Vassalboro board gets update on student staff wellness team

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro School Board’s Dec. 10 meeting featured a virtual presentation by two of the three members of the student and staff wellness team at Vassalboro Community School (VCS).

Counselors Gina Davis and Jamie Routhier explained what they and social worker Megan Simmons do, working with students and their families, other staff members and outside groups. They praised the Colby Cares program, which lets Colby students act as mentors to VCS students, and the cooperation with Mid-Maine Technical Center.

Jamie called the threesome “an amazing team,” and VCS Principal Ira Michaud added, “We couldn’t get by without them.”

Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer shared a multi-subject report, beginning with the welcome news that the Maine Department of Transportation has put up proper signage for the school zone. Vassalboro Police Chief Mark Brown is aware of the posted speed limits, Pfeiffer added.

The superintendent described social media as “the biggest social experiment ever,” without guardrails. He urged everyone listening to watch a 90-minute Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma. It features people who created the various social media platforms warning of the consequences of their inventions, he said.

Board members approved the superintendent’s recommendation for a wage increase for substitute workers in three categories, to bring them to the legal state minimum. Pfeiffer said there might be additional recommended changes after contracts are renegotiated for other personnel.

Pfeiffer, speaking for finance director Paula Pooler, reported that the 2024-25 budget remains on track. He expects the state to set the high-school tuition rate in the next couple weeks, and tuition bills to start arriving soon afterwards.

Board members had planned a workshop session before the Dec. 10 meeting on proposed improvements to the VCS building, with Thomas Seekins, co-president of Portland-based Energy Manage­ment Consultants, Inc. (EMC). The workshop was postponed due to weather. It is now scheduled for 4:45 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, before the next board meeting.

Pfeiffer will invite Vassalboro Budget Committee members to hear Seekins’ Jan. 14 presentation. Interested community members are welcome to attend.

Vassalboro select board undertakes several ongoing issues

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members discussed many ongoing issues at their Dec. 12 meeting, and settled five.

— They appointed public works department employee Brian Lajoie as the new department director, succeeding Eugene Field, who has retired.
— Vassalboro First Responders Assistant Chief Josi Haskell reported the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation gave the unit a $25,000 grant, subject to select board acceptance, to buy a Lucas device. This is a mechanical chest compression (CPR, cardiopulmonary resuscitation) machine for patients in cardiac arrest.

Board members were not sure the First Responders needed their approval, but in case, they gladly voted to accept the grant. Haskell expects the Lucas device to arrive in six to eight weeks. First Responders will be trained to use it, she said.

— At the Nov. 13 select board meeting, Town Manager Aaron Miller recommended switching the bulk of the town’s funds to Bar Harbor Bank & Trust (see the Nov. 21 issue of The Town Line, p. 3). Board member Chris French asked for more choices to consider, and the board postponed a decision.

Miller reported after reaching out to other banks, he still recommended Bar Harbor. Board members approved unanimously.

— Jody Kundreskas, for the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee, asked approval to waive the town’s procurement policy so the committee can again have the services of an expert stone restorer, Joseph Ferrannini, from the Maine Old Cemetery Association. Select board members approved by consensus.
— Board members unanimously chose Brandon Olsen, from Friendship, Maine, for a five-year contract to harvest alewives in Vassalboro, on Miller’s recommendation.

In other business, Douglas Phillips told board members the former East Vassalboro schoolhouse, now the historical society museum and headquarters, needs external repainting. Capital improvements for the town-owned building are the town’s responsibility.

Timing is a problem, Phillips said: if funds aren’t available until after voters act at the annual town meeting in June, area painters’ 2025 schedules will undoubtedly be filled, and the work won’t get done until 2026.

Phillips had obtained two proposals, in the $15,000 to $17,000 range. Board members considered what existing funds might be applied. Phillips suggested requesting proposals soon, with the understanding having the work done would depend on June funding.

No decisions were made. French commented that the town has not set aside money to maintain infrastructure.

Board members returned to another topic briefly discussed at their Nov. 13 meeting, the request for a designated handicapped parking space at Hair Builders, at 653 Oak Grove Road in North Vassalboro.

Becky Morse, speaking for owner Beth Morse (no relation, she said) explained that many customers are older or handicapped, making parking across the street difficult and unsafe. Board members and Miller were sympathetic, but could not act Dec. 12 because, Miller said, Vassalboro’s parking ordinance requires public notice and a public hearing.

