There has been a dam and falls at the Montgomery Dam site since the Town’s beginning in 1771. The dam, its falls, and millpond are in our DNA.  They continually contribute to an active, flowing history.   

It doesn’t seem right to continue our recent legacy of neglect to a conclusion of destroying Montgomery Dam.  Let’s save the dam and let’s rebuild the Harbor Park seawall, both, not sacrifice one to obtain the other.  This is a matter of keeping our local priorities and values intact and no federal grant is worth compromising them.  

We are being asked to vote on removing this longstanding landmark despite a long list of questions, many of which are unanswerable at this time.                      

• How much money can we really expect from the feds?  All these years and there’s still no answer.  NOAA and NFWF don’t know either.
• If grant money comes at all, it promises to be a fraction of what the total project will entail. Why should we destroy the dam, not even knowing future cost requirements or funding availability?
• Where are the plans to re-engineer the river?  How can we proceed if we don’t have them, in order to understand their inter-relationships and their implications?  
• And who will review the plans, check assumptions, chosen alternatives, cost estimates and technical details? Shouldn’t we see their conclusions?                          
• So many things could go wrong; for instance, let’s consider what may happen during prolonged dry periods.  Since the fish ladders need guaranteed lake drawdowns to operate, how much further will that diminish water levels on Megunticook Lake?
• Gulls and sometimes rats are already a problem in town.  Camden fines people who feed seagulls.  Yet, this project promises to feed alewives to the seagulls right at the head of our beautiful harbor!  Does that make sense? Isn’t it wildly inconsistent with other policies?
• What are the local costs, really?  We never get definitive answers, because no one has a clue at this time.  We can be sure impacts on local taxes won’t be negligible.  
• It will cost more to destroy Montgomery Dam and the granite wall than to preserve them.

We need proper responses to these and many other critical issues before we jump into such an expensive, federally driven project.  It is prudent for us to reject any grant of federal money if it has inappropriate strings attached.  We need only to pursue revenue sources that will address our real, high priority problems.  

By redirecting our community energy, we will find ways to build a long-term seawall system for Harbor Park and to rehabilitate Montgomery Dam.  Meanwhile, we can breathe new life into our town’s history and renew our local pride by practicing self-determination and by demonstrating a conviction of who we are and where we come from.  

We don’t need to replace an authentic, longstanding structure with an AI designed replacement.

Vote NO on Article 7 to save Montgomery Dam.

Roger Akeley lives in Camden