Politics
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The Kingfield Select Board voted Monday to pursue zoning violations against Deer Farm Campground in an effort to stop a Christian men’s group from holding mass camping retreats in the rural town.
The board’s order targets Legendarios, an evangelical men’s ministry that has drawn complaints of noise, trespassing and unpermitted construction since it began hosting retreats at the campground last summer. It could cap any future gathering at the site’s 36 approved campsites, enough to hold just a fraction of the more than 700 campers the group counted at a large event this summer.
It marked the town’s first official step in a monthslong fight to stop members of the Boston chapter of Legendarios, founded 10 years ago in Guatemala, have held four retreats at Deer Farm since last summer, during which residents say members chanted, barked and marched through the woods.
After residents complained about the noise and alleged trespassing by members of the Legendario’s Boston chapter, Kingfield’s attorney recommended the town cite the owners of Deer Farm Campground, who hosted the events, for a trio of zoning violations.
At Monday’s meeting, the Select Board said it would notify the campground that it had reopened last year without Planning Board permission after previously shutting down, expanded without a required site plan review, and violated state sanitation rules by hosting more campers than allowed.
“This has resulted in [16] months of escalating disturbances reported by local residents. Key concerns include severe noise … and documented instances of trespass and unpermitted timber cutting on abutting private and municipal lands,” Town Manager Leanna Targett said in a statement prepared for Monday’s meeting.
The town aims to settle the violations with a demand that the owners of the campground limit future attendance to 36 approved campsites. To return with an event resembling the mass worship sessions the group held this summer, the Legendarios will need town approval.
A Legendarios representative has previously denied allegations of trespassing and said the group had no intention of cutting new trails and said the group intended to build local support before returning to the western Maine town known for its proximity to the Sugarloaf ski resort.
Lance Dutson, a longtime Republican political operative who lives across a small pond from the campground, helped organize the local response to Legendarios.
“This is a huge relief for all of us who have had to deal with this issue for the last two years,” he said.
Reached Tuesday by phone Kevin LeCompte, the owner of Deer Farm Campground, called some claims of disruption by the group “trumped-up fictitious allegations.” Now lacking income from the group’s business, he blamed Dutson for stirring up the controversy, saying “everything was wonderful, and one guy bitched.”
“I’m sure everyone’s happy,” he said of his neighbors.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.