ELLSWORTH, Maine — The owner of two huge pieces of land at the southeast end of Green Lake has a plan to divide his property, creating 14 new home-sized lots at the scenic lake.
Roy Allen II, CEO of Allen’s Blueberry Freezer, has submitted an application for subdivision of his two properties accessible by a dirt timber road that branches off Mariaville Road. The two lots consist of more than 540 acres, and the subdivided lakefront properties — dubbed “Nevell’s Shore” — would be between 1.7 and 4.7 acres in size.
Much of Ellsworth’s shorefront property on Green Lake has been subdivided and sold off over the years, either for seasonal camps or rustic year-round cottages. The southern stretch owned by the Allen family is one of the large, intact properties with lakeside access, said Elena Piekut, Ellsworth’s assistant city planner.
“This is basically a step toward developing one of the only [Ellsworth] shorelines on the lake that isn’t yet subdivided,” she said.
Tom Nelson of the Bangor-based forest management company Prentiss & Carlisle is Allen’s agent on the process. He said the Allens, who own huge tracts of land from Downeast to Augusta, have harvested timber on the site for years.
The shorefront isn’t particularly valuable for timber harvesting, and breaking it into smaller sellable pieces made good sense, he said. After all, he said, even if the housing market is still soft, lakefront property in rural Hancock County is still a safe bet.
“This is a limited commodity,” he said. “Where are you gonna find undeveloped lots in Green Lake? … There are several folks out there already interested in these lots.”
Nelson said Allen plans to sell the properties outright to private owners for seasonal or year-round homes. An abutting vacant 1.6 acre lot has an assessed value of $119,200, according to City Assessor records.
The proposed subdivision would be accessed by an existing timber road, which is proposed to remain a private byway. Allen isn’t seeking access to any city infrastructure, indicating that each lot will be serviced by its own well and septic system.
The Planning Board will meet with Allen or his representative for subdivision review on Sept. 5. The city will notify neighboring property owners of the proposal and solicit their input.
Follow Mario Moretto on Twitter at @riocarmine.
I’d be surprised if one could buy any of those lots for 119k. Those parcels will be so close to downtown Ellsworth making them very commutable for locals who want to live at the lake. Sign me up!
Awesome news! This area could use more growth. It’s about time he did something with this.
Not a great sign for the health of the lake. This will certainly mean more gentrification of the local lakes, which is a mixed blessing. My family’s summer camp is now located between two McMansion’s with paved driveways, two car garages and Wifi. Great for the land value, but not so great for the quality of my ‘camping’ experience.
My taxes went from $750 per year to $3,700 per year in the last 8 years. It’s one acre and a 600 square foot Maine “camp”. Makes it hard to hang onto that piece of land my dad first leased from the paper company 45 years ago. Prolly have to sell to the out-a-statahs. Maine folks can’t afford to own the little pieces of heaven anymore. We will have to rent from the Massachusetts people.
My camp neighbors blowing off fireworks and riding their Sea Doo drunk at midnight irritate me more than my McMansion neighbors.The grass they plant is bad for the lake-the tar much less so. I do agree with your comment about the ‘camping’ experience though-It’s not the same.
How does Wifi affect your camping experience and how do you know if they have it?