EASTPORT, Maine — The state’s highest court has upheld a lower court decision that essentially authorized the city of Eastport’s sale of the boat school property.
Eastport residents Phyllis Bradbury and David Gholson filed suit against the city in 2011, claiming the city did not properly advertise the sale of the 17-acre oceanfront property before selling it for $300,000 to First Perry Realty and CPM Constructors on Dec. 1, 2011.
As part of the transaction, the buyers gave 8 acres to the Friends of the Boat School Marine Trades Development Corporation and donated $75,000 to the city to relocate the public boat access.
Bradbury and Gholson appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court after losing their case in Washington County Superior Court.
“We conclude that the record presented on summary judgement demonstrates that the actions taken by the City Council sufficiently ‘advertised’ the sale within the meaning of the Eastport City Charter then in effect,” reads Tuesday’s ruling from the high court.
Attorney Dennis L. Mahar of Calais, who represented Eastport, said Tuesday afternoon, “We’re very, very glad the Maine supreme court felt as we did.”
The lawsuit cost her clients “quite a bit of money” only to get this “unfortunate result,” said attorney Kristin M. Collins of Belfast, who represented Bradbury and Gholson.
She said an appeal would have to go to the U.S. Supreme Court, and her clients don’t have the means to appeal to that level.
Attorney Paul M. Koziell of Portland, representing First Perry Realty and CPM Constructors, could not be reached for comment.
The city began negotiating with Marlow Yachts in 2010 after Husson University announced it would no longer lease the oceanfront property to run a boat school. In July 2011, however, Marlow Yachts informed the city it was no longer interested in acquiring the 17 acres, plus an additional 23 acres of property, for $850,000.
Articles on the failed negotiations appeared in publications in Boston, Portland, Bangor and in local newspapers as well as trade, yachting and specialty publications, the justices wrote in their Jan. 26 judgment.
“Thus, the summary record demonstrates that the public was made aware of the nature and location of the property and of the city’s plan to sell it by the summer of 2011,” reads the ruling.
The city held public meetings in August and September that year in which the eventual sale of the 17 acres to First Perry Realty and CPM Constructors was discussed. The council accepted the offer from First Perry Realty after a “lengthy public comment,” the judgment reads.
“The City Council took adequate measures to publicly advertise both its authorization of the city manager to execute documents and the sale of the property itself,” the justices concluded.