Ellis Pond boat launch on horizon

ROXBURY- Late last year this town was notified by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife that they were being studied for the reconstruction of a new boat launch ramp on Ellis Pond at the cost of $170,000. Consequently, due to being a reconstruction, the cost is roughly four times more than that of the newly constructed Mexico launch, that concluded late summer of 2010.

Leon Bucher, Chief Planner for MDIFW met with selectmen at a public meeting last week to bring them up to date on the status of the plans.
As the plans are not finalized yet and still awaiting two permits of the four that needed to be obtained, bidding for the project is said to begin sometime in May, with tentative plans for beginning the project in August or September.

According to Selectman Tim Derouche, “There is no local money going into this. The total project is $170,000, 75 percent of that is coming from the federal government and the other 25 is coming from the state. We believe we'll be responsible for mowing the lawn around the launch, providing port-a-potties and assessing damage and reporting it to the state to be fixed.”

The current condition of the existing and lone public launch on the pond is very poor, as there are spikes protruding through the concrete ramps, the ramp itself is under water and barely visible on the beach with sand covering it. The side abutments are out of place and scattered in among the vegetation.

The $170,000 plan will require an improved driveway from County Road, paved and striped parking for seven trailered rigs, five vehicles, with an additional ADA rig and one ADA vehicle parking spot. The engineers would remove the existing 43 concrete launch planks and place granular fill, geotextiles and riprap to create a 165-foot long ramp at the approved grade. The ramp would also be constructed to a point 90 feet beyond the pond's normal water line, with the finished ramp being 12-feet wide.

During construction, erosion control will be enforced by silt fences to the normal water level of the pond, a turbidity curtain will also be used to control siltation of the pond during the plank placement in the water. Upon completion of the project, the bare soil and earth disturbed during the construction will be loamed, fertilized, seeded and mulched.

Even though the site is town property, the applicant for the various permits will be MDIFW.

For more information or to see the proposed design, copies are available at the Roxbury Town Office.