OPA Community Email Update
Welcome
in the 129th season with your Ocean Park Friends and Neighbors at the
Oceanwood Dining Hall on Saturday, May 23, at 6:00 PM. Tickets are $12
each and are available only in advance at the Oean Park Association
office. Click here
to download a ticket order form, or call (207) 934-9068 x200 to order
byu credit card over the phone. You can also purchase tickets through
our online giving portal by clicking here (or visit: www.oceanpark.org and select "Online Giving" from the "Give/Volunteer" menu.) Make sure you note how many tickets you'd like.
Seating is limited - so be sure to order soon!
Ocean Park Social at Dunegrass
The first-ever Ocean Park Social will be held at the elegant Dunegrass Country Club on Thursday, July 2, at 6:00 PM.
Attendants will be treated to tasty hors d’oeuvres, non-alcoholic
beverages, an extensive cash bar, photos, slides, and wonderful stories
about the place we all know and love. What better way to kick off the
Fourth of July Weekend than an evening with your Ocean Park friends and
neighbors? Want to get to know those people you’ve seen on the beach,
at the grocery store, in the Post Office, or at the Soda Fountain over
the years? Come join the Ocean Park Social!
To
reserve your tickets, call Kelly in the OPA Office at 207-934-9068
x200, or mail your check (made out to the Ocean Park Association) to
Box 7296, Ocean Park, ME 04063. Be sure to include your name, phone
number, and the number of tickets you would like. Reservations must be made by June 15, 2009.
Come
make new friends, see old acquaintances, and help the Ocean Park
Association for just $25 per person. Summer will be here before you
know it – reserve your tickets now for this fun-filled event!
Guild Park Trails Rehabilitation
For
a number of years, Ocean Park has been a beneficiary of the York County
United Way's Day of Caring; individuals and groups sign up for
volunteer projects at various non-profits. This year's Day of Caring
is on Wednesday, June 3. Saco Bay Trails is partnering with
the OPA on a projrct to clean up and improve the trails in Guild Park.
In addition to clearing and re-blazing trails, a simple plank
footbridge will be built across the stream and a small kiosk (like the
one found at the Ted Wells trailhead in Camp Oceanwood) will be put up
at the entrance on Temple Avenue at Manor Street. We anticipate that
thius will be the start of a continuing relationship with Saco Bay
Trails to help maintain the trails on Ocean Park property.
If you can help out on June 3rd, please contact the OPA office at (207) 934-9068 or opa@oceanpark.org.
PIPING PLOVER NEWS:
The
Piping Plovers have set up a nest at the end of Temple Avenue, and you
have probably seen the exclosure which is designed to keep predators
out. At this writing, it seems possible that the adults may have
abandoned the nest, but it is also possible that they may set
up another one nearby. Volunteers are needed to help monitor the nest,
including spending some quality beach time to watch for predators and
answer question for beach goers. If you are interested, please email
Sue Schaller at HorseShoeCrabs@aol.com or leave a message at 929.5490.
Piping Plovers Return to Ocean Park
by Carol Holt
The
Piping Plovers have arrived early in Ocean Park, and a pair was seen
feeding at the end of Ancona Avenue at low tide during the week of
Easter. The Plovers are a welcome harbinger of spring for those who
look forward to their return to nest in the dunes and raise their
chicks for all to see. It was disappointing that none of last year's
chicks survived, and it is my hope that the Plover family will be more
successful this spring. These rare birds are at risk of extinction due
to loss of safe habitat. They are vulnerable to roaming cats and other
predators, in spite of the fencing placed around the nests. By
mid-June, the Plover chicks will be well grown and soon able to fly.
Last
year I quite enjoyed watching the changing of the guard as the Plover
parents took turns sitting on the nest while one mate was feeding along
the shoreline, and look forward to the same enjoyment this year. After
hatching, the chicks will follow their mother down to the water to
graze in the mud under her watchful eye. Although the chicks are hard
to see (they are the same color as the sand,) you will know they are
near when you hear the mother issue a sharp whistle as a warning, and
you hear little peeps responding to her voice. The sand will appear to
move suddenly and there they will be, little dust bunnies blowing
across the beach towards their anxious mother.
We
are so fortunate to have these annual visitors to our beach. I hope
that, through awareness and steady, conciencious efforts by Ocean
Parker visitors and residents, these visitors will return year after
year. In the years to come it is my hope that my great-grandchildren
will also be able to enjoy their visits.
by Mary Ann Conroy, Director, OOB Public Works
We
now have a pair of Piping Plovers beginning to nest in the beach area
between Temple Avenue and Randall Avenue. The DPW has completed
training with an Audubon biologist, and an informational presentation
on how to protect these birds was held in Jakeman Hall (Ocean Park) on
May 15.
