by Mary Grow

China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) Committee members plan to ask China selectmen to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for replacing the current Causeway Street bridge at the head of China Lake’s east basin, once they decide what the RFP should say.

At their April 24 meeting, committee members started by trying to specify measurements and materials. They moved toward a more general statement of goals, with the intention of leaving specifics to the selected contractor.
Currently proposed goals include a bridge that is high-quality and safe; enough wider than the present one to allow fishing plus a handicapped-accessible walkway on one or both sides; and enough higher to allow canoes and kayaks to go under it.

Committee member Dale Worster volunteered to draft an RFP for review at the next committee meeting, scheduled for Monday evening, May 8.

Committee members made two other decisions:

• Rather than scheduling a formal public hearing or public information session on plans for the head of the lake, they will ask Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux to publicize the May 8 meeting as an opportunity for interested residents to get information.
• After May 8, they will reduce their meetings from every two weeks to once a month, except when business requires additional meetings.

L’Heureux emailed committee members that acquisition of the Bailey lot where people using the boat landing just east of the bridge usually park has been delayed by an unexpected mortgage on the property. He expects the issue to be resolved soon, Selectman and committee member Joann Austin said.

There was consensus that if selectmen issue the RFP promptly and get prompt replies, work will still not start in the summer, because state permits are needed to work near the water and, committee member H. David Cotta said, state officials are likely to forbid work until the lake level is drawn down in the fall.

Since the bridge work will use up a good part of the $750,000 voters at the March town meeting approved for the next three years, committee members disagreed on whether they should go ahead with other plans for the head of the lake or with additional TIF projects.

They briefly discussed three other land acquisitions, one proposed by selectmen for voters’ action on June 13 and two entirely speculative.

Selectmen have added an article to the June 13 local ballot asking voters to appropriate $12,000 from surplus (Unrestricted/Unassigned Fund Balance) to buy a lot on Alder Park Road between two other town-owned parcels. Although TIF funds are not involved, committee members weighed in on the issue, asking what the town would do with the land if acquired and wondering why the lot already has a Sale Pending sign.

Two other suggestions briefly discussed were acquiring land adjacent to the Four Seasons Club beach off Lakeview Drive opposite the town office to provide more parking and better lake access (Austin’s idea) and acquiring land at the north end of the lake west of the causeway for a town beach there (Worster’s idea).

Jim Wilkens and Bob MacFarland said China’s Lake Access Committee should look for a town beach and request TIF money if needed. Ronald Breton and Worster said the Lake Access Committee is inactive.

Worster said he met one of the homeowners in the area he is interested in. He reported that he took several other initiatives, including talking with representatives of Reny’s department stores about the FairPoint building on Route 3; talking with local contractor Robin Tobey about adding gravel at the boat landing parking lot (once the town owns the property); learning from the state Department of Transportation that the type of guardrail at the head of the lake is a town decision, because Causeway Street is a town road; and getting cost estimates for imitation granite benches that could be installed near the causeway.

by Mary Grow

China voters will have at least two local ballot questions on June 13.

The exact wording remains to be decided, but at the April 17 selectmen’s meeting board members voted to present two questions, asking voters if they want to:

• Prohibit growing marijuana for retail sale, selling marijuana for non-medical purposes or running a marijuana social club – the three main items state voters, but not a majority of China voters, approved in November 2016 – within town boundaries;
• Appropriate money from the Undesignated Fund Balance (surplus) to install a septic system and a well to serve the portable classroom behind the town office, with the well to supply the office also. Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux will suggest an amount, after some research, and will call a meeting of the Budget Committee to get its recommendation on the proposed expenditure.

Selectmen scheduled a short special meeting for 8 a.m. Thursday, April 27, to review and approve final wording of the ballot questions.

The decision to put the first question to voters was made on a 3-2 vote, with Joann Austin and Jeffrey LaVerdiere opposed. Austin sees a local marijuana industry as economic development and a source of new tax revenue. LaVerdiere, while opposing large out-of-state operations, said, “We’re an agricultural town. I don’t see why we should outlaw growing anything.”

Austin also argued that before asking China voters to act, selectmen should see what regulations the state develops. Board member Irene Belanger said other town managers have expressed similar opinions. But, Belanger said before she voted to put the question on the ballot, “We’re a family-oriented community” and should not send a message that drug use is okay.

Ronald Breton proposed both questions and voted in favor of putting both to voters. Board Chairman Neil Farrington considered it appropriate to “give voters an opportunity to decide whether they want marijuana in their neighborhood.”

Board members were unanimous in presenting the proposed appropriation. Adding running water is a step toward readying the building for potential use as an emergency shelter. It is already used for voting and occasional meetings.

The other major topic at the April 17 meeting was a presentation by retired teachers Anita Smith and Elaine Philbrook on the China School Forest. Using about 50 acres of the 75-acre property the town bought in 1984 for the new primary school, ball fields and other education-related purposes, forest supporters are celebrating the 20th year after its 1997 designation as a Maine Outstanding Tree Farm.

The forest belongs to the town, not the school department, and is open to residents of all ages for walking, bird-watching and similar activities. It also serves as a classroom and a source of natural resources, Philbrook and Smith said.

Forest Field Day will be held Friday, May 26, rain or shine, with a variety of activities for China elementary students and the public. On Saturday, Oct. 14, Maine Project Learning Tree, the state division of the international environmental educational organization, will hold its 40th anniversary celebration in China’s forest.

Selectmen commended Philbrook and Smith for their many hours of volunteer work in and for the school forest.

In other business April 17, Four Seasons Club President Frank Soares described the club’s changed plan to use its $50,000 appropriation from China’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) program. Some of the proposed trail work was done at no charge by Coutts Brothers, Inc., so the club plans to improve additional trail mileage and to divert $5,000 to replace the dock at its swimming beach, Soares said.

Selectman Breton questioned the legality of adding dock replacement to a TIF project authorized by town voters. L’Heureux will check out the issue.

Club contractors and volunteers use state guidelines for multi-use trails, Soares said; trails are available for walking and horseback riding as well as use by four-wheelers and snowmobiles. He said the club has state approval to take out a beaver dam on Hunter Brook that has flooded a trail section.

China fire and rescue chiefs submitted a preliminary proposal for distributing the $44,000 voters approved at the March town meeting for stipends for volunteer firefighters and rescue personnel. More discussion is scheduled for May, after each department has discussed the plan.

Breton and Farrington, who received the proposal the morning of April 17, said there was also agreement that at least one selectman will attend each quarterly joint meeting of the emergency services, as a liaison between the selectboard and the services.

Selectmen appointed the following committee members:

• Christopher Hahn to the China for a Lifetime Committee;
• Lindsey Harwath to the Thurston Park II Committee;
• Belanger and Breton as China’s representatives on the Regional School Unit #18 cost-sharing committee; and
• Farrington, Tod Detre, Robert O’Connor and Raymond Robert to the Broadband Committee.