Board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico, Jr., asked how the town would enforce the ordinance, with Police Chief Mark Brown working only part-time. Morse did not expect problems.

Board members plan to discuss the issue again at their Dec. 26 meeting, and if they decide to proceed, to schedule a public hearing for Jan. 9, 2025.

Another question postponed Nov. 13, and postponed again Dec. 12, was continuing to hold elections at Vassalboro Community School, instead of at the town office. Board members plan to talk with school officials and to consider the question again in January 2025.

Decisions about propane tanks at the town office and the Riverside fire station – how large, whether to lease or buy – were again postponed for more information.

On the board’s Jan. 23 agenda will be plans for integrating voting for Vassalboro Sanitary District trustees with voting for other town officials, with the difference that only voters in the area VSD serves can choose trustees. Miller had asked the VSD’s attorney for advice; French advised consulting the town’s attorney; Denico recommended asking Town Clerk Cathy Coyne how VSD voting was handled by the town up to a few years ago.

As the Dec. 12 meeting ended, Miller announced that that the Vassalboro town office will close at noon Tuesday, Dec. 24, for the annual staff Christmas party.

Transfer station committee tackles two unusually argumentative discussions

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by Mary Grow

The Dec. 10 China Transfer Station Committee included two unusually argumentative discussions.

The first was on recycling, sparked by station manager Thomas Maraggio’s report that China’s new plastics baler should arrive in a couple months. The baler will let the transfer station accept No. 1 plastic for recycling; it will be baled and stored until a load is ready to be shipped out.

New committee member Lee Buzzell asked whether China is doing too much recycling, at taxpayers’ expense.

The baler was paid for by a grant. But, Buzzell pointed out, using it will cost man-hours and will add to the electric bill. He questioned whether income from the plastic would cover costs.

Maraggio said in addition to income from recyclables, which varies widely with the markets, China saves the cost of the disposal fees that are paid for solid waste.

The second point Buzzell raised was whether the committee should discuss changing transfer station hours. He and some of his friends have work schedules that make it impossible for them to use the facility, he said.

The station is currently open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Maraggio said the hours have been in effect for over two years, based on an analysis of busiest and least busy times.

Three reminders from China transfer station and town office staff

1) China residents’ 2025 transfer station stickers are available at the transfer station and the town office, for $2. Issuers need to see the registration for the vehicle for which the sticker is issued; town office staff can look it up in their records, transfer station staff cannot.

2) China residents are allowed two buckets of winter sand at a time from the new sand shed near the transfer station gate. Volunteers will deliver sand to residents unable to get their own; those needing this service should call the town office at 445-2014.

3) Beginning not too far into 2025, the transfer station will be able to accept No. 1 plastic for recycling. Currently, No. 2 and No. 5 plastic are accepted. These items must be empty and clean, but do not need to be crushed.

Buzzell suggested trying staying open until 8 p.m. one weeknight, or being open both weekend days. From the audience, select board chairman Wayne Chadwick added extending Saturday hours until 5 p.m.

After a discussion of pros and cons, committee chairman J. Christopher Baumann postponed further discussion to the next meeting, urging members to seek more information to support opinions and minimize unanticipated consequences.

The transfer station committee is advisory; it is empowered to make recommendations, which the China select board can accept, modify or reject. Baumann said its main purpose is to improve the experience at the transfer station, for residents and staff.

China local resident expands on community garden plans

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by Mary Grow

China select board members heard two presentations at their Dec. 16 meeting. Resident James Hsiang expanded on the plan for a community garden that he presented in November; and Dr. Timothy Pieh, of Rome, Maine, and MaineGeneral Medical Center, summarized the first year of Kennebec County’s MD3 program.

Hsiang proposed locating the garden on the town-owned lot south of the town office complex on Lakeview Drive (see the Nov. 21 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

He presented a $5,600 budget, which does not include a connection to the well on the southern property. The budget includes no money for labor, he pointed out: work will be done entirely by volunteers.

Hsiang listed several possible funding sources for materials, including grants, donations from local businesses and individuals and China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) fund. Already, he said, the project has volunteers, donations, a discount offer from a town business and 32 people who have signed up for space to raise gardens.

