Why We’re Planning To Stop Weddings At Rockcraft Lodge
Karen and Larry give a toast at a family member’s wedding
Hello!
We are Karen and Larry Markson, owners of Rockcraft Lodge in Sebago, Maine. Karen and her brother, Dave, purchased Rockcraft in 2011 and restored it as a labor of love.
The renovation wound up costing a lot more than we’d planned. So while we use Rockcraft mainly as a vacation home, we also rent it occasionally (about 15-25% of the time) to help defray costs. We rent mainly to families, but we also rent to couples who want a DIY wedding in a lakeside setting.
The weddings aren’t a big business for us - we have about 5 a year - but they’re joyful occasions and we’ve really enjoyed having them over the years.
So it makes us very sad to say that under great pressure from the Town of Sebago, we’ve made the difficult decision to stop renting to wedding parties.
How Did This Happen?
We love Sebago and we plan to retire there in a few years. We think of ourselves as good citizens: we follow the rules, we pay our taxes on time, and we try to be good neighbors. So we were surprised and disappointed with how the Town and their attorney have handled a disagreement about our boathouse renovation.
The boathouse was built by the Spauldings, Rockcraft’s original owners, and it was falling apart. A few years ago, we obtained permits from the Town and the DEP, and we worked closely with Brandon Woolley, the Town’s Code Enforcement Officer (CEO) at the time, to be sure we followed all the rules.
A year ago, when the renovation was almost complete, the town fired Brandon Woolley. At first, the Town told us not to worry, we could continue the work and we’d be able to complete our project once they sorted things out. They had lost all their records related to our renovation, so we gave them copies of our records to help them reconstruct things.
But then the Town brought in a lawyer, and their position changed. They said the renovation should never have been approved by the CEO and we shouldn’t be allowed to complete it. They asked us to sign a consent decree that required us to admit blame for the Town’s mistakes and to pay fines and the Town’s attorney’s fees. (Yes, really.)
We’re not lawyers, but we couldn’t understand why the Town expected us to take the blame and pay for mistakes they say their own CEO made.
What’s The Boathouse Got To Do With Weddings?
That’s a great question. The Boathouse isn’t included in rentals - it’s a completely separate matter. And the Town had approved permits for weddings at Rockcraft for years, from long before we started work on the boathouse.
But this summer, the Town changed its position on weddings. They said they wouldn’t allow them unless we accepted their terms for the Boathouse. They issued an ultimatum at the last minute, when there was no time to follow the normal appeals process. They threatened to cancel weddings that were scheduled to occur in the coming days and weeks to force us to accept their terms.
Why Did We Create This Site?
We’ve heard a lot of rumors around the town about Rockcraft and the boathouse. We hope this site will help to clarify all that.
We asked the Town to allow us to come to public forums like the Planning Board or the Board of Selectman to tell our story, but they wouldn’t let us. They used the threat of disrupting scheduled weddings to force us into an agreement behind closed doors.
We think government should be more transparent than that, not to mention more fair. We think the people of Sebago should know how the Town is treating its residents after firing Brandon Woolley. And we think they should know that Town Management is running up hefty legal fees that are paid with our tax dollars to do all this.
So at very little expense to us (thank you, Squarespace!), we created this site to set the record straight.
What About That Fundraiser You Had For The Library?
We donated the use of Rockcraft to hold a fundraiser this summer to celebrate the Spaulding Memorial Library’s 100th anniversary. It sold out and was a lot of fun for everyone!
It was especially meaningful to us because we love the library, and because of the connection to Rockcraft: the original library was funded and built by the Spauldings, who also built Rockcraft.
We weren’t sure this year’s fundraiser would actually happen because the Town withheld the liquor permit until a few days before the event to pressure us on the boathouse. We’d love to do more events like this if the Town will let us.