Staff Writer 

At a glance, it looks like a parking lot. In reality, the strip of pavement abutting the Lighthouse Motel at the end of Pine Point Road has fueled what Town Council Chairman Michael Wood referred to as a “feud.”

“This has gone on for a long time,” he said. “I believe it’s been elevated to a personal fued.”

On Wednesday, the town council unanimously supported a proposal that could end the debate forever.

According to assessor records, the city currently owns a right-of way corridor directly abutting the Lighthouse Motel building, extending to the low water mark on nearby Pine Point Beach. The right-of-way is sandwiched by land owned by Peter and Nicholas Truman. The Trumans own both the parcel where the Lighthouse Motel is located and a thin strip of property on the opposite side of the town’s right-of-way that extends toward the same low water mark.  

Through “private discussions with a private party” that have been ongoing since March, Town Manager Tom Hall said he and the Trumans determined the best way to retain public access of the beach and allow the motel owners a better parking situation was to conduct a “land swap.” According to a draft of Hall’s proposal, the strip of Truman property currently sectioned off into parking spaces would be given to the town in return for the property directly next to the motel, which is actually the tail end of Pine Point Road, formerly known as Depot Street.

The result would be an enlargement of the .36-acre parcel currently home to the Lighthouse Motel, an approximate 50-foot shift for the town right-of-way and the termination of roughly 300 feet of Pine Point Road. The town would also retain ownership of a preexisting pathway to the beach.

“It would enable us to build a drop-off area and enhance access to the beach,” Hall said of the land swap. “It’s a less than a perfect situation but it makes a lot of sense for [the Trumans] to make their own lots contiguous.”

According to nearby residents, the land swap may mean more than continuous ownership and adequate parking. In a letter to the Leader, East Grand Avenue resident Dianne Mclellan wrote the swap could affect the building’s use by increasing the lot size. 

“It appears that [Hall] is going to propose they be given the entire street in exchange for the motel’s small parking strip. That is about a two-for-one exchange in the motel’s favor, not the citizens’,” Mclellan wrote. “If that happens, it will be one more insult to the Pine Point neighborhood.”

Other residents opposed the land swap on the basis that the new plan would not provide the same access residents have enjoyed in the past, as Hall acknowledged accessing the existing pathway could be challenging given the restrictions for construction in the tidal area. Others expressed concern about the way in which the town had conducted conversations with the Trumans.

“Anytime a [State Representative] comes down to a meeting about local issues, you know there’s a problem,” Scarborough Democratic Rep. Sean Flaherty said. “There is considerable concern about coastal access and the public process.”

Although the council was originally slated to approve or deny the proposal in a single vote on Wednesday, Councilor Carol Rancourt convinced the other members to vote only as a second reading. All four resolves involving the land swap and termination of what was formerly known as Depot Street passed unanimously. A second reading and public hearing on the same four items is scheduled for July 15.

Staff Writer Nate Jones may be reached at 282-4337 ext. 233.