Select board members voted unanimously to approve the idea of the community garden, pending financing.

Pieh explained that the MD3 program provides physicians on call to respond to emergencies, arriving in a vehicle full of medical equipment – “bringing the ER [emergency room] to you.” Having a physician on scene with, or occasionally before, local rescue units or ambulances improves patient outcomes, he said, citing both local statistics and medical reports.

Starting with four doctors, MD3 has eight as it ends its first year of operation this month. They are on call Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., hours chosen based on 2018 state-wide 911 call data.

During the year, they have responded in 29 municipalities, including five outside Kennebec County. Augusta had the most calls, 33; Waterville was second, with 25; China was third, with 18. The types of emergencies varied widely – heart attacks, accidents (mostly but not all vehicle), gunshot wounds, seizures and three described as “pregnancy emergency.”

The program includes teaching. Pieh is pleased that EM3 reached 748 students, in places as varied as Mid-Maine Technical Center, Delta Ambulance and local fire departments.

MD3 costs about $350,000 a year, Pieh said. For 2024, funding came from Kennebec County’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) account, which will not be available for 2025.

Pieh estimated the average annual cost per county resident at four to five dollars, though in Rome, he said, it is about eight dollars per person.

He hopes China select board members will consider MD3 valuable and will ask the county budget committee to recommend funding it in 2025. Meanwhile, he is seeking other funding sources; he has received small grants, and tentatively a significant one, already.

Town office holiday hours

China town departments’ holiday schedule is as follows:

— Tuesday, Dec. 24, closing at noon; closed all day Wednesday, Dec. 25, and Thursday, Dec. 26.

— Tuesday, Dec. 31, closing at 2 p.m.; closed all day Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025.

The only reaction Dec. 16 came from China board chairman Wayne Chadwick, who disapproves of programs that start with ARPA or other non-taxpayer money and fall onto taxpayers.

“I like what you’re doing, but I don’t like that it was started with an ARPA grant,” Chadwick told Pieh.

In other business Dec. 16, board member Blane Casey reported on the process of seeking prices for building the new storage vault at the town office. Select board members authorized Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood to sign contracts once she, Casey, and Municipal Building Committee chairman Sheldon Goodine choose contractors.

Ronald Morrell, chairman of China’s Emergency Preparedness Committee, said the committee plans to begin meeting again early in 2025 to make sure China’s emergency plan is up to date.

Hapgood reminded everyone that nominations for Spirit of America awards recognizing local volunteers are due. Nomination forms are available on the town website, chinamaine.org, on the town manager’s page, which is under Administration under Departments.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., Monday, Dec. 30.

EVENTS: China planning board meeting canceled

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by Mary Grow

The China Planning Board meeting and public hearing scheduled for Tuesday evening, Dec. 10, were canceled due to weather conditions.

The two main agenda items were a public hearing and application review for a proposed retail store at 363 Route 3, in South China, and review of the town’s application for an earth-moving permit for work on Town Landing Road, in South China Village.

Board members held a public hearing on the Town Landing Road at their Nov. 26 meeting (see the Dec. 5 issue of The Town Line, p. 2).

The next planning board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Jan. 14, 2025.

Vassalboro community garden project moves on to next step

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Karen Hatch, Vassalboro’s Community Program Director, is excited to announce the completion of AARP Community Gardens Project, Part of the 2024 AARP Community Challenge Grant Program.

This first year four raised beds were built with the help of several volunteers, mostly older adults. Four more will be built in the Spring 2025. These beds are handicapped accessible and are tall enough that one doesn’t have to bend over to tend the garden. The garden beds are located at the Vassalboro Town Office.

Steve Jones, owner of Fieldstone Gardens, in Vassalboro, provided help in determining where to place the garden boxes and also arranged purchasing the soil for the boxes and having the boxes filled. He also donated plants for the boxes.

Two garden benches are placed by the garden area for folks to be able to sit and rest or just enjoy being outside!

The goal of this community garden is to improve the health of the town residents by offering fresh garden produce, combat social isolation of older adults by having them come and socialize with other folks who are gardening here, relieve food insecurities and enhance community connectedness.

Additional garden space will be made for all ages to be able to use to help forge connections and bonds across generations, incomes, races and cultures. In the spring of 2025, more information will be made available as to how to sign up for a garden spot. Priority for the taller raised beds will be given to older adults.

