Maine Coastal Access Online Toolkit Adapted as a National Model

Contact Kristen Grant, 207-646-1555 x115, kngrant@maine.edu

ORONO — The National Sea Grant Law center is providing funding to help five other states adapt a Maine-developed informational Web site related to waterfront access issues.

Maine Sea Grant, based at the University of Maine, developed the site in response to the demonstrated need for information about legal mechanisms for addressing waterfront access issues. The site features tools for waterfront users, landowners, and government and public trust entities to use in assessing issues related to acccess and usage.

Across the nation, conflicts among diverse waterfront users present economic and environmental challenges to coastal communities. In Maine, where only 20 miles of the 5,300-mile coastline support water-dependent industries, the majority of commercial access points are privately owned and vulnerable to conversion. At the same time, kayakers find their access to launch sites restricted, and coastal property owners experience a lack of privacy and understanding from people using their property.

Waterfront landowners, land trusts, regional planners, municipal officials, and many other stakeholders have praised the site and shared it with neighbors and colleagues.

“One of the Law Center’s core missions is to increase the capacity of the individual Sea Grant programs to address legal issues. State-specific legal research was required to adapt the Maine website for use in the individual states, which required the Sea Grant programs to develop new partnerships with law schools. I believe these relationships will improve the services those Sea Grant programs provide to their constituents in the future,” saya Stephanie Showalter Otts, director of the National Sea Grant Law Center.

“It’s been wonderful to watch the Maine model spread throughout the country,” said Showalter Otts, noting that waterfront access information is now available online for New Jersey, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Hawaii.

Other project partners are Maine Working Waterfront Coalition, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Maine Coastal Program, Island Institute, University of Maine Law School’s Center for Law and Innovation, and Maine Department of Revenue Services.

Representatives from these states will meet in Portland in September, when Maine hosts the Working Waterfronts and Waterways National Symposium on Water Access.