By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

NAPLES — It was a swimming hole that not everybody knew about on a river renowned for its pristine water quality.

It is considered the birth place of Naples, where a small industrial complex and homes were once supported by a dam on the Crooked River.

In about a week-and-a-half, the remnants of the dam on the River Road side were permanently removed. Now, the majority of the Edes Falls Dam abutments are gone.

To say that Karen Bogdan is broken hearted over the quick removal of the remains of the Edes Fall Dam is an understatement. She and her husband live in a home with an immediate view of the Crooked River. The dam was their backyard.

The Bogdans — along with other people who live in the neighborhood — attended an informational meeting on the dam removal project. The Town of Naples hosted the meeting at the American Legion Post #155 on Thursday evening.

Karen Bogdan said she felt blindsided.

“How did this go from a purely restoration project to, ‘Gee, somebody decided they need a park, an enlarged parking lot, and a monument?’ And, you consulted how many people from Edes Falls about the design of the park you are putting in,” she asked.

“If we have opposition to the building of a big park down there with an enlarged parking lot from what it was pre-dam destruction, what can we as a community, here in Edes Falls, do about that?”

Naples Town Manager Jason Rogers, who was facilitating the discussion, said a citizens’ petition was one way to put the issue to a vote and it required 239 signatures or 10% of the voting population during the last gubernatorial election.

“There aren’t even 239 voting age people in Edes Falls,” Karen Bogdan said. “We are being railroaded again. We don’t want your park. We want the land restored to what it was before the destruction. We don’t want your park in there. You decided on the whole thing.”

Toward the end of the meeting, after one hour had passed, Doug Bogdan shared his thoughts.

“I was on it last week before it came down. I’m not happy that it is all gone. I was very sad today to look out there and to see like 10 people in the water, laying down, barely covered in water. He said, ‘It sure looks pretty different, doesn’t it? I said, ‘Yeah, It used to be swimming hole. It is not a swimming hole anymore,” Doug said. 

“It looks terrible. The Town of Naples should be ashamed of themselves,” he said.

The projection was that the water level would drop 12 to 24 inches. Neighbors were citing an 18-inch drop in the depth of the river. Resident Tim Rielly said there was a two-acre wetland that is being drained as a result of the dam removal.

On Monday, Rogers assured residents that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) would look into reports of the reduction of water levels beyond the impacted area of 300 feet. The commissioner told Rogers that DEP staff would review the situation and decide how to move forward.

Informational Meeting 

The group at Thursday’s meeting were composed of people who were against what already happened and not very happy; and abutters who were pleased with the project so far. Also, there were people who faulted the town for not communicating better with residents, especially the aging population, in the area. On the other side of the coin, some citizens said it is the individual’s responsibility to keep up on municipal issues.

A man in the audience said Facebook is filled with comments about the removal of the dam. 

“A lot of people didn’t know it was going to happen,” he said.

However, the removal of some portion of the dam has been a publicly discussed plan since prior to the Pandemic, according to Town Manager Rogers.

“It didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “This goes back to 2019 when meetings first began with the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife which identified Edes Falls Dam as eligible for removal and worked with Lakes Environmental Association (LEA) to do so.”

During the Primary Election in June 2022, Naples resident voted, 424-235, to remove the dam. The measure passed by a ratio of 2 to 1, he said.

The voted-upon plan was altered following rainstorms and flooding in 2023. For safety reasons, the Naples Select Board voted to remove more of the River Road side abutment, Rogers said.

Three weeks ago, things moved quickly.

“Permits were issues and cleared through DEP. The big milestone, on June 5, we received the Army Corp of Engineers permit to commence the work. The contractor had excess capacities, so they were able to move faster. During this time, they were in between jobs, so they were able to mobilize and begin work on June 7. They were done on June 19,” Rogers said. 

“The dam removal is complete. Where we at going forward: From June to October, they will continually monitor the work site, the ground cover. They will be adding native seeds. In the September October timeframe, a landscape architect will be conducting some work to revitalize trails that are already down there and adding a monument from granite stones. I will have a conceptual drawing this autumn,” he said.

Park concept draws mixed response

Some neighbors were worried about the increased parking spaces bringing in crowds, creating more foot traffic and resulting in more trash and maintenance issues.

Neighbor Kevin Clark shared his perspective.

“I think you did a decent job. That is from someone who was dead set against it,” he said. “I wanted a small section opened up. I wanted the debris moved out. They have done good job. There is not destruction that shouldn’t have been done. It looks clean. I appreciate the kind of work you have done. You have been open about what you are doing. The dam is gone. Now, I would really like to see the work that is done on this park. When there is parking for seven cars, it doesn’t sound like thousands of people.”

Another women lamented the loss of the sound of the falls and rebelled against the idea of a park.

“We can’t do anything about the falls. The falls are no longer there. It has been destroyed. We have to move on from that,” Gail said. 

“That dam and the whole area was absolutely gorgeous,” she said, acknowledging the safety concern.

“I don’t want a park down there. That is ridiculous. We’ve got Sebago. We’ve got Long Lake. We’ve got Crystal Lake in Harrison,” she said.

Doug Bogdan provided his opinion.

“For people who have been here from the beginning will know I did not want the dam to be touched. I was happy, I mean I guess I was okay with taking away the section the townspeople voted on. Because something was going to happen. It was choice A, B or C. Then, it was the select board that was convinced that it was a hazard and it was going to fall down and kill somebody. Pieces have fallen down off the dam. It was a very old dam so I understand that,” Bogdan said.

“But the people in the town voted to do A. Then, the select board overrode that and chose to take it all. Remember who you are voting for. The select board took the vote away from you. They are the ones who were talking about how the dam was a danger to everybody. Everything in the town is a danger. You walk out on the street right now and you could get killed,” he said.

Kate Staley-Cash, who was originally opposed to the dam removal, also spoke.

“Years ago, [Former selectman] Dana Watson said the dam was unsafe and we needed to take it down. They created a committee with many, many meetings, including public meetings, letting people know step-by-step what we were going to do. We weren’t going to take it all down. Then, we realized through the storm, the whole thing is coming down,” she said.

She felt like calling the area a park isn’t accurate.

“We are talking about a sign on a granite — that’s it. There isn’t going to be any more people than there are here now,” she said, adding, “It is still beautiful.”