by Mary Grow China Planning Board members have a request from the Comprehensive Planning Committee to consider revising China’s land use ordinance to clarify requirements for a commercial use permit. They started discussion at their July 23 meeting, but came nowhere near a decision, partly because the issues are complicated and partly because only three […]
by Mary Grow “We’ll make a decision shortly, Shawn,” China Selectboard Chairman Robert MacFarland promised Public Works Manager Shawn Reed as selectmen for the fourth time postponed action on his recommendation that they buy an excavator for the town. Reed first made the suggestion at the June 10 selectmen’s meeting. There were follow-up discussions at […]
by Mary Grow At their July 18 meeting, Vassalboro selectmen talked about money (funding for the Vassalboro Sanitary District [VSD] expansion and buying a police car) and people (creating a new town solar committee and appointing its members, a change in codes officers and a neighborhood dispute). Richard Green of Hoyle, Tanner & Associates, engineers […]
by Mary Grow Clifford Glinko gave his well-prepared presentation on his proposed medical marijuana facility on Route 3, in South China, at a July 9 public hearing – to no audience, and without enough detail to satisfy the China Planning Board, which can’t rule yet anyway. Glinko has applied for a marijuana growing facility with […]
by Mary Grow “I’m saying goodbye to China,” Paul Mitnik said toward the end of our June 25 conversation in his office in the town office. After four years as codes enforcement officer, licensed plumbing inspector and building inspector, Mitnik is moving on, sooner than he intended, with a mixture of regret and pleasure. Regret […]
by Mary Grow Money was the top issue at the China Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee’s July 1 meeting, but guardrails generated the most heated discussion. The metal guardrails run along the shore at the head of China Lake, on both sides of the new causeway bridge and for a considerable distance east. Several TIF […]
by Mary Grow China selectmen hope they settled three issues, at least temporarily, at their July 8 meeting, while kicking a fourth question down the road for the third time. The dispute with the town’s three volunteer fire departments over payment of stipends has been going on since the fall of 2018. After a discussion […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro School Board members puzzled over lunch program finances at their June 18 meeting, after Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer recommended they reallocate $30,000 to start covering the program’s debt even though it doesn’t owe any money to anybody. Pfeiffer explained that the “debt,” about $130,000, is on the books because the program spends […]
by Mary Grow China selectmen made several decisions at their June 24 meeting, the last in the current fiscal year, but postponed action on the two longest-discussed questions, whether to buy an excavator and whether to eliminate Saturday town office hours. At their June 10 meeting, Board members re-reviewed bids for equipment for summer road […]
by Mary Grow Vassalboro Planning Board members quickly and unanimously approved both shoreland zoning applications on their June 6 agenda. Mary Rider has approval to rearrange and enlarge the deck on her family camp on Tilton Lane, on the east shore of Webber Pond. Builder Ray Breton, representing the applicant, said the planned increase in […]