Baxter State Park Authority is suing a man who allegedly allowed the decay of historic wilderness sport cabins on Katahdin Lake.
Charles FitzGerald bought the more-than-100-year-old Katahdin Lake Wilderness Camps in 2002. The park started leasing him the about 31-acre site to operate as a wilderness sporting camp in May 2007, and the one year lease was renewed through 2018.
The lawsuit alleges FitzGerald breached his contract and seeks to have a judge declare that the park has the right to his personal property at the camps. It was filed Sept. 2 in Penobscot County Superior Court.
If a judge decides the property is FitzGerald’s, the park wants FitzGerald to be ordered to post a performance bond of $1 million with conditions of him removing his items and repairing any damages that causes, according to the lawsuit brought by the Office of Maine Attorney General.
Baxter State Park bought the land around Katahdin Lake in 2006 and it is subject to the rules of the trust, which include keeping it forever in a “natural wild state,” under the directive of former Gov. Percival Baxter.
The lease terms included keeping the camps repaired and in the general spirit of the trust, the lawsuit said. FitzGerald has not operated the wilderness camps since at least 2018 and has held onto the property despite the lease ending in May 2019. He has not paid rent since the lease ended, the lawsuit said.
Without FitzGerald, the Katahdin Lake area would not have been acquired by the park, according to a letter written by his wife Kathryn Cerick and sent to park officials. She outlined his involvement as it “appears that the current decision-makers are not aware of it or do not believe that it has any bearing on their current actions,” the letter said.
He agreed to stop trying to buy the underlying land to help the park’s ability to secure the property around Katahdin Lake, Cerick’s letter said. But, he asked for a renewable lease so he could maintain access to the camps.
FitzGerald declined requests for an interview.
Overall the camps are in poor condition, with 11 beyond repair and seven that may be fixable, the lawsuit said. It would cost a minimum of $276,000 to repair structures and demolish the ones that cannot be saved, the park estimated in 2024.
Park staff removed two unsecured guns from the camps in 2022, the lawsuit said. They also removed 12 of 40 expired propane tanks. Some tanks on the property still had propane as of February.
“Given their generally poor condition, the Camps are not consistent with Percival Baxter’s intent for Baxter State Park,” the lawsuit said.
The couple have a family cabin among the buildings and are facing the “deeply upsetting prospect” of removing their belongings and leaving the cabin, Cerick wrote in her letter. She wants the park to give them “very narrowly defined and limited ongoing rights,” to that cabin.
FitzGerald previously attempted to donate 90% of the buildings to the park, which declined the offer, the letter said.
The couple accepts their “fair share” of responsibility for the lack of active operations at the camps and the deteriorating buildings, Cerick wrote.
“We do not understand why we have not been shown more respect and good faith as long-time partners of the park who put aside our own self interests more than once in order to see Percival Baxter’s vision and the park’s mission advanced,” Cerick’s letter said.
The park told FitzGerald that his holdover tenancy would terminate July 17, 2025, and he needed to make plans to remove his personal belongings, which he did not do, according to the lawsuit. Then in February the park informed FitzGerald it was taking possession of his items as the expired lease allowed.
FitzGerald’s personal property remains at the camps as of the filing of the lawsuit earlier this month. There is no road to the camps, which means the only practical way to remove personal belongings is by private helicopter which would cost at least $700,000, according to the lawsuit.