By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Too much of a good thing?

That golden sand makes nice beaches but when the sand shifts into the water, it can ruin a perfectly good swimming spot. That is the case with Crescent Lake Beach.

In order to revive the swim area, the Town of Casco may consider applying for a permit to dredge.

Last week, the Casco Select Board held a goals workshop. Topping the list was making Pleasant Lake Beach more accessible as well as reducing erosion.

Also, the workshop was also an opportunity for one select board member to bring up another town beach that could use some TLC. Mary-Vienessa Fernandes expressed concerns about the town beach at Crescent Lake.

“I went by Crescent Lake Beach. There is no beach there. No boats. No swimmers. All I could see was sand,” Fernandes said.

Casco Town Manager Anthony “Tony” Ward explained.

“If you look where the culvert was put in, you will find there is a lot of silt and sand. What it is doing is just filling in the beach area,” Ward said. “Do we have a dialogue with the DEP on dredging the area? You have lost several inches and feet of water based to silt-sand flow.”

The Department of Environmental Protection must be consulted for that project, he said. 

“Dredging is a conversation we might want to have with the DEP to clean that area up for our future generations,” Ward said.

Improving Pleasant Lake Beach — another town-owned piece of property — did land on the top of the goal’s list. 

“The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved that one project that the board wasn’t comfortable moving forward with. So, that has been stopped, basically is where that one is,” Ward said.

Selectman Robert MacDonald spoke.

“Are we losing any of the beach because we haven’t done anything? There was a purpose to do it,” he said.

Ward responded, “Does the beach need up a grade? Yes.” 

He mentioned the project began before he took on the town manager position. 

“My understanding is: The original plan proposed by Mike Morse who was the contracted engineer for that was substantially changed by DEP for any approval. It limited access and changed the whole dynamic of what the beach would have been,” he recapped.

The town has a DEP-approved plan as well as the funding, Ward said, if the select board desired to move forward.

“You could move forward, but it would have to be with that plan or we would have to go back to the DEP for different permitting if you want to go down that route,” he said.

Vice-chair Grant Plummer was  

“Let’s move forward with project and revisit the accessibly section of that plan with them (DEP) only. Just that one section of it,” he said.

“It is a fantastic opportunity for the town to have an accessible waterfront for any person who wanted to go and use the waterfront. The proximity to the road and parking and minimal site plan issues for us to be able to get people with disabilities to the water’s edge. It’s the perfect place to do it,” Plummer said. “It’s perfect fall-time-type work. Let’s revisit that if we can.”

Plummer summarized the plan, which he referred to as “fantastic.”

“Essentially, just behind the chainlink fence, it would drop the grade with a small retaining wall, and remove the retaining wall that’s at water’s edge right now,” he said. “The problems that we saw with the DEP’s plan — they had inserted three or four steps over the grade to transition down to lake. I think we can accomplish that without steps. We could do a ramp instead.”

He was enthuised enough about the project that he volunteered to be involved. It helps that through his business, Fieldstone Builders, Inc., he has some experience working in the shoreland zone.