PHIPPSBURG —  The man who had the Popham Beach pilings removed says that he’s open to giving a few away to members of the public who want to put them to a new use, but so far it’s not clear how that will happen.

Jack Parker, who owns a residence that overlooked the pilings, had the wooden posts plucked out of the water using a crane and barge earlier this month. That came after a lengthy dispute, when some residents and visitors to the beach pushed back, wanting to preserve the pilings for aesthetic or historical reasons. Parker said the pilings, which once supported the Eastern Steamship Co. pier, were contributing to erosion on the beach near his home.

Once the pilings were finally removed, some people on social media said they wanted to get their hands on a piling to make souvenirs or to repurpose them in some other way. In a recent email sent to Phippsburg selectmen, Parker said he’d be open to that. Parker offered to drop a few pilings off at the town’s transfer station, where people could take any pieces they wanted rather than have people pick through a massive pile of pilings.

“I understand that having people of unknown skills climbing around on a pile of logs with chainsaws could be a potentially risky situation. I thought delivering a few to the Town’s transfer stating might mitigate that risk,” Parker wrote in an email to The Times Record.

On Wednesday, Phippsburg selectmen rejected Parker’s offer, partly because they didn’t want the town to be stuck with any pilings that weren’t taken by the public.

“I don’t have a problem with anyone getting them, but I don’t want them stored at the transfer station,” said Selectman Gary Read.

The selectmen also had questions about how the pilings would be delivered, and if they would already be cut into manageable pieces that people could haul away. Ultimately, the selectmen voted unanimously to reject Parker’s offer, although they thanked him for making it.

“It’s very nice of him to offer them to the townspeople,” said Read. “But I don’t know if putting them down at the transfer station is a great idea.”

The selectmen did offer to advertise the pilings one the town’s website and Facebook account if Parker found a way to open them up for the public to take. At the moment, however, it’s not clear when or how that would happen.

“If there’s another solution I’d consider it,” said Parker.

Parker did not respond to questions about what would become of any pilings that weren’t taken by the public or where they were currently being kept. Parker said that he didn’t count how many pilings were pulled from Popham, but earlier estimates stated that there were about 150 pilings in the area.

nstrout@timesrecord.com