering space in various capacities over the past 135 years and is a heartwarming symbol of rural American civic engagement. The Whitefield Library Association has begun fundraising to purchase the building and set up a fully functioning community library on the bottom floor and a vibrant community center on the second floor. Check out the new website!

Purchase & Renovation Effort

24 January 2019: Kelley, Smith, Duncan File Comments on AQF Appeal

The deadline for submitting written comments on Aquafortis Associates LLC’s appeal of the DEP Order transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association was Tuesday, 22 January 2019 at 5:00 PM (see “Aquafortis Appeals CLA License Transfer“). Only Butch Duncan commented on the actual license transfer application so therefore, according to the Notice of Appeal, he was the only one entitled to submit written comments on the appeal. He did not disappoint, submitting a short email to the Service List just after 3 PM on Tuesday. Per the Notice of Appeal, the Clary Lake Association was also entitled to comment, and we did by our letter dated January 4th. Much to my surprise (just kidding!) verbose comments were also submitted at the last minute by Paul Kelley (a total of 79 pages) and Richard Smith (a total of 37 pages). Continue reading →

O5 January 2019: Clary Lake Association Responds to Aquafortis Appeal of License Transfer

Back on December 26th I posted about Aquafortis Associates LLC appealing the recent DEP Order #L-22585-36-F-T transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association. CLA President Malcolm Burson has in turn responded to the appeal with a short, succinct 1 page letter:

Ho hum. That is all.

26 December 2018: Aquafortis Appeals CLA License Transfer

In a move that should surprise no one, Richard Smith of Aquafortis Associates LLC [AQF] has formally appealed the Department of Environmental Protection’s decision to approve our application to transfer the Clary Lake Water Level Order to our organization. The appeal of the December 6th Department Order #L-22585-36-F-T was filed “in a timely manner” with the Board of Environmental Protection [BEP] on December 11th, the same day I posted that our license transfer application had been approved. This appeal can only be viewed as ongoing harassment of the Association by Paul Kelley and Richard Smith and a continued attack on Clary Lake, and the Clary Lake Water Level Order. One wonders what they can possibly hope to accomplish with this appeal save wasting our time and that of the DEP and the BEP? It appears the following email I received from DEP on December 13th is in fact the formal appeal: Continue reading →

24 December 2018: Water Over the Weir

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Totally Staged Photo of George Fergusson posing at the gate. Colin Caissie actually did all the heavy cranking.

I had intended to post some news and pictures on the dam repairs before now but I have been out straight and only now, the day before Christmas, have I found the time to sit down and do it. Last Tuesday workers with PCS removed the concrete forms and pulled some sandbags. They came back the next day to clean up and load up the rest of their gear and materials, bringing to completion the initial repairs to the Clary Lake dam. That afternoon, Colin Caissie completed fabrication of a wrench to operate the gate, and we wasted no time in closing it. Part of the rush was the anticipated rain forecast for Friday: we really wanted to capture the runoff! Here are a few pictures from when we closed the gate, and a video of water flowing over the weir: Continue reading →

15 December 2018: Dam Repairs Completed!

DSC_6115On Friday December 14th, 2018 the PCS crew finished forming up the original log sluice gate in the middle of the dam and poured concrete, bringing to completion the major repairs to the Clary Lake dam. I can hardly believe it’s really happened! So many things had to go just right for this to happen now, from the lack of rain and snow over the last 2 weeks to the rising temperatures on the day of the pour. So much could have gone wrong, it really is a miracle. If the lake level hadn’t dropped enough and if the temperature hadn’t finally moderated, we’d still be waiting, and who knows when conditions would have permitted the repairs to be finished? It was only 4 days ago that I posted that dam repairs have resumed. All told this final phase of effort took 5 full days, made all the more difficult by the brutally cold temperatures for the first 4 days of the week. Here are some more pictures that tell this latest chapter in the story: Continue reading →

11 December 2018: Dam Repairs Resume!

DSC_6070Repair work on the Clary Lake dam has been on hold for a few weeks while we waited for the water level behind the dam to fall enough to allow work to resume. We weren’t sure if a sufficient work-window was going to open, but fortunately, the 2-storms-a-week weather pattern that dropped 7″ of rain on us in November has given way to good old fashioned cold, dry, Maine December weather, and the water level behind the dam started to fall rapidly. At the beginning of the month there was over a foot of water flowing through the open weir. By last Sunday morning, the water depth was down to a little over 3″ and dropping, and with a possible large rain event forecast for next weekend, Rick Pease of PCS Construction decided it was time to resume work.

A1Monday morning they started the day by filling sandbags (at left), and in the afternoon they constructed a small cofferdam to block water from flowing through the open outlet weir. There was a little leakage so this morning they draped a plastic sheet over the sandbags to stop the leaking. Then they built a tent around the work area and installed a portable propane heater to keep it warm. They then got to work finishing removing the old blocks of concrete fascia that formed the original log weir and constructing the steel rebar structure that will reinforce the concrete weir they’re building. The plan is to have it formed up and ready to pour concrete this coming Friday, and just in time too, as a large rain event is forecast for next weekend.

Here are a few pictures of the start of this next and final phase of effort:

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[Show slideshow]

You can see all the pictures in the Fall 2018 Gallery.

This is so exciting I can hardly stand it 🙂

11 December 2018: Clary Lake Water Level Order Transfer Complete

We are pleased to announce that the Department of Environmental Protection has approved the transfer of the Clary Lake Water Level Order from Pleasant Pond Mill LLC to the Clary Lake Association. There was never really any question that the Department would approve the license transfer given that the State openly endorsed our effort to purchase the dam from Kelley’s bankruptcy estate, but it is nonetheless very nice to have this matter behind us. The WLO which was appealed right after it was issued in late January 2014, was upheld by the Lincoln County Superior Court in a ruling issued February 26, 2016. Now, if someone complains about how we’re managing the lake level, we will simply say we’re obeying the Order and if they don’t like it, they can take it up with the DEP.

As usual with DEP rulings, aggrieved parties have 30 days (from December 7th) to appeal the decision. Good luck with that! The chances of it being overturned are ZERO.

30 November 2018: Water Level Order Transfer Update

Since closing on the dam property back on October 13th, the Clary Lake Association Board has been out straight trying to get the dam repaired, the old underground storage tank removed, and the Water Level Order transferred over to the Clary Lake Association. The repairs are underway, the tank is gone, and the license transfer is moving forward.

We submitted the license transfer application to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) back on October 22nd and it was accepted for processing by the Department on October 26th. Anyone with a good reason had until the end of the day on November 16th to file a request with the Department for a public hearing on the application. Not surprisingly, two parties did make such a request: Richard Smith (on behalf of Aquafortis Associates LLC) and Butch Duncan. Also not surprisingly, we received word today that both requests for a public hearing have been denied:

The outcome of these attempts to interfere with the transfer of the Clary Lake Water Level Order from PPM to CLA was never in question, and I expect a satisfactory decision on our license transfer application in the near future.