Due
to the Plovers' presence, in in order to further secure their safety,
we have had to relocate those memorial benches that were on the beach
between Temple and Weymouth Avenues. We will replace these benches
once the birds leave the area in early July.
The
basic rule for the area around the Plovers' nest is that no motorized
vehicles are permitted in the area, unless it is an emergency
situation. In an emergency, Life Guards, Police, and the DPW are
available to walk ahead of any vehicles to check for birds. Last year,
we had one pair of nesting birds with three eggs hatched. Sadly, there
were no surviving chiks. We know we can do better this year with
everyone's help; so please keep your distance from the nest and help us
keep these endangered birds safe!
by Louise Reid, Asst. Town Manager, OOB
As
you know, the waters in front of our beach are the life-line of Old
Orchard. The following is a statement from our Council indicating
their support of LD1119, a bill proposed by Representative George
Hogan. The Town Council has asked those citzens who are in support
of this bill to consider signing a petition (available at the OOB Town
Hall,) which will be provided to the State Senate when this matter goes
before them. This petition came out of a meeting of the State and
Local Government Committee last week, with a vote of 12 to 1 in favor
of the Bill. Any assistance you might afford in getting signatures in
support of this Bill would be appreciated, however, it is up to every
Old Orchard resident to determine his or her support.
RE: LD1119 - Saco Bay/Old Orchard Beach Boundary
The
Old Orchard Beach Town Council hereby declares the following in support
of LD1119, a bill proposed to extend the Old Orchard Beach Boundary
three miles offshore:
- In
response to the 2007 Spartan Bay lease approved by the City of Saco for
a marina 1000 feet off Old Orchard Beach, the Town of Old Orchard Beach
feels the need to protect its shores and the economic vitality of our
beach by extending our boundary. - This
boundary extensionn will allow the OOB Planning Board and OOB Town
Council, and not those of the City of Saco, to protect the beaches and
tourist economy of Old Orchard Beach, and to evaluate near-shore
development projects in conjunction with existing submerged lands and
other review processes. - Since
the existing LC 1119 text puts the new three-mile extension in the
middle of Stratton Island, the Town wants all parties to know that OOB
has no desire to have either Bluff or Stratton Islands to become part
of the Town of Old Orchard Beach. These islands should be kept under
the jurisdiction of Saco by amending the LD1119 text as necessary. - OOB
appreciates the request made y this Committee in asking us to work
together with our neighbors. We recently had a joint Council meeting
that resulted in two hours of frank discussion, which helped educate
citizens and elected officials alike on our points of agreement and
disagreement. OOB is willing to investigate the feasibility of a
four-town Saco Bay Commission that would have specific offshore zoning
and regulatory authority. This could take one to two years to research
and obtain agreement amoung all four neighboring towns, prior to the
necessary legislative creation by the Maine Legislature. - An
idea such as a Saco Bay Commission should not replace the boundary
change which OOB requires now to protect itself. LD1119 should be
voted up or down in this session without ties to a future and possible
Saco Bay Commission.
IMPORTANT: Old Orchard Beach Election News
by Kim McLaughlin, Town Clerk, OOB
Mary your calendars to attend the first Regional Budget Meeting of the RSU#23 District on Saturday, May 30, 2009. The meeting will begin at 2:00 pm at the Saco Middle School, 40 Buxton Road (Rte. 112,) Saco, Maine (click here
to get directions.) This is a meeting where all registered voters in
the district (Dayton, Saco, and Old Orchard Beach) may come together
and discuss the budget that the RSU Board has put together. This
budget will be presented cost center by cost center, and each may be
accepted or amended at this meeting. Contractual obligations may NOT be
changed. Every concerned citizen of the district should try to attend
this meeting. This is the first of two opportunities that the general
public will have to weigh in on the next fiscal year's school budget.
The
budget that is ratified at this meeting is the budget that voters will
be asked to validate (approve) in the June 9th "Budget Validation
Referendum." In Old Orchard Beach, the polling place for the June 9th
Election will be at the Old Orchard Beach High School. The polls will
be open from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM.
The
Registrar of Voters' Office in OOB will be open at Town Hall during
Town Hall office hours prior to election for any eligible person to
register to vote, or for a registered voter to change his/her address.
The Registrar of Voters will also be available to register people to
vote on the day of the Regional Budget Meeting at the Saco Middle
School. If you need to register to vote on that day, please plan to
arrive at the school by 1:00 PM. As always, the Registrar of Voters will be present on Election Day from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM at the OOB High School.
Absentee
ballots will be available at, but cannot be returned to, the Town
Clerk's Office prior to the end of the Regional Budget Meeting on May
30th. Absentee ballots must be returned by 8:00 PM on June 9th, 2009.
If you are a registered voter in OOB, and would like to request an
absentee ballot, please contact the Town Clerk's office at 934-4042.
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