East Village project team talks about traffic control

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by Mary Grow

The East Village Project Team, the group working to better manage traffic through East Vassalboro Village, met Dec. 9 to talk about the three-month traffic-calming experiment that ended Nov. 1, how to evaluate it and what else might be done.

The village extends along Route 32 from the China Lake outlet dam, with a boat landing that is heavily used despite limited parking, northward through a mostly-residential district. At its center is the four-way intersection with Bog Road, which runs west past the public library, and South Stanley Hill Road, which runs east around a sharp curve and past the Friends Meeting House.

The team is a response to residents’ complaints about fast traffic that raises safety issues for pedestrians and makes getting out of a driveway a challenge. Speed limits vary from 35 miles an hour on Bog Road to 20 miles an hour around the South Stanley Hill Road curve.

For three months, tall stanchions were set up on all the roads. Most were in sets of three, with a white one on each white line along the side of the road and a yellow one on the center line.

Brian Lajoie, from Vassalboro’s public works department, said a yellow stanchion was hit by a vehicle almost every day, generating many complaints from the drivers who hit them. He used up all spare yellow stanchions during the trial period.

White stanchions were hit less often. Only two needed to be replaced.

Team chairman Holly Weidner said she had talked with many people about their reactions to the stanchions. Almost all said they slowed down the first time they saw them, but not after they got used to them.

Team members have two ways to get data they hope will help them find out whether the stanchions noticeably slowed traffic. One is from small speed warning signs the state Department of Transportation (MDOT) has placed on speed limit signs on Route 32.

These signs notify motorists of their speed and record the speed. Team members have not yet requested data from MDOT. They discussed whether this year’s extensive road construction on Route 32, mostly farther north, had affected traffic patterns enough to make data not typical.

The second evaluation is to come from a survey of town residents and others who drive through East Vassalboro. Weidner shared a draft that asks questions of drivers – did you slow down? – and of residents – did you notice traffic was slower? Others offered suggestions; Weidner plans to prepare a final version.

In addition to fast traffic, parking, especially at the boat landing, is a concern that was briefly addressed by team members. Lajoie said during China Lake bass tournaments, fishers now park at the public works garage on Bog Road and are shuttled to the landing, a system that seems to be working well.

Crosswalks were mentioned as another way to slow traffic. Crosswalks require sidewalks; in 2016, Vassalboro voters refused to contribute $58,600 toward a proposed East Vassalboro sidewalk project. Weidner was open to renewed discussion at a future meeting.

The next East Village Project Team meeting will be scheduled after information from MDOT signs has been received and considered.

Vassalboro planners discuss three applications; store permit still “good”

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning board members discussed three applications on their Dec. 3 agenda: a permit extension for the East Vassalboro village store; a proposed Seaward Mills Road subdivision; and a Brann Road business.

In February 2023, board members approved a permit for Tim and Heather Dutton to reopen the former East Vassalboro Country Store. Since then, the permit has been extended once; now, Heather Dutton said, they need another extension, because of delays in finding contractors who have time to work with them.

Planning board member Paul Mitnik referred to an ordinance provision that says if a substantial start has been made, the permit remains valid without more extensions. A substantial start, he said, is defined as spending at least 30 percent of the total project cost.

Dutton is sure they have done that, buying equipment. Therefore, board members said, the permit is good. They wished the Duttons luck; Mitnik commented that many people are eager for the store to reopen.

Surveyor Adam Ellis, with landowner Jeremy Allen, presented an initial sketch plan for a seven-lot subdivision next to an existing subdivision (from 2001, Ellis said) on Seaward Mills Road, across from Kennebec Land Trust’s property.

The total area is about 15.5 acres, partly field and partly wooded, with no wetlands, Ellis said. Lot sizes will vary from 1.5 to 3 acres. A short interior road is planned.

Board members found that under Vassalboro’s revised subdivision ordinance, which they were using for the first time, submission of the sketch plan should have included notice to abutting landowners. Ellis had not known that requirement was his responsibility. The board therefore could not act Dec. 3.

Members debated whether the ordinance’s three-step application process – sketch plan, preliminary application and final application – requires three separate meetings. They decided if they approve a sketch plan at their January 2025 meeting, they can immediately begin review of the preliminary application, if Ellis has submitted it in time.

