06 October 2018: Dam Purchase Update

Now that we own the dam (or will, in a few days) we’ve got a lot to do! One of the first on the list of things to do is starting up the process of transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order from the current licensee (Pleasant Pond Mill LLC or PPM) to the Clary Lake Association (CLA). The application has to be filed with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection within 2 weeks of the transfer of the property, and the first step is to send out a public notice of our intent to file the transfer application, and the approximate date. We originally sent this notice in early July when we anticipated owning the dam later that month, but court delays prevented that from happening. So here we go again. If you’re a littoral or riparian land owners around Clary Lake or someone who owns land directly across a road from the lake, you should have received your public notice earlier this week. There was also a notice in this week’s Lincoln County News. We’ve also started a second and final fundraising initiative to raise money needed to complete repairs to the dam; I’ll talk more about this in a separate post. Additional steps to be taken real soon include filing the underground tank registration form and the Permit By Rule notice required to work on the dam.

We’re one step closer to owning the dam! In accordance with the recent Order approving the sale of the Clary Lake dam to the Clary Lake Association, the Bankruptcy Trustee has filed evidence of compliance with paragraph 2 of the order, that being the transfer of the Clary Lake dam from PPM to Paul Kelley’s bankruptcy estate, from whence it will be eventually conveyed to us. The deed, dated September 28, 2018 was recorded by the Trustee at the Lincoln County Registry of Deeds on October 3, 2018 in Book 5311, Page 46. In other words, PPM no longer owns the Clary Lake dam. This has been a long time coming, and brings a smile to my face 🙂

Finally, more than a few people have expressed some concern about the 14 day appeal period, wondering what it means and worried that Paul Kelley will try and appeal the recent ruling. This is an understandable concern given past history with these parties, but it is not a valid one: as the debtor, Paul Kelley himself does not have standing to file an appeal; the only parties who do have standing to appeal are Richard Smith and Aquafortis Associates LLC. However, filing an appeal would be a waste of time and money because the judge granted us Good Faith protections under Section 363(M) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code meaning that any appeal becomes moot when we close on the property. If an appeal has been filed by the time we close, a simple motion to dismiss is all it will take to make it go away. 

One thought on “06 October 2018: Dam Purchase Update

  1. Genie Dailey

    It’s almost too amazing to believe after all this time! Congratulations to the CLA and all its patient and persevering members!

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