Sunapee approves $65,000 contract for Georges Mills boat launch project

Georges Mills boaters got a new step toward a rebuilt launch when the Sunapee Selectboard approved a $65,000 contract for the project, advancing work on a ramp that has drawn attention from summer lake users and shoreline residents alike. The upgrade centers on a stacked granite block retaining wall design, with precast modular block units below the waterline and granite above, a cost-saving approach town planners had already settled on in earlier design work.

The vote came soon after the town’s latest battle with invasive weeds at the ramp. Curly-leaf pondweed was identified at the Georges Mills Boat Launch on June 3, the launch was temporarily closed on June 4 for an aquatic invasive species inspection, and on June 9 NHDES, LSPA and trained divers removed the plants near the ramp. LSPA said the weed had first been spotted there in 2024 and reported about 12 plants in three small clusters along one side of a submerged log.

At the June 15 meeting, Town Manager Martinez said divers did not find any curly-leaf pondweed near the ramp and said LSPA would keep monitoring the lake through the summer. The launch had also been closed earlier in May after a fuel spill in Georges Mills harbor, before the town said the spill was successfully contained and the ramp was expected to reopen within the hour.

Town materials describe the Georges Mills Boat Launch restoration as a combined effort between two projects, one supported by the Governor’s Office for Emergency Relief & Recovery and another through the Lake Sunapee Protective Association with grant funding. Draft plans were shaped by a stakeholder group made up of different community users, and earlier board records show the town had already paid Horizons Engineering invoices of $662.06 and $2,207.54, along with smaller amounts, from the Town Dock/Boat Launch Repair & Maintenance Capital Reserve Fund for concept design and fieldwork.

The project sits inside a much longer Lake Sunapee debate over who gets access to the water and how. The state bought the former Wild Goose Cabins site for $603,614 at foreclosure auction in the 1990s and later transferred it to Fish and Game for a public launch, while the Public Water Access Advisory Board voted in 2004 to develop the site. Opposition at the time focused on environmental concerns, property values, nearby businesses and highway safety, arguments that still shape how Georges Mills and the rest of Sunapee view boat-launch work today.

The contract approval keeps the Georges Mills project moving in a town where access, traffic and shoreline use remain tightly connected.