Togus Pond
The bridge and the informal hand-bear gunkhole launch, elevation center, into Lower Togus Pond, seen Midweek on the southward side of Road 105 in Augusta. The shoulder of road on both sides of bridge betwixt the ponds is a pop spot to park vehicles to fish or launch boats. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photograph
AUGUSTA — The country's get-go fully accessible family unit fishing area is coming to Togus Pond.
A new state boat launch — and what officials said will be the country'due south get-go fully accessible family unit angling surface area — was approved by Augusta's Planning Board Tuesday night, though not without objections during the online coming together. Numerous campsite and homeowners expressed concern the improved public access will bring unwanted activity to the publicly-endemic bounding main.
Board members and state officials said the additional boat traffic on Togus Swimming will exist negligible because the new launch to exist built on Hurley Lane, off South Belfast Artery, will merely have parking spaces for seven vehicles with trailers. In addition, they said, other improvements planned at the site will brand an already popular fishing spot safer and more attainable for families and people with mobility bug, including those without a gunkhole.
Information technology will besides provide a public boat launch on a body of water now only accessible to motor-boaters via a gunkhole launch endemic past the local lake association and accessed via a locked gate.
"We don't accept a facility similar this in the state, that's what we're actually excited about," said Diano Circo, chief planner for the country Section of Inland Fisheries & Wild fauna. "Nosotros've been trying to get some kind of public access there for nearly 30 years. We designed this facility from the ground up to be an accessible, family fishing place.
"It'south sort of already being used in that way. What we're trying to do is make clean upward the site to brand it safer," he added. "We're trying to requite people access to a body of h2o they own."
Numerous Togus Pond belongings owners objected — by email, by phone to urban center staff or via an online chat system — as the Augusta Planning Board debated the proposal for about ii hours Tuesday.
The informal mitt-bear gunkhole launch, bottom right, into Lower Togus Pond, seen Wed on the south side of Route 105 in Augusta. At that place is a proposal to accept seven parking spaces at that place and beyond the bridge on banks of Togus Swimming at top left. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photo
They expressed concerns the new boat launch volition bring unwanted additional motorboat and jet ski traffic to the pond. More than traffic, some said, could bring the invasive milfoil into a water body that so far hasn't been infested with the troublesome plant. Other concerns raised include boaters unfamiliar with the water body hitting unseen rocks and increased pollution.
"Information technology affects all of Togus Pond," Robin Dobbins, who owns a South Belfast Avenue home most the project site, said in the online chat. "Less boats the better. Lots of waves coming with more boats."
Circo said the local lake association, Worromontogus Lake Clan, could asking boat inspectors at the site to watch for boaters putting in with milfoil on their watercraft. He said that is something for which the state Section of Environmental Protection may provide some funding.
He also said there are more than 100 houses and camps on the pond, nearly of which accept boats, so the addition of vii motorboats from the new launch would not be a significant increase to the number already operating at that place.
Residents too were upset the projection went to the Planning Lath in a Zoom video coming together, making it more difficult for them to weigh in. City meetings in Augusta have been taking place via Zoom due to the social distancing and mass gathering restrictions put in place due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
"This should be tabled until you can have a public forum where residents of Togus Swimming are able to vocalism their opinions," pond property owner Greg Trask said in the online conversation. "A lot of people do not know how to sentinel online or make contact with the planning board and nearly of the states only heard about this today."
At least one property owner on the swimming expressed support for the project.
"My family have been on the lake since the 60s and I favor this plan," Ernie Jost said in the conversation. "The current apply on the road is too dangerous. This will help."
The South Belfast Artery site is an area already used by fisherman, who now fish from the edge of the roadway, or launch canoes and kayaks by manus. Circo joked you can come across how pop the line-fishing area is already by looking at all the fishing lures stuck in overhead power lines.
Geese swim Wednesday in Lower Togus Pond, past an informal hand-carry boat launch on the south side of Route 105 in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal Buy this Photograph
He said the new setup will exist much safer, with fishing platforms, sidewalks and crosswalks.
The land Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife purchased 4 separate parcels, totaling almost 40 acres, abutting both Togus Pond and Lower Togus Pond on both sides of South Belfast Avenue, which is besides Route 105.
State officials, in awarding materials filed with the city, wrote that the state surface area near the Togus Stream Bridge where the site is located is currently used for vehicle parking, fishing and launching small boats at three unimproved boat launching sites and that heavy use has caused shoreline erosion. The application also notes the current utilise of the area creates a safety take chances due to roadside parking on the gravel shoulders and "uncontrolled pedestrian movements."
Most of the evolution would have place on a wooded holding on the north side of South Belfast Avenue, off Hurley Lane, a private dirt road that would exist shared with an existing individual residence.
The proposal would:
• Add together a 24-human foot wide boat launch, accessible by people with disabilities, for boats on trailers on Togus Pond with boarding floats and a new parking lot with room for vii vehicles and trailers.
• Provide 2 12-pes-wide hand-carry gunkhole launches, ane each on Togus and Lower Togus, each with boarding floats.
• Add 2 parking areas with a total of 17 spaces to serve the hand-comport launches fishing areas and extending guardrails.
• Provide fishing platforms accessible past people with disabilities.
• Install sidewalks, crosswalks and casting platforms on both sides of the existing span.
• Reduce existing shoreline erosion with the new sidewalks every bit well every bit retaining walls.
Project plans do not include any buildings, only portable toilets would be provided on the site.
The work is expected to cost near $500,000, with 75% of the cost coming from federal funds, collected in taxes from sale of angling and related equipment. The remainder will be paid for with state funds dedicated to improving access to public waters.
A recreational area is a conditional use in the zones where the site is located.
Planning Lath fellow member Peter Pare said he is an avid fisherman and has been waiting for years for access to Togus Pond. He offered to recuse himself from the vote but did not do so after other board members said that was not necessary.
"What I recall is wonderful about this project is information technology's going to be a family friendly area," Peel said before the vote. "Information technology's going to be able to introduce a lot more people, kids, people with mobility issues to this surface area, and help kids appreciate the value of fishing and protecting waterways."
The approving included allowing 2 of the parking lots to be congenital nigh 50 anxiety from the shore, a waiver of the unremarkably required 100-foot setback. The board is allowed, under city zoning rules, to reduce the 100-foot requirement to l feet.
In a staff review of the proposal, Deputy Metropolis Planner Betsy Poulin writes that the trailered gunkhole launch lot is water-dependent and allowing it to be 50 feet from the shore would help keep information technology away from a vernal pool and wetlands. The review also noted the hand-carry launch parking lot being within 100 feet of the shore would reduce the distance to the handicap accessible ramp, allow for meliorate stormwater flow and provide separation from traffic.
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Source: https://www.centralmaine.com/2020/05/13/new-state-boat-launch-accessible-family-fishing-area-approved-for-togus-pond-in-augusta/
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