by Mary Grow

The five China Budget Committee members at the Sept. 3 meeting unanimously endorsed the 56-page Third Amended Central Maine Power/China Lake Tax Increment Financing District and Development Program, which will be on the Nov. 5 ballot for voters’ action.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood summarized the changes from the second amendment, approved in 2021.

The major change is the addition of a new project on the west end of the causeway at the head of China Lake’s east basin. It will extend the existing sidewalk westward; add docks for fishing and swimming that will be separated from the docks at the boat launch farther east; and contribute toward improving the China Baptist Church parking lot, which provides parking space for people using the waterfront facilities.

The third TIF document deletes two underused and unused projects, a revolving loan fund for small businesses and a job training program. It adjusts funding for several ongoing projects.

China’s TIF program is funded through taxes paid by Central Maine Power Company on its transmission line through China and its South China substation. Hapgood explained that the revised town TIF document will ensure all of each year’s income is allocated, as the state requires.

If voters approve the revision, it will be submitted to the state Department of Economic and Community development for its review and hoped-for approval.

The Third Amended TIF document is on the town website, chinamaine.org., under the TIF Committee, which is under the heading Officials, Boards & Committees, and also on the Elections page.

China’s Nov. 5 voting will be in the former portable classroom behind the town office on Lakeview Drive. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots will be available beginning Monday, Oct. 7.

by Mary Grow

The four China select board members at the Sept. 9 meeting quickly and unanimously approved two business items on their agenda, a revised solid waste agreement with Palermo and a fire truck purchase by the Weeks Mills volunteer fire department.

The solid waste agreement changes were worked out primarily by China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood and Palermo select board member Bob Kurek, one of his town’s two representatives on the China transfer station committee.

The main purpose is to update the original agreement, which was signed in June 2016.

A major change increases the “town fee” that Palermo pays China annually. It was set at $18,000 in 2016, with no provision for adjustment. The new agreement raises the fee to $43,000, still payable in quarterly installments. It provides for an annual adjustment “plus or minus to the nearest $500” based on annual changes in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers for the Northeast.

The revised agreement also updates the section on access permits to reflect current policy. It adds a provision for dispute resolution that makes mediation the first recourse if the two towns’ officials disagree over the “meaning, performance, or enforcement” of the agreement.

At the Transfer Station Committee meeting the morning of Sept. 10, Kurek said the Palermo select board is satisfied with the revised agreement, but because of the increased town fee, it needs approval by voters at a special town meeting. He hopes the meeting will be scheduled in October.

Weeks Mills Fire Chief William Van Wickler previously approached China select board members at their Aug. 26 meeting about his department’s need for a new tanker truck (see the Aug. 29, 2024, issue of The Town Line, p. 2). Board chairman Wayne Chadwick offered to join him in inspecting a 1996 truck owned by Chelsea that Van Wickler had in mind.

Chadwick found no problems with the truck; he noted that its underparts are “pretty rust-free.” The truck is currently being inspected at Reliance Equipment in Vassalboro, Van Wickler said.

The fire chief said he had negotiated the price down from Chelsea’s initial $25,000 to $20,000. The department can provide half that; he asked select board members’ approval to use $10,000 from the fire department reserve fund.

That fund has about $152,000 in it, Hapgood said.

Select board members authorized the $10,000 withdrawal, unless Reliance’s inspection reveals unexpected problems. Van Wickler said he will let them know the inspection results.

One remaining question is whether the Chelsea truck will fit in the Weeks Mills fire house. Van Wickler said if he measured right, it will. If he measured wrong, he has arranged to swap it temporarily for a smaller one from the South China fire department, while he removes shelves in his building to make more space.

The next regular China select board meeting, on Monday, Sept. 23, will begin with a 6 p.m. apple crisp social and public hearing on the Nov. 5 local ballot questions

by Mary Grow

At the polls on Nov. 5, China voters will be asked to approve amendments to two sections of China’s Land Development Code and to the development district map.

The Aug. 20 planning board public hearing, intended to answer voters’ questions and collect their comments on the changes, almost certainly set several records.

