Ossipee—August 5, 2024—Executive Council member Joe Kenney has arranged a meeting for DES to hear from the Ossipee Lake community about the state’s approval of a large docking structure on Leavitt Bay’s Loon Island.
The meeting will be on Friday, August 9, from 10 a.m. to Noon in Ossipee Town Hall.
In an email to Broad-Leavitt Bay Association (BLBA) President Kyle Copeland, Kenney said he will be accompanied by DES’s Deputy Commissioner and staff. The meeting is open to the public.
The state’s May approval of an 82.5 ft. x 3 ft. wharf, with five 34 ft. x 3 ft. piers accessed via a 6 ft. x 4 ft. walkway stunned the lake community and conservation organizations who had contacted DES to oppose the plan after it was proposed in February.
The size of the docking structure and its nine boat slips would make it the largest known approved non-commercial docking structure on Ossipee Lake. Opponents say the approval was unreasonable and threatens Leavitt Bay’s boating, wildlife and environment.
The island is owned by Ossipee residents Deborah and Kevin Randall. The couple told Ossipee officials the docks were needed to prevent boaters from trespassing on the 0.91-acre property, which is undeveloped and uninhabited except as a loon nesting site. The Randalls also said they might want to rent the docks.
Kenney attended BLBA’s annual meeting last month and said he thought DES “missed the boat” by not holding a public hearing on the matter before it approved the application. DES’s decision document stated that a hearing wasn’t necessary because the matter was “not of major public interest.”
Kenney said that while there was no legal mechanism for DES to hold an after-the-fact hearing, he would arrange for the group and others to be heard in a public forum.
Ossipee’s Conservation Commission was the first organization to oppose the dock plan, followed by Ossipee Lake Alliance, Green Mountain Conservation Group, Berry Bay Association, Camp Marist, and Moultonborough’s Loon Preservation Committee.
More than 200 lake property owners joined the groups to file a Preliminary Notice of Appeal asking DES to enter into mediated discussions about the approval. After DES declined, they petitioned the Governor and Executive Council to ask them not to sign off, which is a required final step in the process.
Kenney responded to the outreach by attending BLBA’s annual meeting and telling the group he believed the state did not “understand the uniqueness of the bay and the activity around it and the environmental concerns.”
The Loon Island issue comes at a time when there is a high level of frustration with the state among lake communities, many of which are working with NH LAKES to put lake issues on the table in the November elections.