GLENBURN, Maine — After several years of making it available to the general public, town officials reluctantly have decided to limit access to a popular recreation spot on Pushaw Lake.
As of this month, Lakeside Landing is reserved for residents, property taxpayers and their guests, Town Manager Michael Crooker said Thursday.
Crooker said that the Town Council’s decision last month to limit access to Lakeside Landing was the result of bad behavior on the part of some beachgoers.
Local officials formed a working group two years ago after residents complained that the atmosphere of Lakeside Landing took a turn for the worse in the summer of 2013, when the town eliminated the former permit system.
Lakeside Landing formerly was reserved for Glenburn residents and property owners and their guests, who would pay a nominal fee for permits entitling them to access to the beach, Crooker said.
Amenities at the town-owned facility include a beach, a boat launch, picnic tables, horseshoe pits, a float with a slide for swimmers and as of this year, a swing set.
After the beach opened up to nonresidents, he said, the town began fielding complaints about parking problems, overcrowding and unleashed dogs that would end up in the swimming area and then relieve themselves.
There also were reports of fireworks, which aren’t allowed in Glenburn’s town parks, drinking and drug use, foul language and vandalism. Crooker said the picnic tables needed to be fished out of the lake several times a year. And that’s when they weren’t cut up for firewood.
One one occasion two summers ago, Crooker said at that time, town staff needed to fetch the float from the other side of the lake after it mysteriously became unattached from its tethers.
Informal spot checks of who has been using Lakeside Landing since it was opened to everyone found that roughly 85 percent of those visiting were neither residents nor property taxpayers, Crooker said.
Residents and taxpayers who wish to frequent Lakeside Landing this year may do so upon obtaining a $2 permit from the town that is good for a year, while their guests can obtain seven-day permits for $2, he said.