Phippsburg Town Officials Act to Allow Irresponsible and Illegal Development At Popham

Superior Court Confirms Phippsburg Board of Appeals Violates our Right to Due Process (a Constitutional Right!)

Actions taken by town officials have resulted twice in litigation by my family against the town. The first case involved secret meetings between the Phippsburg Board of Appeals and a neighbor/developer who wanted to build two houses on a lot which is allowed only one under current town ordinances.

The applicant had already built one house on a 22,000 square foot lot which was listed on the application as being a 40,000 square foot lot. Questions about how that first construction was allowed resulted in the retroactive grandfathering of the lot as a buildable lot in order to fit the permit issued. The town never checked the information contained in this permit, or it decided not to object to the false statements contained in it. The information contained in the building permit application was false. The town allowed the permit to stand with no penalty to the developer for submitting what seem to me to be false statements of fact in that application. See that application here. The lot is 22,000 square feet and is listed and has been listed as being so in the town's tax records.

A subsequent zoning variance for a second lot by the same developer circumvented the current zoning requirements for lot size in allowing for buildable lots where only one should be allowed under current zoning. We argued that we had been denied due process in that neither we, as abutting property owners were never notified of any meetings on the matter of a variance being issued for that property abutting our own taking place. That case was judged in our favor. That case is explained and the text of the court's decision included for all to read here: Popham Beach Court Decisions . If you have any connection to Popham Beach, the town of Phippsburg, or the State of Maine, these activities should be of interest to you because they affect the way in which the town has allowed permitting of development beyond existing allowable zoning laws, and in in areas which are supposed to be protected natural resource zones.

Look at the pictures of the development that has been allowed here. Please let me know if you have seen any other development in Phippsburg which; 1) has allowed septic systems in areas which regularly flood or that have been installed IN wetlands; 2) any instances where variances have been granted on property abutting your own with no direct written notice of hearings to discuss the variance; 3) may have had sewage failures that have resulted from dubious initial permitting in inappropriate areas which abut your property but wghich the town refused to investigate when brought to their attention: 4) Any building in any areas which have wetlands closer than 250 feet from the building site: 5) has occured in areas which you may have asked about permitting activity but were told that none was being or could be permitted (there is a house being built in Winnegance on a site which I was told by the town CEO could NEVER be permitted septics: it has received a variance from the state for septics issued to a member of the Phippsburg planning board)