RAYMOND — It will be three years this fall that the lakefront on two adjacent properties on Sebago Lake was transformed from a natural landscape of towering trees, native vegetation and rocky shore to an open landscape of at least 400 linear feet of riprap — rock — lining the shore.

That led to a series of shoreland zoning ordinance and unpermitted work violations lodged against the owner of the properties at 18 Fernwood Road, and 28 Whitetail Lane in Raymond — Auburn businessman Donald Buteau and his real estate holding firm Management Controls LLC, his primary contractor Robert Durant, and Q-Team Tree Service. Durant filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 30, 2022.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection also cited Buteau and contractor Durant for violations of Maine’s Natural Resources Protection Act.

In April, the town of Raymond announced it had secured a settlement in the more than two-year legal battle that ensued. Part of the settlement was a significant restoration plan created for Buteau by Ransom Consulting LLC, reviewed and approved by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the town of Raymond.

A barge and turbidity control curtain is in place at 28 Whitetail Lane on May 23 as the approved restoration plan gets underway as part of a legal settlement with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the town of Raymond. Town of Raymond photo

“We have a consent agreement and a consent judgment that was approved by the court system and that agreement is recorded,” Chris Hanson told the Sun Journal on July 17. Hanson is the code enforcement officer for the town of Raymond and has been involved with the case from the beginning.

The settlement required all three parties to acknowledge that they are responsible for the shoreland zoning violations by each of them at the properties, with the exception of the violations dismissed by the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Q-Team Tree Service and its responsible party, Aaron Gosselin, entered into a consent agreement with the town of Raymond and paid a $10,000 fine to Raymond in April, while Buteau and his real estate holding firm Management Control Systems LLC paid Raymond $540,000 in June, with an additional payment of $100,000 due by Oct. 31.

THE RESTORATION PLAN

“Then the next piece of the consent judgment had a restoration plan attached and that plan was approved by the DEP with the DEP permit and also the town has signed off as part of the agreement,” Hanson said.

Under the consent agreement and judgement, Durant and his companies Big Lake Marine Construction and Durant Excavating will do the restoration work under direction from Ransom Consulting, with an outside engineer jointly hired by the town and Buteau to conduct periodic inspections of the restoration work. Buteau must pay $5,000 toward that cost and the entire cost of the restoration.

A barge is situated in front of 18 Whitetail Lane in Raymond in May as restoration work begins. Most of the work must wait until the water level is drawn down on Sebago Lake this fall. Submitted photo

In the event Durant does not fulfill his obligation, Buteau will be solely responsible and must hire another contractor to complete the job.

“They are required to remove the majority of the riprap on the shore from the water line to the existing grade that will be removed by land using excavators and barges in the fall when the water gets low,” Hanson explained, adding that about a week’s worth of work was done in May.

“They moved some of the boulders and riprap that were installed at 18 Whitetail,” he said, but because of Sebago Lake’s higher summer water level, the majority of the work has to wait until late October. The lake level is lowered between 15 to 18 inches in the fall and winter months.

Riprap at both homes will be removed, although Hanson explained that the Whitetail Lane property had some existing natural rock and a jetty with a dock on it out front. “That’s going to remain because it was there many, many years prior to shoreland zoning.”

A boat ramp at the property will be removed and may be used for boat storage after the installation of a bollard, but Hanson said it can’t be used for access to the lake to launch boats.

Hanson anticipates the work will begin in earnest Oct. 25 and Buteau and Durant will have one year to complete the work. Boulders of various sizes up to 600 pounds will replace the riprap at the toe of the slope Hanson explained.

“How that restoration plan works is they plant rocks. They’re going to integrate plantings and saplings amongst the rocks, work their way up the slope. It won’t be the steep angle it is today; it’ll be more of a gentle slope into the property and we’ll have a mixture of boulders, saplings, blueberry bushes, bayberry bushes, new small saplings,” Hanson added.

The saplings will be 4 to 6 inches in diameter to replace the mature trees that were cut down, approximately 15 to 16 at 18 Fernwood Road, according to the plan. That translates into 20- to 30-foot trees. The Maine DEP restoration plan states the new plantings, “will approximate the vegetation that existed prior to the 2021 violation.”

The DEP plan also specifies the plantings must be documented, monitored, and “must be maintained or replaced as necessary to achieve 85% to 90% survival after five full growing seasons.”

Ransom Consulting will also be making sure the specifics of the “very extensive restoration plan” are followed, Hanson said. “To me it’s a good plan … we feel it’s going to be a lot better than what’s existing today … it’ll look more natural and hopefully in a few years down the road it’ll look like nothing ever happened.”

LEGISLATION GIVES MUNICIPALITIES ‘TEETH’ FOR ENFORCEMENT

The very robust support from the community helped the town remain firm throughout the lengthy challenges to the initial violations, Hanson said. The community pleas for help also spurred Sen. Tim Nangle, a Democrat from Windham, and Rep. Jessica Fay, a Democrat from Raymond, to cosponsor L.D. 2101 — legislation that is now law that gives enforcement authority on new permits, restoration of shoreland and allows municipalities and the Land Use Planning Commission the right to place a lien on property with unresolved violations.

“I’ve been a code officer for almost 20 years,” Hanson said, “and the big thing that’s been missing in shoreland zoning and administration of processing violations is the fact that we didn’t have a lot of teeth.” Some credit the resolution of this shoreland zoning case to the enactment of the bill, signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills in May.

“I think this law will make flagrant abuses of Maine’s shoreland zoning less of a ‘cost of doing business’ issue,” Sen. Nangle commented Monday. “This law probably wouldn’t affect the average homeowner who makes a mistake in good faith and works with municipal officials to resolve the violation,” Nangle added. “This law is designed to protect Maine’s vital bodies of water and their surrounding habitats.”

Abel Bates, right, and Sun Journal reporter Chris Wheelock look July 26 at property owned by Auburn businessman Donald Buteau on Sebago Lake. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Abel Bates has lived in Raymond since the 1970s and has spoken out about the shoreland zoning violations case from the beginning. He testified before the Maine Legislature, as L.D. 2101 was moving through the legislative process earlier this year.

“Most people I spoke with had mixed feelings about the settlement,” he told the Sun Journal in late July. “They were satisfied with the settlement in that the town was reimbursed, a fine was levied and an extensive, monitored restoration plan was included. They also felt that the settlement, along with the passage of L.D. 2101 should help to deter others from attempting similar abuses in the future.”

“We had a lot of angry citizens,” Hanson recalled. “I think they are very pleased with the result and they’re going to start to see this work happen this year.” Hanson is hopeful companion legislation will get serious consideration in Augusta next year to establish a fund from construction permits that municipalities can borrow from to fight shoreland zoning violators in court.

Time will tell, but for now, Hanson said Buteau and Durant are following through with their commitments in the settlement.

Bates is optimistic that things are moving in the right direction, but said others in the community remain skeptical. “Most expressed the sentiment that no monetary penalty would ever be enough to change the fact that it would take years for the land to get back to its previous state, and many, including me, probably wouldn’t live to see it.”