by Mary Grow

The Sept. 25 China select board meeting began with a request from two landowners on the section of Parmenter Hill Road known as Moe’s Mountain. They seek a China moratorium on power line development, like those adopted by Albion and Palermo voters in the hope of influencing the proposed LS power line.

Joshua LaVerdiere and Jesse Haskell said one of the potential power line routes would run over the hill, including over Lowell “Moe” Thomas’s grave, destroying a scenic view, damaging the natural environment and reducing the value of their homes and farmland.

Select board members discussed options at length.

A moratorium requires an ordinance adopted by town voters. There is not time to add a question to the Nov. 7 ballot; the next annual vote will be in June 2024.

For a special town meeting, China has a quorum requirement: 100 registered voters are needed to open the meeting.

Select board members can call a meeting on their own initiative; or they can require the interested parties to collect more than 200 petition signatures requesting a meeting, in order to demonstrate public interest and increase the chance of attracting 100 voters.

A draft ordinance could be part of a petition for a meeting; or select board members could present an ordinance to voters. LaVerdiere and Haskell suggested adapting Palermo’s, which was adapted from Albion’s. Daniel Pepice, joining the meeting later in the discussion, provided a copy.

Jeanette Smith, chairman of China’s Thurston Park committee, added that the LS power line might run close to park boundaries.

LS Power is supposed to send letters to potentially affected landowners. Smith has not received one referring to the park. LaVerdiere said he never got one; Pepice estimated 40 percent of potentially affected landowners in the China-Palermo area have not been notified.

Select board members voted unanimously to ask town attorney Amanda Meader to review the Albion/Palermo ordinance. They hope to have her opinion by their first meeting in October, when they will consider whether to call a special town meeting or to require a petition for one.

Smith attended the Sept. 25 select board meeting to talk about repairs in Thurston Park, still recovering from the Dec. 23, 2022, rainstorm that caused major washouts. Two trails were damaged when fallen branches blocked culverts. There were also washouts on the access road in Albion, though Smith said it is usable.

Transfer station returns to stickers Jan. 1

Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, China and Palermo residents will need a sticker on their vehicle to enter the China transfer station. Stickers will cost $2, and should be available at town offices by Nov. 1.

On a 3-2 vote at their Sept. 25 meeting, China select board members adopted the new policy recommended by their transfer station committee (see the Sept. 21 issue of The Town Line, p. 3).

Board chairman Wayne Chadwick and member Blane Casey voted no. Chadwick said his vote was only because he opposes the $2 fee, not because he opposes stickers.

Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood presented a Transfer Station Access Policy that tells China and Palermo residents where to paste the stickers and explains alternatives for temporary admission (for seasonal residents or contractors working for residents, for example).

“We’ll try it for a year, see how it goes,” Hapgood said.

Residents who paid the $10 fee for an additional RFID (radio frequency identification) tag may return the tag to the town office and, with proof of purchase, get a full refund, between Nov. 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024.

Board members postponed action on the one bid for trail work, hoping for more bids. Because the access road is in Albion, they took no action on road work until Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood finds out whether it is legal to spend China money on an Albion road.

Smith explained that the park committee does not recommend access from the south because the abutting landowner objects. When, years ago, the town legally abandoned Yorktown Road, which runs north-south through the park, a public right-of-way was preserved, she said.

Smith shared a video from a group called National Fitness Campaign that helps build outdoor gymnasiums or fitness courts full of exercise equipment. The campaign approached China earlier this year, she said. She does not consider the idea appropriate for Thurston Park.

In other business:

• Board members accepted the lowest of three bids for new gutters on the town office building, $2,457 from Builders Installed Products, of Portland and Hermon.
• They postponed discussion of the proposed storage vault to be added to the town office building and of a new town logo, awaiting more information on both topics.
• They accepted an emailed apology from Tyler Bragdon for any inappropriate statements at the Sept. 11 select board meeting and accepted his offer to pay a $3,500 fine for mistakes in controlling erosion at a Pond Road work site, instead of the $5,000 originally assessed.
• They approved the state’s new general assistance payment levels, after a short public hearing.