One was for smallest attendance at a China public hearing: no members of the public came. Therefore acting chairman Michael Brown probably set records for shortest hearing – he held it open for three minutes in case someone came in late – and shortest meeting, six minutes.

The proposed amendments to Chapter 2 and Chapter 11 of China’s Land Development Code and the District Map are on the town website, chinamaine.org, under the Planning Board, which is under “Officials, Boards & Committees.”

The simpler changes are in Chapter 11, the section on definitions. The definitions of “expansion of a structure,” “expansion of use” and “shoreland zone” are all recommended for amendment.

Chapter 2, the Land Use Ordinance that is a major part of the code (69 pages on the town website) has multiple changes. Most, planning board chairman Toni Wall said when the board discussed the changes at an Aug. 13 meeting, are aimed at simplifying, clarifying or updating language.

The first change says that “all references to other local, state and federal regulations, rules, laws and the like” mean to the current version, so that voters will no longer need to amend the Land Use Ordinance every time an outside document is updated.

Many changes, codes officer Nicholas French said at the Aug. 13 meeting, will bring China’s ordinance into compliance with state law and regulations, something that should be done whenever state laws or rules that set local standards are enacted or amended.

A major change, if voters approve, will eliminate about eight pages of local regulations by transferring jurisdiction over timber harvesting in China’s Resource Protection, Stream Protection and Shoreland Districts to the Maine Forest Service.

Planning board and select board members, and town attorney Amanda Meader, have reviewed multiple drafts of the changes. At their Aug. 26 meeting, select board members approved them for the Nov. 5 ballot.

The next regular China planning board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10.

by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Transfer Station Committee and station manager Thomas Maraggio discussed plans for continued improvements at their Aug. 13 meeting.

An ongoing issue is items for which the station charges a fee, because it costs the town extra to get rid of them. The list (which is on the town website, chinamaine.org) includes furniture; refrigerators and other appliances that contain freon; computers and other electronics; lamps; and brush.

Users leave some of these items at the free for the taking building, and are annoyed when they are asked to pay the appropriate fee anyway. Maraggio said if someone takes the item while the prior owner is still there, the fee is refunded.

But, he said, not all items are in demand; and, building volunteer and committee member Rachel Anderson added, space is limited. Maraggio said staff clean up the area twice a week; obviously unusable items go immediately to the appropriate disposal area, doubtful ones are left for two weeks to find a new owner.

Anderson did not think a larger building was a solution; it would only attract more junk. She suggested outside display shelves or tables from spring through fall.

Anderson and others recommend people consider donating large items to Goodwill, or putting them on front lawns with a “Free” sign.

Committee chairman J. Christopher Baumann recommended more signage closer to the entrance, and better publicity through the China Connected newsletter and other sources, telling people what they need to pay for, and why, before or as they arrive.

Committee member Benjamin Weymouth suggested an informational handout distributed with annual transfer station stickers. Maraggio and Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said there are existing handouts.

Maraggio plans a building near the entrance for the sand that China residents are allowed in winter storms; he suggested informational signs on the building. (The town website says China residents may take two five-gallon buckets of sand per storm. Palermo residents get sand from their sand/salt shed on North Palermo Road.)

Reporting on recent developments, Maraggio said the three days staff checked access passes at the gate found general compliance, did not lead to delays and annoyed only a few people. Staff plan spot checks in the future.

The lighting at the free for the taking building, and the new concrete compost pad, are installed, Maraggio said. The compost policy has been revised: compost will still be free, but, due to potential liability, staff cannot help China and Palermo residents load it.

Hapgood and Palermo committee member Robert Kurek said they are “making progress” on a revised agreement to let Palermo residents continue to use China’s facility. A draft revision is almost ready for review by the two towns’ attorneys.

Hapgood sent Palermo the required year’s notice of intent to dissolve the current agreement last fall, after a series of problems with Palermo residents, mostly their refusal to buy and use the required blue bags.

She and Kurek, and the respective town office staff members and transfer station staff, continue to spend time tracking down offenders, but the situation has improved. Committee members briefly discussed ways to deal with repeat offenders, agreeing that in most cases, fines were preferable to denying access to the facility.

Transfer station committee members scheduled their next meeting for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10.