by Mary Grow

The China Board of Appeals met Friday afternoon, March 10, to hear an appeal of a building permit issued by codes enforcement officer Nicholas French. Board members upheld French’s decision.

The permit was issued on Jan. 9, 2023, to Wayne Paul, Jr. It was appealed by Baiba Bangerskis (for whom her husband, Gundars “Gus” Bangerskis spoke), Raymond Malley and Susan Malley (identified as the widow of James R. Malley), residents of the Yarmouth, Massachusetts, area.

The appeal documents correctly identify French as assistant codes officer and Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood as codes officer. Hapgood holds the title while French completes courses needed for certification (he is almost done); French has been doing the job, and his signature is on Paul’s permit.

After appeals board chairman Spencer Aitel established the board’s authority to hear the appeal, the appellants, appearing virtually, explained the situation, with Bangerskis taking the lead.

They explained that two pieces of land on the east side of Three Mile Pond are involved. One piece is owned jointly by Baiba Bangerskis, two Malleys and Paul. Joint ownership, Gus Bangerskis said, means each party has a one-fourth interest in all of the parcel; none claims a specific piece of it.

Riga Road, formerly Fire Road 71, runs through this lot from Route 32 South to the lake, where several people have homes or seasonal homes. The lakeshore residents have a right-of-way over Riga Road to their properties; Bangerskis said neither Paul nor the other three landowners have a right of way.

Paul also owns and plans to build on the next parcel north, between Riga Road and Fire Road 70. Whether Riga Road touches that lot was part of the debate. Paul said it does; the appellants questioned the accuracy of the old survey on which Paul relied.

Bangerskis also said a deed clause that French cited in correspondence with the appellants was misinterpreted; it does not give Paul a right of way over Riga Road.

The appellants therefore argued that because Paul does not have a right of way over Riga Road, he cannot use it to access his property – they referred to use by trucks delivering lumber and cement trucks – and therefore should not have been granted a building permit.

His only access, they suggested, is by water, from the public landing on Three Mile Pond.

Aitel then asked French why he issued the permit.

French replied that he had no ground on which to deny it.

China’s ordinance does not require a building permit applicant to have road frontage, access or a street address. The requirements are a map and lot number and proof of right, title or interest; Paul provided them.

“How he actually gets to this parcel has nothing to do with me,” French said.

After Aitel gave the two parties a chance to question each other, he asked board members’ opinions. Agreement was quick and unanimous: French’s action was correct.

The access issue may be a problem for the landowner, Robert Fischer said, but it is irrelevant to the codes officer’s decision.

French “did what he is authorized to do,” Stephen Greene said. He suggested other issues between Paul and the appellants should be worked out among them or submitted to a court of law.

The vote on a motion that the codes officer acted correctly in issuing the building permit was 5-0-1, with Fischer, Greene, Michael Gee, Lisa Kane and Alan Pelletier voting yes and Aitel abstaining, as he habitually does when his vote is not essential.

Aitel reminded the appellants that they have the right to appeal the Board of Appeals decision to court.

by Mary Grow

China transfer station committee members voted at their March 7 meeting to recommend to the select board purchase of a utility vehicle for transfer station staff use.

The vote was unanimous, with two transfer station staffers and road foreman Shawn Reed abstaining to avoid any appearance of self-interest (although Reed said he doubts public works would need to borrow the machine).

Station attendants currently use a donated golf cart to move things to their proper disposal locations. Transfer station manager Tom Maraggio said the new vehicle will accommodate larger things, like discarded air conditioners and television sets.

The price for the recommended Polaris Ranger 500 is $10,699. Staffer Cheyenne Houle had two other bids on different models, one higher and one slightly lower.

The China transfer station offers a six-page hand-out describing what materials can be recycled (with a reminder that the list may change as markets for recyclables change) and what other discards are acceptable, free or for a fee, with an aerial photo labeled to show where different things go.

She and Maraggio recommended the Polaris as the only one offered with a roll cage and lights, and as probably the most durable of the choices. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said the transfer station capital expenditures fund has enough 2022-23 money left to cover the cost.

