David and Robin Dahms were hoping to move into their dream home on Beaver Pond by Christmas.

Built in memory of their daughter, Brittany, who died of cancer last January, the three-bedroom ranch was going to have a deck off the back overlooking the pond, a private back yard where the family could barbecue in good weather and a porch out front that would be the focal point of the home.

“This is what our dream house would be,” said Robin Dahms. “It’s a basic ranch house, but it’s our dream house.”

But, less than a week before Christmas, the home is no more than a foundation and a frame. The pond they were hoping to see reflect sunsets in the evenings has turned the project into a nightmare of bureaucratic red tape, which has forced the family to alter the design of the house and held up construction for a month.

“We wanted to do this a couple years ago, but my daughter got sick and it wasn’t feasible,” said Robin Dahms. “This is in her memory, and it’s all screwed up.”

////More about Brittany here./////

The Dahms live on East Valentine Street next to Beaver Pond, which stretches from the end of East Valentine to Spring Street and has long been considered to be man-made by the city. A recent decision by the state, however, has changed that designation to natural, which carries stricter regulations over construction.

To build on a man-made body of water, construction cannot come within 10 feet of the water. For a natural body of water, however, state regulations prevent construction from coming within 75 feet.

The problem for the Dahms family is that their property is only 95 feet from the water to the street. What was supposed to be a home facing the street with a front yard and a back yard leading down to the pond, as well as a deck off the back of the house looking out over the pond, is now decidedly different. The house will now face perpendicular to the street with about 20 feet of front yard, 5 feet of back yard and no deck.

“We would have had a huge back yard, but now we have hardly any,” said David Dahms.

Beyond that, the family didn’t find out that the pond had been designated natural instead of man-made until they had finished the design of the home, received a building permit from the city and already torn down their old home.

Restrictions discovered

/////Back in mid-October, the couple said they went to Westbrook City Hall to ask about getting a building permit for the home. They said they asked the city if the pond would be a problem, and city staff said it wouldn’t be because the pond was man-made and only required a 10-foot setback.

According to City Engineer Eric Dudley, city staff told the couple they would also need to contact the Department of Environmental Protection to see if any state regulations applied to construction on the pond. Robin and David Dahms deny the city told them to contact the state.///////

The couple put in their application at the end of October and received a permit from the city in the beginning of November. On Nov. 6, they brought contractors in and began demolishing the old house, which Robin Dahms said had always been a starter home and which the family had outgrown long ago.

/////Dudley said city staff told the couple again that they should contact the state themselves before building when the city issued the building permit. However, the couple said that wasn’t the case and that the city never told them to contact the state./////

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the couple, Dudley said the city had notified the Department of Environmental Protection to see if the state had any regulations concerning the pond.////Why?/////

Upon receiving the inquiry in mid October, the state conducted a field investigation of the pond. Environmental Specialist Kara Moody said she visited and researched the pond and determined that the pond appeared naturally occurring and not man-made. She said she couldn’t find any evidence that conclusively showed the pond was man-made, even though it might at one point have been included in the Cumberland-Oxford Canal.////what’s the Cumberland-Oxford Canal?////

After determining the pond to be natural, the state told the Dahms family they couldn’t build as they had planned. Instead, they could apply for a conditional permit allowing them to build within 25 feet of the pond. If they wanted to challenge the determination, the state said the burden of proof would be on them. The couple did some research and found a drain in the pond that might suggest it’s man-made, but Moody said that could have been part of improvements made to incorporate the pond into the canal system.

“We can’t just assume that it’s man-made without proof,” said Moody. “We have to assume it’s natural. This one looks pretty natural.”

The couple halted excavation of the foundation of the house and applied for and received the permit. However, waiting for the special permit delayed construction, and to accommodate the new restrictions, the couple had to alter their construction plans.

“It’s very frustrating and heart-breaking,” said Robin Dahms.

She said they are disappointed because they had planned the new home in memory of their daughter, who always teased them that they would never get their dream home built.

“She told me, ‘You’re full of it. It’s never going to happen,'” said David Dahms.

Now, it is happening, but the run-in with the city and state have taken the fun out of building a new home, the couple said.

“I’ll be excited once it’s up and we can start painting and doing the things we want to do, but for now there’s no excitement,” she said.

For now, the family is still staying at Robin Dahms’ parents house while they are away in Arizona and won’t be getting into their new home by Christmas. That move could be delayed until as late as the end of January, according to Robin Dahms.

Another concern the couple has is for their neighbors. With the pond’s new designation, other homeowners in the area who could right now be making plans for their properties might have those plans altered when they try to move forward with them.