by Mary Grow Note: this report does not cover the Feb. 13 select board public hearing on the draft Board of Appeals ordinance (Chapter 9 of China’s Land Use Ordinance), to which select board members invited members of the board of appeals and the planning board. The same topic is the main agenda item for […]
by Mary Grow Five members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee met Feb. 8 and reviewed most of the requests for TIF funds for the 2023-24 fiscal year that begins July 1. China’s TIF money comes from taxes Central Maine Power Company pays on its north-south transmission line through the town. By state law, […]
by Mary Grow Four of the six members of China’s Board of Appeals met Feb. 8 to hear a variance request from Charles and Julie Wing for their property on Fire Road 12, off Neck Road. Stephen Greene, Lisa Kane and Alan Pelletier promptly re-elected Spencer Aitel board chairman. Aitel explained the variance procedure, which […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro select board members held their annual preliminary budget review the afternoon of Feb. 7, proposing several new expenditures and letting new town manager Aaron Miller show how quickly he is mastering the finances of a town he’s served only since Jan. 2. No decisions were made on 2023-24 budget recommendations. Discussions […]
by Mary Grow At their Feb. 2 meeting, Vassalboro select board members continued discussion of better outside lighting and handicapped accessible front doors at the town office; improvements at the transfer station; and other, mostly on-going, issues. They made a decision on the town office lighting, and expressed approval of Ben Gidney’s suggestion regarding parking […]
by Mary Grow James North and Ruby Crosby Wiggin, quoted last week, were not the only local historians to mention the Year without a Summer. And 1816 was not the only unusually cold spell – though it was the longest spell of (fairly) consistently cold weather – recorded in the central Kennebec Valley since the […]
by Mary Grow At their Jan. 24 meeting, members of China’s Transfer Station Committee unanimously approved two documents for forwarding to the select board. One is a revised Solid Waste Ordinance, prepared with help from Jessica Cobb, of the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments. It combines two existing ordinances, titled Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance and […]
by Mary Grow China select board members began their Jan. 29 meeting by hearing Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood’s initial presentation on the 2023-24 town budget, with four budget committee members joining them (three others were unable to attend). Members of both boards will review the thick budget books Hapgood prepared, with, she said, much help […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro select board members, Webber Pond Association leaders and other interested parties held the joint meeting they planned back in November 2022, on Jan. 25. At the Nov. 10 select board meeting, Association president John Reuthe and Department of Marine Resources staff member Nate Gray said the lake had poor water quality […]
by Mary Grow China Planning Board members considered three documents at their Jan. 24 meeting. They agreed to continue discussion of amending the Board of Appeals Ordinance (which is Chapter 9 of the Land Use Ordinance) at their Feb. 14 meeting, with members of China’s board of appeals and select board invited to participate (see […]