Codes officer Eric Currie gave Ellis a copy of the updated subdivision ordinance. Mitnik, calling it “cumbersome,” pointed out the four-page list of required information for the final application.

The third topic Dec. 3 was an application from R. L. Mercantile and Trading Post, at 334 Brann Road, to operate a retail store. Currie said he told the owner(s) to come to the planning board meeting to discuss the application; no representative was there.

A Brann Road resident attended to present neighborhood concerns, mostly about increased traffic on a narrow, residential road with a 35-mile-an-hour speed limit. Board members had other concerns and questions.

The application was tabled to the board’s Jan. 7, 2025, meeting.

China select board hears proposal for street radio installations

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by Mary Grow

China select board members’ main topic at their Dec. 2 meeting was a proposal by Tom Kroh, Regional Director, Site Acquisition and Deployment, for Ubicquia, Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His company would like to contract with the town to attach street radios to town streetlights, to improve residents’ telephone and internet service.

Attaching the Ericsson street radios, Kroh explained in an on-line presentation, would provide residents with better cellular service; would bring the town a small amount of income; and would have no negative effects.

The street radios are small devices, 16 inches by nine inches by three inches high, that sit on top of streetlights, almost invisible from the ground. Ubicquia would be entirely responsible for installing them and signing up communications companies; the companies, not the town, would handle any maintenance issues. Ubicquia currently deals with AT&T, T-Mobile and U. S. Cellular, Kroh said, but not with Verizon.

Ubicquia would reimburse Central Maine Power Co. for electricity used. It would pay China $30 a month for each streetlight with a radio on top. The town’s contract would allow Ubicquia access to all streetlights, but, Kroh said, select board members could approve or disapprove use of specific ones.

Contracts are normally for five years, renewable, but Kroh said a three-year contract would be possible.

Holiday hours

The December holiday schedule for China town departments is as follows, according to Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood:

— Tuesday, Dec. 24, all town departments close at noon.
— Wednesday, Dec. 25, and Thursday, Dec. 26, all town departments closed.
— Friday, Dec. 27, and Saturday, Dec. 28, all town departments open as usual.
— Tuesday, Dec. 31, all town departments close at 2 p.m.
— Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025, all town departments closed.

Kroh summarized: China would be making money off its existing streetlights and improving telephone and internet connectivity for residents, at no cost to the town.

What, board member Edwin Bailey asked, does Ubicquia get out of it? Kroh replied that Ubicquia sells use of the street radios to the carriers.

He listed other Maine towns in which his company has installed street radios or is negotiating installations. In Rumford, he said, there are reports of better coverage, fewer dropped calls and faster download and upload times.

Kroh will send a draft contract to Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood. Select board members intend to do more research, review the contract and have the town attorney review it before they make a decision.

Once a contract is signed, Kroh said, pre-installation procedures normally take from four to six months, installation another two or three weeks.

In other business Dec. 2, board member Blane Casey reported requests for bids had gone out for different pieces of the work of building the new records storage vault. He and Hapgood said some bids have already been received. Bid deadlines are staggered, up to Dec. 10.

Board members continued the review of town policies they began in November. Hapgood presented seven more policies, six with no or minor changes and a new one recommended by the Maine Municipal Association. Board members approved all seven unanimously.

Hapgood shared reports from other town departments, including:

— A reminder that dogs need to be licensed before the end of the year;
— A reminder that 2025 transfer station stickers are now available at the town office and at the transfer station;
— A report that the skating rink has been relocated from the school grounds to the lot south of the town office, north of the intersection of Alder Park Road with Lakeview Drive; and
— A report that the new building at the transfer station to house the sandpile for China residents needing winter sand is finished.

The next regular China select board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16.

China planners hear residents’ concerns to South China boat landing upgrades

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by Mary Grow

The China Planning Board’s Nov. 26 meeting included public hearings on two applications. The first, on the long-discussed document storage vault to be attached to the southeast end of the town office building, was short, and was followed by approval later in the meeting.

The second hearing, on the town’s application to move more than 100 cubic yards of fill on Town Landing Road, the access to the South China boat landing, lasted over an hour. More than a dozen people spoke, some on line and some in the meeting room.

