Some More Insight Into The Happening's in Lisbon from former Codes Officer

Don't wait until it's gone

By Gerald Samson

 

May 05, 2011

 

It has come to my attention that a developer is proposing an industrial park on the former Dragon pit property in Lisbon. On the surface, that sounds like a reasonable idea until you know the rest of the story.

The property is located between 250 and 300 feet from the primary source of water for the town of Lisbon. The town manager and six of the seven town councilors do not get their water from that source; maybe that's why that is not a priority for them.

Prior to leaving my position as codes officer in Lisbon two years ago, the Planning Board, with the help of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, had written a wellhead protection ordinance, had public hearings on it, etc., and was about to implement it, when the town manager handed it over to the town attorney for review.

That was two years ago and it is still being reviewed.

What they don't seem to realize is that there is a retroactive clause in the ordinance dating back at least three years. So whatever is done on the property will have to be undone if and when the ordinance sees the light of day again.

In the meantime, Lisbon residents should be prepared to deal with a potential water source problem.

As the line from the song goes, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."

Gerald Samson, Buckfield