Ogunquit News
Fishing shack to be preserved
By C. Ayn Douglass
OGUNQUIT - The pre-1950s fishing shack located next to M.C. Perkins Restaurant in Perkins Cove will remain in it's location after all.In a letter from Bob Sherwood to Barbara Woodbury, chairwoman of the Historic Preservation Committee read at the Monday night, Nov. 27, meeting of the Ogunquit Planning Board, Sherwood said he "will abide by the recommendations you (Woodbury) have made to the Planning Committee . . . that the shack's integrity be preserved."
"I just think that it is a very gracious letter and it showed that he was looking at the bigger picture. It was a contentious issue, but I'm just hoping that there's a covenant he puts on the sale (of the property) to protect it," Woodbury said. "His letter states that he's going to restore it and bring it up to code and still stay with the old weathered boards. It's still a commercial building, but our idea was to build a static building so people could peek inside and see what a fishing shack looked like. The cove is such a special place."
An application by Sherwood on Sept.15 to demolish the shack on the basis that it was unsafe was denied by the Planning Board on Nov. 13 as a result of the Historic Preservation Committee's assertion that the shack held significant historic value and should be preserved as one of the last remaining fishing shacks in the area.
Sherwood's only recourse was to appeal to the Board of Selectmen, which he decided not to do.
As he stated in his letter, "I will not exercise my right to appeal to the selectmen. I do not wish to turn an honest disagreement about the fate of this condemned building into a dispute, legal or otherwise. I am pleased to settle this matter as we have done, democratically and fairly. I know well how significant Perkins Cove has been in the life and history of Ogunquit, and I appreciate the concern of your committee and of the people who have contacted you."