Board members postponed action to their Tuesday, Dec. 10, meeting, deciding they needed time to consider the information and opinions presented.

A third application, for a new retail store on Route 3, in South China, in the South China Development District, was found to be complete. Board members scheduled a public hearing on that application for 6:30 p.m., Dec. 10

At the hearing on the town office storage vault, Municipal Building Committee chairman Sheldon Goodine briefly re-explained the plan, and committee member Scott Pierz emphasized the need.

The vault will be attached to the south side of the building, near the east end. The two men assured planning board members it should provide enough more storage space for several decades. It will be fireproof, and will have temperature and humidity controls to protect documents that the state requires a municipality to keep forever.

Board members unanimously approved the permit.

The boat landing application asks for an earth-moving permit for the purpose of erosion control on Town Landing Road. Former select board member Brent Chesley recommended planning board members authorize moving up to 400 cubic yards.

The plan, he said, is to replace “highly erodible material” – gravel – with materials like stone and pavement. He and others talked about the pavement being sloped toward ditches and the ditches designed to slow water flow.

Chesley said the town is waiting for boat ramp planks to be available to schedule the work next year. He said the state Department of Environmental Protection has approved a DEP permit.

Much of the discussion was over a broader topic, use of the landing. Many of the neighbors would like it to be limited to carry-in only, kayaks and canoes. This use, they said, would not require the trucks and boat trailers that either back down the 500-foot-long, narrow road or turn in residents’ driveways, and that have to go well into the lake to unload and load boats.

Carry-in would also be more compatible with swimming at the landing, they said.

Planners review application for new retail store at site of former Grace Academy

The China Planning Board has scheduled a public hearing for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 10, on a conditional use application for a new retail store at 363 Route 3, in South China.

Engineer Steven Govoni, president of Skowhegan-based Wentworth Partners & Associates, spoke for the developer, Calito Development Group, of Torrington, Connecticut, at the Nov. 26 board meeting.

The developer plans to tear down the building on the site, most recently the home of Grace Academy Learning Center until it closed in June 2022, and replace it with a store selling, in Govoni’s words, “general merchandise.”

The new building will be 9,100 square feet, larger than the present one, with a smaller parking area. The result is to reduce phosphorus run-off, Govoni said, because paved parking areas are a larger phosphorus source than roofs.

Board members discussed the existing building’s varied commercial history. Codes officer Nicholas French said the septic system, updated when the building became a restaurant, is adequate for the proposed use.

Board members voted that the application was complete and scheduled the Dec. 10 public hearing.

Bob Hargadon, whose family has summered on nearby Jones Road for five generations, set the tone for neighborly objections to the proposal.

He said the China select board had mostly ignored area residents, “people most concerned about the lake,” and had ignored an earlier engineer’s report that recommended a carry-in landing.

Hargadon and other speakers questioned the accuracy of the application for the planning board permit. For example, one said, the application mentions a 25-foot vegetated buffer at the foot of the roadside ditch, but no buffer appears on the accompanying plan.

Another objected to the application’s saying if the project had any effect on adjacent property values, it would increase them by providing “quality access to the lake.”

Hargadon pointed out the lack of data to support statements in the application.

He and others doubt that China Lake needs three boat landings – the same number, he said, as for much larger Moosehead Lake.

Another speaker noted that the landings at the head of the east basin, outside China Village, and near the outlet of the west basin, in East Vassalboro Village, offer port-a-potties and adequate turning and parking space, not available in South China.

Chesley and others said erosion from the boat landing has impacted water quality for years, and controlling it is a high priority in the watershed management plan. Chesley explained that the vegetative buffer is not on the plan because DEP officials requested it during their review; it will be added.

The properly sloped paving, well-designed ditches and boat ramp planks with spaces between should minimize run-off and absorb contaminants, Chesley said. He accused the neighborhood residents of “just wanting to preserve their little piece of the pie.”

Margot Crosman, member of another family long established in the neighborhood, called Chesley’s assumption insulting. “The boats keep getting bigger and bigger,” she commented.

After planning board chairman Toni Wall closed the hearing, she reminded those present that the application to the board is only for earth-moving.

In other business Nov. 26, board members unanimously accepted Elaine Mather’s offer to become board co-chairman, running meetings when Wall is absent. They voted unanimously to cancel their second December meeting, which would have fallen on Christmas Eve.