The owners of an Orland campground have been ordered this month to pay $8,000 in fines over 20 campsites that violated town development ordinances.
The owners of Wanderin’ Moose Campground, which sits on the shore of Toddy Pond in Hancock County, have been in a multi-year dispute with the town of Orland after adding 20 unsanctioned campsites that were not part of their original approved site plan, according to court documents. The town alleged that the campground violated local laws about cutting down shoreland-adjacent trees and installing professionally-graded sanitary waste piping and electrical hook ups.
The Orland campground — which offers an unspecified number of tent sites, 10 full hookup RV units and 12 water and electrical sites — is owned by Norman Jacques Jr., Michael Jacques and Aline Jacques, each of whom are listed as defendants in the case.
“You don’t own the land, you rent it,” Norman Jacques Jr. said Friday. “We’ve worked our whole lives for this and this is what the town comes in and does.”
Although the owner technically does own the land, he said the town’s overreach over how many trees he should plant and the way he installs sanitary waste piping and electrical systems has left him with little authority over his property.
A Hancock County judge found the family in contempt of court on Oct. 7 after they failed to meet conditions agreed upon in a 2025 consent order with the town. Norman Jacques Jr., who is representing himself in the matter, said he wasn’t aware he was acceding to a consent agreement at the time of his signing.
Since the judge’s latest order, Norman Jacques Jr., who has owned the Leisure Way land since 1986 but opened the campground in 2005, said he is left with no choice but to satisfy the terms of the agreement by June 2027, as stipulated by the court. The owners risk being charged $137,000 if they fail to do so, according to the contempt order.
Patrick Lyons, an attorney for the town, said Friday the owners had failed to comply with two consent agreements over the last three years.
Lyons, on behalf of the town, asked the court to order the owners to pay $113,000 in fines — which is in line with state statutes for land use enforcement actions — though the judge refused to do so, saying such “crippling fees” would guarantee the owners would not be able to satisfy the agreement.
“The town never wanted it to come to this: the town’s goal all alone is just to protect the resources and bring it into compliance,” Lyons said. “Had the property owner done so initially, this all could have been avoided.”
The case, filed in Ellsworth District Court, dates back to September 2023 when the town’s code enforcement officer learned the campground had violated two local ordinances, according to court documents. Though the owners failed to correct the violations, they did pay $5,000 to the town.
But since then, the Jacques’ only completed some of the stipulations outlined in that consent agreement. The owners were required to hire a licensed forester, electrician and sanitary waste professional to meet the agreements’ conditions.
“I’m trying to run a family business — we work our butts off — and they’re mad because I do all the work myself,” Norman Jacques Jr. said. “We can’t afford to hire people to do work: we’re Mainers, we do stuff ourselves. But, because it’s commercial, you can’t do that.”
The owners hired a forester to design a reforestation plan, but it has not been fully implemented, according to the contempt order. The family did not have enough money to complete the plan, which would have cost roughly $71,000, Norman Jacques Jr. said. The Jacques’ planted 76 of the 142 trees that were required by the plan.
“Similarly, the defendants have not hired a licensed professional to design or document the underground sanitary waste piping and hook ups for the 20 campsites that were on the premises, illegally,” the order says. “Rather, they put in pipes on their own and covered them with dirt to protect the pipes without the input of a licensed professional or a plan.”
The owners said they were unable to afford to hire a licensed professional to install an underground sanitary waste piping system for the 20 sites.
The family did hire a licensed master electrician, though they are waiting to meet with the state’s electrical inspector for final certification.
“This is a situation of their own creation,” Judge Terrence Harrigan wrote in the order. “Their actions in installing the 20 sites falls under the heading of ‘it is better to beg for forgiveness, then to ask for permission.’ The credible testimony demonstrates that they ignored the approved plan and put the 20 sites in an unapproved location.”