Machiasport officials agree to consider noise ordinance 4%
By Melissa S. Razdrih2%
7/30/2026, 8:02:26 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Loss Aversion, and Appeal to Nature, with Appeal to Authority as the most egregious example at 10.6% saturation with 81 hits. Analysis detected 392 faulty-reasoning hits from 766 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 12.5% and a BS Rank of 4% (24,713 of 25,563 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 96.70% of the article peer group.
MACHIASPORT — Local residents may soon need to quiet down at night.
The Machiasport Board of Selectmen heard a complaint Monday about late-night parties on Pettegrow Point Road and considered drafting a town noise ordinance.
Clarks Point resident Clifford Channell brought the issue to the board, citing health and sleep concerns for himself and his wife.
"I don’t care about the daytime stuff, but the nighttime stuff, we need our sleep," Channell said.
"We’re both senior citizens, we have heart conditions, I don’t think it's asking too much that the town has a noise ordinance."
“We understand where you're coming from,” board Chair Ryan Maker said.
Board member Sarah Craighead Dedmon said she knew which home Channell referenced and promised to speak with the residents on the town's behalf.
The Board of Selectmen asked Machiasport Planning Board Chair Robert Arseneau, who also attended the meeting, to research noise ordinances in neighboring municipalities to find potential solutions.
While Arseneau agreed to take these initial steps, the Board of Selectmen must draft the noise ordinance and voters must approve it following a public hearing before it can take effect.
The Pettegrow area emerged as another focus during the meeting when East Machias resident Noel Abrahamson proposed conserving local Zostera, a genus of seagrass commonly known as eelgrass.
Abrahamson, owner of Calypso Seaweed Farm & Brewery, said many small Machiasport bays historically contained eelgrass.
She aims to conserve habitats in a meadow near Long Cove and in bays surrounding Pettegrow and Woodruff coves near Long Point.
Abrahamson said she is applying for state funding through the Maine Coastal Program to support the project, which involves mostly private land.
If approved, the state would award the grant directly to a municipality, tribe, nonprofit, or state agency.
The funds would help Abrahamson restore the habitat with permission from local officials and property owners.
Abrahamson said she attended Monday's meeting to begin connecting with town officials.
Although the Board of Selectmen took no formal action on her request, members provided her with contact information for Shellfish Warden Gerry Crispino.
The state established the Maine Coastal Program in 1978 to manage conservation and development along Maine’s coast.
Abrahamson noted that eelgrass stabilizes sediments and creates vital fish habitats for coastal aquaculture.
Abrahamson registered Calypso Seaweed Farm & Brewery in 2022.
Operating primarily out of East Machias, the business maintains a wellness-focused Facebook presence that promotes natural health practices, including Kundalini yoga.
Machias Ambulance Service Chief Ryan J.
Maker — not to be confused with Board of Selectmen Chair Ryan Maker — presented a new state requirement to the board.
The statute requires all municipalities to follow a three-step emergency services process:
Publicly adopt an ambulance transport plan.
Post the plan online like an ordinance.
File the document with Maine Emergency Medical Services.
A memorandum from the ambulance chief included a prewritten resolution to bring Machiasport into compliance with a law enacted early this year following recommendations from the Blue Ribbon Commission to Study Emergency Medical Services in Maine.
When asked if Machiasport faced penalties for late adoption as August approached, Ryan J.
Maker said no, explaining that Maine EMS only published operational compliance guidance in a July bulletin.
Machiasport maintains a formal contract with Machias Ambulance Service to provide local emergency coverage.
Machias Ambulance Service now has 13 emergency medical technicians on its roster, including three with advanced EMT certification.
The staff also includes three paramedics, one of whom is the chief, and eight ambulance operators.
The proposed municipal resolution identifies the town's service model as "provided via formal contract/agreement with Machias Ambulance Service."
Machiasport officials voted to adopt the plan after Craighead Dedmon made the motion.
Next, the Board of Selectmen is expected to post the plan publicly before submitting final copies to Maine Emergency Medical Services to confirm compliance.
In other matters, Craighead Dedmon discussed her experience at the Liberty Hall annual meeting held this week at the Historic Gates House.
She said local restoration leaders David Freedberg and Anna Grimshaw could not use a $145,000 grant designated for a second-floor staircase and fire egress due to a significant construction funding gap.
Craighead Dedmon called the egress a "critical next step" toward making the historic town center functional for the public.
After 20 years of restoration leadership, Freedberg and Grimshaw are seeking assistance with grant writing to move the project forward.
Neither Freedberg nor Grimshaw responded to requests for comment before publication.
This story was updated July 30 to remove language that identified Noel Abrahamson as a member of the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.
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