ROCKLAND, Maine — A Washington man will restore freshwater wetlands on a lot he owns in Rockland and pay the state $3,000 to settle legal action taken against him.
The consent decree and order in the case brought by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection against Gregory Boynton was approved last month by Judge Susan Sparaco in Rockland District Court.
Boynton owns a 1-acre lot on Holmes Street, adjacent to the railroad tracks. The lot has been the subject of several land-use controversies over the decades.
In 1984, a Rockland woman had to file an appeal to the zoning board of appeals in an effort to place a mobile home on the lot. At that time, mobile homes only were allowed in trailer parks. The woman ended up not placing the home there even after winning the appeal.
In 1988, a developer proposed building a nine-unit apartment building on the vacant lot, but neighbors fought the project through a petition drive, saying it would adversely affect the neighborhood. The project ultimately was dropped, in part, because of the amount of wetlands.
Boynton acquired the lot in March 2006 from someone who owed him money for contracting work. Boynton said last fall that he had wanted to build a house on the lot for his son. He said then that he had received conflicting advice from the state and maintained he did nothing wrong.
The DEP states in its legal complaint that in June 2011, an agency employee visited the lot at Boynton’s request because Boynton wanted to know where he could build on the lot. According to the DEP, the staffer informed Boynton that he could fill in no more than 4,300 square feet, but he could not do that until he obtained a National Resources Protection Act permit from the department.
In July 2012, the department received a complaint from someone and upon inspection found that Boynton had filled in 9,438-square-feet of the lot — about one-fifth of the lot — and had not obtained a permit.
The DEP issued a notice of violation to Boynton later that month.
In November, the DEP sought to settle the case with a $3,000 penalty and restoration of the wetlands. Boynton argued against the proposal at that time but later agreed to it, and the judge signed off on the deal last month.
The restoration is to be done this year, according to the decree.