Welcome to Friends of Lamoine

Friends of Lamoine advocates the preservation and enhancement of our community and its resources through education and citizen involvement.  We encourage balanced social and economic development that conserves our natural resources and promotes a healthy environment for residents, small-businesses, visitors, and future generations.

On June 10, 2014, you, the voters of Lamoine, made a clear statement to the gravel industry, “Stop New Gravel Pits” in our town. We, the Friends of Lamoine, provided the tools, you sent the message.  The Friends of Lamoine wants to ensure that you are kept informed of efforts to compromise your protections.

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After years of increased gravel mining, reaching an industrial level of activity, our residents were given the opportunity to vote on this issue through the petition process initiated by a group of concerned citizens.  After the referendum, our group formally organized as the Friends of Lamoine.

Building on a Solid Trend

Our No New Pits campaign built upon a new, more restrictive Gravel Ordinance passed in 2013 in which setbacks were increased from 50 to 100 feet, water monitoring wells were increased to one per 5 acres and re-permitting was tightened up. Several gravel company operators responded with a lawsuit against the town. In fact, one gravel pit operator proposed that Lamoine do away with all local control over this activity.

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In December of 2013, the Board of Selectmen entered into an agreement with the gravel companies to establish a work group to address listed demands of the companies. In exchange, the plaintiffs agreed to temporarily dismiss their lawsuit. A work group was established and, after a series of meetings, reported their recommendations. The Board of Selectmen proposed a new Gravel Ordinance to be voted on, on November 3, 2015.

Friends of Lamoine noted that the proposed ordinance closely reflected the demands of the gravel industry. We recommended a “NO” vote and backed that up with mailers and signs, paid for by our members. We were rewarded with 69% of Lamoine voters rejecting the ordinance on November 3, 2015.  We hope our Board of Selectman’s ignoring of Lamoine voters’ collective will to rein in the gravel interests has come to an end.

Educate!

We invite our friends and visitors to investigate the many issues involved in gravel mining in Lamoine to the extent their interest and time allows.  There are many documents and news items posted here, and viewing them is just a click away.  To stay current on all new information, check out our News page. To read about why we are concerned about gravel mining, read the Gravel page. Please check out our new Lamoine Flyover video. Those who have seen it have been awestruck. Finally, with the looming possible removal of Cousins’ Hill, we felt it deserved a menu tab of its own.

We value and honor your privacy.  We do not provide subscriber names or email addresses to anyone without their written permission.

Get Involved!

Subscribe to updates below the tweets on the right and/or sign up at the top center column. read about our privacy policy here.

Who We Are:

We are a group of concerned Lamoine residents who volunteer our time to make our town a better place. Please see our Mission page for more detail.  Feel free to contact us with ideas, concerns and suggestions.
Friends of Lamoine    PO Box 963, Ellsworth, ME 04605
Email: friendsoflamoine@lamoine.org
Carol Korty, Catherine de Tuede, Bruce Gillett, Kathryn Gaianguest, Walter Jean Grenier II, Lynn Tscheiller, Steven Callahan and Susa Wuorinen.
 
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Images info: Taken from Google Earth.
Gravel pit view: ©2014 Google, Image ©2014 Digital Globe. Image date: 9/12/2003 lat 44.472411° lon -68.321491° elev 186 ft eye alt 1006 ft.
Moon view: Image NASA/USGS/JAXA/SELENE Image NASA/ASU lat 23.359240° lon 0.056524° elev -7260 ft eye alt 52.69 mi.

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