Eastport moves one step closer toward sale of Boat School land

The City of Eastport is one step closer to being in a position to sell the land and buildings where The Boat School is located, as well as land that abuts and holds an easement access to Shackford Head State Park.
The legislature's State and Local Government Committee has unanimously recommended the emergency resolve, LD 594, that would remove the requirement for state approval should the city decide to sell the 20.8-acre parcel with buildings where the school is housed. This action clears the way for the resolve to go before the House and Senate for vote sometime by early April.
However, Senate President Kevin Raye, the resolve's sponsor, notes that the language pertaining to an easement, which allows Washington County Community College to have access to Deep Cove, has been split into a second bill in order to "ensure a title unencumbered by easement." This section is a non‑emergency bill and as such would not become law until 90 days after the legislature adjourns in June. Raye explains that he is including "retroactivity language to allow the action to be taken sooner and still be consistent with the law."
The City of Eastport may eventually sell approximately 40 acres of property located between Broad and Deep coves to David Marlow of Marlow Yachts or to another entity. Marlow is interested in a number of parcels abutting the Boat School parcel, including one of six acres and one of 11 acres, that provide access to Shackford Head State Park and include the parking area, the plaques describing historic Civil War ships burned in the cove, a stone memorial, access to Cony Beach as well as land that most unsuspecting visitors think is a part of the state park.
A map shows that the 11‑acre parcel of city‑owned land begins at the center of the parking lot circle and extends toward the headland in a swath from Broad Cove to Deep Cove to the point just about where the park's informational kiosk is located and a right‑hand turn‑off can be taken to access the Schooner Trail and a rocky outcropping that overlooks Deep Cove, the boat ramp and the salmon pens.
The access to the park itself is assured by a 50‑foot‑wide right-of-way eminent domain easement given by the city to the Bureau of Parks and Recreation in November 1989 that traces the existing road into the park and extends up the trail to where the kiosk is located.
The question of access might have been a moot point had the city and the park reached an agreement in 1996 when the city considered donating the 11‑acre parcel to the bureau to be incorporated into the state park. Letters of agreement were drafted but, for reasons that are unclear, the land transfer never took place.
Marlow's purchase proposal to the city suggests relocating the park's access route closer to Broad Cove and relocating the parking lot to land closer to the airport. However, shoreland zoning restrictions may make this difficult, and land on the Broad Cove side of the current access road is the site of disposal beds for the marine trades facility, including an easement "in perpetuity... for the purpose of installing, constructing, maintaining and replacing, when necessary, a sewage disposal system for use in connection with" the marine trades facility.
In July 1991 the City of Eastport granted the Maine Bureau of Parks and Recreation right to lease at no cost the 11‑acre parcel for 20-year terms subject to automatic renewal unless otherwise notified. The agreement states, "Any notice of termination shall provide for a meeting for discussions between officials of the city and the state, at least 90 days before the date of termination.... In the event of termination of this license of agreement, the city may immediately, or any time thereafter re‑enter and take full legal and equitable possession of all property, whether real, personal or mixed." The possession would not include the 50‑foot‑wide easement access road. The next 20‑year renewal date falls in July 2011.
City council President Bob Peacock said in a recent interview, "State park access is in there with right of way. Access to the water and to the park are critical to the city -- we've discussed this with the head of the bureau."
The Civil War ship plaques were donated to the bureau. Where they might be relocated should the city decide to sell the parcel has not been decided.

A 40‑acre gift to the people of Eastport
The formation of Shackford Head State Park in 1989 took a few years and involved the acquisition of land that had its own 100 years of complicated deed history. Over the course of time at least four different developments were planned including a grand hotel, two housing subdivisions and an oil refinery. None of the developments ever got off the ground, but the oil refinery caused rifts to develop in the community during its decades-long planning process.
But the land encompassing Shackford Head State Park is not the only parcel on the small peninsula to have a confusing history of deed transfers and access rights. At one time the 40‑acre parcel leading up to what is now the state park was known as the Cony Farm. One family member born on the farm was the Civil War hero Captain Joseph S. Cony, for whom the destroyer the USS Cony was named. In 1924 a descendant of the Cony family, Susan Lyon, gave the land to the City of Eastport for the enjoyment of its citizens as a park.
Local historian Wayne Wilcox remembers that John Pike Grady, a staunch supporter of The Boat School, had been certain that the Cony land had been deeded to the city with restrictive covenants, but that the deed was broken by the city in the 1940s for national defense. A recent search of the deed by the city's attorney, Dennis Mahar, found no restrictive covenants on the deed.
No trace of Cony Park remains today, but a few older residents still remember the pleasure of the baseball diamond, the tennis courts, the picnic grounds and fire pits. During the 1940s the U.S. Navy built the ramp still used on the Deep Cove side of the parcel, and shortly after the end of the war the city began to use the Broad Cove area of Cony Park as a city dump, in the process covering up one of the remnants of a Civil War ship that was burned near the shore after undergoing a salvage operation.
Cony Park was left to fall apart, the dump was eventually closed by the state, and in 1977 the city turned a large portion of the parcel over to Coastal Resource Center Inc. in a title swap‑back for the purpose of a marine technical trades school. The deed governing this part of the property, to this day, carries a restrictive clause, "The premises conveyed in said Second Parcel shall be used exclusively for a marine trades educational center which shall include housing for faculty and student body." Councillor Peacock says that the legal opinion of the city's attorney is, "Since it was put in by the city, so the city can take it out." He notes that Marlow is aware of the easement.

Husson's Boat School
The Boat School and the school's equipment are under the jurisdiction of Husson University and, contrary to statements in other media, cannot be sold by the city. The buildings and the land where the school is located are owned by the city, and once legislation is passed allowing the city to sell the property without further legislative approval, the citizens of Eastport, through the city council, will be able to decide what should be done with the property.
Julie Green, communications director for Husson, says that whatever happens with the buildings and the land, "The Boat School is operated under Husson's accreditation. We have the right to operate The Boat School." She notes that if Marlow or anyone else wished to run a school on the premises, they would need to seek their own accreditation.
In his meetings with the city council, Marlow had expressed an interest in building a relationship with The Boat School, but he also noted that apprenticeships or internships might be another way to maintain an educational component to his yacht repair proposal. The university has not heard recently from Marlow, but is still willing to "listen," Green says. "Our obligation and interest is in our students. We want to do what's right for the City of Eastport, Washington County." But, she explains, ultimately the university's primary concern is for the students enrolled in the current degree program. If the city were to shut down the facility or sell it, Husson would at the very least move the students to another location "to finish up the semester and one more year."
Peacock says that when the bill is passed the city "may have a two-week bid process after the property is transferred back to the city."