Hapgood said she would put the request on the agenda for the Monday, March 13, select board meeting.

Two other transfer station projects are pending, paving in two areas and putting a cover over the new compactor.

Houle had asked for price quotes on paving and gotten only one, so far. Reed is having the same problem as he tries to budget for road paving in the coming summer; he predicted that by the end of March, companies will have a better idea of per-ton paving costs and will be more willing to offer estimated prices.

Houle said she has no bids yet on a cover for the pre-crusher.

Two other topics at the March 7 meeting were using the RFID (radio frequency identification) system to get more information about transfer station use, and refiguring the fee charged Palermo residents for their trash bags.

Hapgood said too many non-residents are using the China transfer station, which is supported primarily by China residents’ property taxes. Some people borrow residents’ RFID tags; some move out of town, find that their new town’s disposal system is less convenient or more expensive and continue to bring trash to China.

Committee members discussed ways to make the RFID system more useful. Hapgood and committee chairman Paul Lucas think requiring annual renewals would be one way to help keep records up to date. Hapgood accepted Houle’s offer to explore additional uses with the company that runs the system.

The updated version of the agreement under which Palermo residents use China’s facility calls for a recalculation of the bag fee each spring, so it can be adjusted as costs change. Palermo representative Robert Kurek reviewed the process, which Hapgood said she has started.

Committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 11, in the China town office meeting room.

by Mary Grow

At a March 2 meeting, China Planning Board members unanimously voted to forward their recommended version of the Board of Appeals Ordinance to the select board, scheduled to meet March 6.

The decision was not reached without yet another argument – they started in January – about the relationship between the select board and the planning board, with planning board co-chairman James Wilkens and select board member Brent Chesley squaring off again.

Chesley first proposed amending the ordinance. The rest of the select board endorsed it at a Jan. 3 meeting, leading to the ongoing argument about what town body recommends ordinance changes.

[See related story: More discussions take place on appeals board ordinance]

Voters have the final say. Select board members intend to have an amended Board of Appeals Ordinance (Chapter 9 of the China Land Development Code) on the June town meeting warrant.

Planning board members generally approve Chesley’s suggested procedural changes, but their final draft, as co-chairman Toni Wall explained it March 2, rejects three of his substantive points.

• The existing and proposed ordinances allow the Board of Appeals to vary some dimensional requirements (setbacks from property lines, for example) within limits. Chesley proposed allowing relaxation of the 20 percent limit on setback variances with written consent from the abutting property-owner; planning board members deleted the provision.
• The planning board’s draft ordinance includes the existing prohibition on variances that would allow new or enlarged principal structures on lots less than 20,000 square feet in resource protection, stream protection and shoreland zones, a prohibition that Chesley’s draft deletes.
• The planning board draft includes a list of nine standards for approving a variance that Chesley’s draft removes. The standards say that the Board of Appeals should find that approval would not cause “unsafe or unhealthful conditions,” water pollution or other harmful effects and would protect shoreland vegetation, public access to the water body and other benefits.

Two other proposed additions are a requirement that the landowner register an approved variance at the Kennebec County Registry of Deeds and a paragraph authorizing disability variances.

During the March 2 meeting, resident Scott Pierz recommended town officials register variances and pass the cost on to the landowner, rather than assuming the landowner will do it. Without a record, future title searches are apt to lead to confusion.

The disability variance would be included in a permit issued by the codes officer and would be only for equipment or a structure to make a building accessible for a handicapped resident or frequent user – for example, a handicapped ramp that needs to encroach into a setback area.

The second major topic at the March 2 meeting was China’s comprehensive plan. Wall had excerpted references to planning board responsibilities under the plan.

Board members agreed they should review China’s Phosphorus Control Ordinance (Chapter Four of the Land Development Code), first educating themselves on new water quality information. The town website, china.govoffice.com, dates the ordinance June 5, 1993.

Planners also intend to return to discussion of a solar ordinance to govern future siting of commercial solar developments.

The comprehensive plan calls for an implementation committee to supervise carrying out plan recommendations. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said March 3 that the select board created a new implementation committee in July 2022; she is waiting for residents to volunteer to become members.

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 14.