The Scarborough Town Council passed a resolution opposing an amendment to state bill LD 1093, which would allow Maine State Park passholders to access Scarborough Beach State Park for free.

Beach management and councilors expressed a number of concerns over the amendment at Wednesday’s council meeting, from impacts on revenue to overwhelming the already popular and congested summer destination.

One argument highlighted by all parties was the hypocrisy of the amendment. The original draft of the bill, currently at the committee level, enforces that “only land classified as a park is designated as such by appropriate signage and public information.” The council’s resolution claims the bill would require the beach to drop “state park” from its name, bringing into question why it would then be eligible to accept state park passes in the first place.

Scarborough Beach State Park is owned by the state but has been operated independently since 1993 by a group that, in 1999, evolved into Black Point Resource Management.

Jack Lufkin oversees operations of the beach with Greg Wilfert, the park director. Lufkin said the lack of notice is the “most egregious” aspect of the amendment.

“Nobody was given advance notice of this bill,” he said.

Town Council Chair April Sither stated that it was “the primary reason for my opposition” on Wednesday and that “this is a council that prides ourselves on public process.”

“While I don’t think that this was necessarily done to evade public input, I do think there was a missed opportunity in that regard,” Sither said of the bill.

The effect of allowing the nearly 40,000 Maine State Park passholders free entry, referenced in the resolution, worries representatives, operators and residents alike.

Traffic to get into Scarborough Beach on a nice summer day is already a stress on the beach on Black Point Road. Some highlighted the long line of cars waiting to get in, with a parking lot that can’t always accommodate every beachgoer.

“It is an exceedingly difficult traffic situation as it presently exists,” said Councilor Bill Donovan.

Donovan emphasized they are not infringing on anyone’s right to access the beach, but the encouragement to thousands of passholders to go for free is the concern.

“We are not by our opposition to this saying that people cannot access the beach,” he said. “What it does is it avoids overwhelming the area, which, as everyone knows — June, July, August, September — it’s stressed to the hilt.”

Funding and revenue would also be in flux.

“Right now, the state of Maine receives revenue from the operation of the park,” Lufkin said. “To just simply make a blanket statement that we should take state park passes without any funds being directed, it frankly doesn’t make a lot of sense.

“They’d take away a revenue source and turn it into a cost for the state, upwards of $1 million a year.”

Councilor Scott Doherty, a lobsterman and advocate for shoreline access, said he was initially opposed to the council’s resolution.

“I think everyone should have access to the shore, and I want to open it up more,” he said, but he was swayed on Wednesday. “Listening to the people here, the guys from the park that run it now, who run it very efficiently, hearing their points of view — it goes to show you that going to the meetings and speaking up can make a difference.”

The council voted 4-0 to pass the resolution, with Councilors Cory Fellows and Karin Shupe absent. The seven-seat board currently has six members, with the vacant seat being filled at the June 10 election.

For more information on Scarborough Beach State Park, go to scarboroughbeachstatepark.com.