LIMESTONE, Maine — Prior to the Limestone board of selectpeople’s regular meeting on Sept. 17, a public hearing was held to discuss the future of the Trafton Lake Campground, in Limestone. The special meeting was called by the board of selectpeople in order to give the campground’s current lot owners — who made up the majority of those who were in attendance, but also any other members of the town who wished to attend — the opportunity to voice any questions or concerns they had in regard to the recreational area.
The public meeting would hopefully aid the board, as well as members of the town in attendance, to come up with any type of general assistance that could be provided to the campground and to come up with ideas on how the campground can be more accommodating to not only tourists, but also the local campers who will occupy the site in the years to come.
The campground was well represented with a large presence at the meeting, as owners of property and potential renters at Trafton showed up in force, allowing standing room only for many of those in attendance.
The main issues brought up at the meeting included the possibility of cleaning up Trafton Lake in order to make it accessible to campers, as well as bringing more child-friendly activities to the campground. The idea of bringing back the Fourth of July event that was at one time held at the campground was also mentioned by lot owner Hope Morgan, who asked the board members if that was something that might ever come back to Trafton. Board member Tom Albert, explained to Morgan that events like the Fourth of July celebration are handled by the town’s Chamber of Commerce.
Barbara Grant, who also owns a lot at Trafton, along with her husband Joe, was one community member who offered a number of suggestions at the town hearing. She and her husband spend a great deal of time at the campground, and Joe has been provided a stipend from the town to handle some of the daily tasks necessary to keep the campground up and running.
“At the beginning of the year, I had brought up the idea of a merry-go-round and a slide to be provided to the campground. I know there’s a merry-go-round sitting somewhere downtown that’s no longer in use and I asked the former rec director if we could have it, because she was the one who told us it was sitting there doing nothing,” said Grant. “If we expand the playground some and give them a slide or a merry-go-round, or even just update some of the equipment that’s already out there, that would help.”
Grant continued by explaining that the children who do attend the campground don’t have much to do when they are there.
“Each year we’re getting more and more children coming to the campground, and it’s not just people coming in with their children, it’s the people that have been there seasonally, who are now bringing their grandchildren,” said Grant. “There should be a little more out there than what we currently have, and what we do have now is outdated.”
Albert, who originally made the decision to hold a public hearing to deal with this issue explained that the board is currently in the process of hiring a new rec director, who will be much more hands-on when it comes to Trafton Lake Campground.
“Part of the deal that we are making with the new rec director is that he will spend more time out there and pay more attention to the campground in the summertime,” said Albert. “So, we are going to be addressing that part of the issue. There needs to be more going on out there.”
On Tuesday, Sept. 23, the board announced that they have hired William Tucker as the new recreation director for the town, and according to Albert, part of the interview process focused directly on spending more time and energy on the campground.
Grant and her fellow campers were appreciative of Albert and the rest of the board’s decision to address the campground issue, but they also explained that this was not the first year the campers have brought the matter to the board.
“This isn’t the first year we’ve brought this up,” said Grant. “Last year, we talked about it and we’ve brought the issue up for at least the last three years, where we’ve mentioned different things we’d like to be able to do there. If we ever wanted to hold a ‘camper’s day’ or something like that, we can’t because we have nothing to do.”
Albert explained that is why he and the board requested the public hearing, so that they could listen to and understand the questions and concerns of the campers.
“Some of us have never heard these concerns, so that’s why we wanted to hold this meeting, so that from now on none of us can look at you and tell you we haven’t heard your concerns,” Albert added. “Now, we’ve heard them, and we’re going to address them.”
It was decided that chairman Tom Devoe would oversee the Trafton Campground Committee, which will be meeting once a month to discuss the future of the campground.
