OTISFIELD — The Board of Selectmen will meet with the Casco selectmen March 1 to discuss repairs to the leaking Pleasant Lake Dam.
The meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Casco Community Center on Route 121.
Casco and Otisfield selectmen received a report in 2014 by the Maine Emergency Management Agency that said there is significant leakage and structural deterioration at the dam.
Results of core samples taken at the dam will be reviewed at the March meeting.
The dam has been jointly owned, operated and maintained by Casco and Otisfield since 1994. It previously was owned by Hancock Lumber Co.
The dam is on Mill Brook, behind the Hancock Lumber office on Route 121. It regulates the water level of the 3.8-mile-long Pleasant Lake, which lies in Casco and Otisfield. There are numerous homes and cottages around the lake, as well as the Seeds of Peace International Camp on the western shore, and Camp Arcadia for Girls on the eastern shore, both in Otisfield.
According to the Maine Dams Inventory, the 110-foot-long, 12-foot-high dam was built in 1850, repaired in 1980, and has low-hazard classification, meaning there is nothing significant downstream that would be affected by a dam breach.
In other news, selectmen are asking for anyone who would like to volunteer as a firefighter to contact them. The issue surfaced when a former firefighter questioned why the Gore Road station is unmanned.
Fire Chief Kyle Jordan said the station is active, but no one is regularly assigned to it. That has not slowed response to fires, he said. The equipment is inspected once a month to ensure it is up to date when used.
Like many area towns, Otisfield lacks enough volunteer firefighters to man its three stations. Firefighters usually respond first to the Spurr’s Corner fire station.
The board also heard from Planning Board Vice Chairman Beth Damon that members approved a four-lot minor subdivision off West Andrew Hill Road and Bow Street on Tuesday.
Several members said they were concerned about proposed driveway openings on an uphill roadway that is curved and where people typically drive too fast.
Damon said the owner of the subdivision said he would be willing to purchase warning signs if the road commissioners can install them.
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