Temporary ban on development looks likely for Highland Lake

The Current
September 8, 2017

Attorney Kristin Collins assisted the Windham Town Council with drafting a moratorium on development in the watershed area around Highland Lake due to water quality issues.

An Excerpt

The Windham Town Council debated a draft moratorium at its Sept. 5 meeting that would acknowledge the tenuous water quality situation at Highland Lake and would temporarily ban certain development activities in the watershed area.

The activities that would fall under the moratorium, if passed, include “clearing, earth moving or removal of vegetation” from any area larger than 500 square feet; the installation or expansion of a new subsurface or other wastewater disposal system (except when replacing a system that is failing or likely to fail); the construction of more than 500 square feet of driveway, parking, or patio surfaces; and the construction of new private roads.

“We have to figure out what the problem is, we have to look and see how to rectify the problem,” said Council Vice Chairman David Nadeau, who noted that he lives on the lake. “There’s a lot of things to do.”