Because the next regular select board meeting would fall on Oct. 9, the Indigenous Peoples Day holiday, board members moved it to Tuesday, Oct. 10; and because the planning board meets at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 10, they scheduled the select board meeting for 5 p.m.

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members met briefly Sept. 12, mostly to get acquainted with a new member and China’s new codes enforcement officer.

For their Sept. 26 meeting, they might have two applications for solar farms.

Board co-chairman Toni Wall introduced new member Elaine Mather, representing District 3. Mather was appointed by select board members Aug. 28, to finish Walter Bennett’s term, and on Nov. 7 is unopposed for election to a two-year term.

Codes enforcement officer (and health officer and licensed plumbing inspector) Zachary Gosselin was appointed at the Aug. 14 select board meeting and was attending his first planning board session. Wall and co-chairman James Wilkens welcomed both newcomers and encouraged Gosselin to reach out when he needed background information.

Wall distributed copies of a revised Planning Board Ordinance, thanking town attorney Amanda Meader for her suggestions. She asked fellow board members to be ready to discuss the draft on Sept. 26.

Wall said one application that might be presented Sept. 26 is from Perennial Renewables, for a solar farm in a former gravel pit on the west side of Route 32 South (Windsor Road), about opposite the Route 32 General Store.

A second application is from Noble Energy Systems, Wall said, for a community solar farm on an 0.3-acre lot the east side of Parmenter Road, in the section between the Mann and Western Ridge road intersections that is known locally as Moe’s Mountain.

by Mary Grow

China select board members are looking for residents’ help on two very different projects: investigating the proposed LS power line and building the planned vault storage addition at the town office.

For the first, they want people to serve on a committee to get more information, with some sort of town action as a probable outcome.

For the second, they want people willing and able to do the physical work of building the structure – “an old-fashioned barn-raising, if you will,” said town building committee chairman Sheldon Goodine.

The LS power line is planned to bring wind-generated electricity from northern Maine to Coopers Mills. Its route has not yet been established, but preliminary proposed routes run through parts of China.

Resident Fred Wiand said one possible route would take a large part of his property, a prospect that does not please him. He suggested the power line might also go through Thurston Park, the town-owned park in northeastern China.

Albion voters passed a six-months’ moratorium on new power lines at the end of August. China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said Palermo is planning a similar vote.

Unlike those towns, China has a quorum requirement: a special town meeting would require at least 100 registered voters to take action. It is too late to add a moratorium question to the Nov. 7 ballot; the next regular voting will be at the June 2024 town business meeting.

Board member Blane Casey asked how much influence a town can have over a project that will be approved by a state agency. Jeanne Marquis said Albion voters seem to think they might be able to modify the power line to benefit residents.

People interested in serving on a committee to study the power line are asked to call the town office.

First half taxes due; openings on Nov. ballot

The first half payment of China local taxes is due at the town office by Friday, Sept. 29. Interest on late payments begins on Sept. 30.

On the Nov. 7 China local election ballot, there will be no contests and two openings for write-in candidates. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood reported for Town Clerk Angela Nelson at the Sept. 11 select board meeting:

• Select board incumbents Wayne Chadwick and Jeanne Marquis are running for re-election.
• Planning board incumbent Natale Tripodi and new member Elaine Mather (District 3) are running for re-election. There is no candidate for District 1 (northwestern China).
• Budget committee incumbents Thomas Rumpf and Kevin Maroon are running for re-election. There is no candidate for District 3 (southeastern China).

The addition to the town office, discussed for some months, is currently at a standstill because no contractor replied to a request for bids. Goodine said he has heard that contractors lack time and employees, and that the $195,000 allocated for the work is not enough.

After discussing options, select board members postponed action to their Sept. 25 meeting. In the interim, Goodine will seek contractors to do various parts of the work – foundation, framing, electrical, mechanical, painting, whatever else is needed – and select board members Marquis and Janet Preston will look for grants that might help cover the cost.

Board chairman Wayne Chadwick thinks it is essential to have all cost estimates before work begins, to make sure the project stays within budget. People with skills and time for any part of the job are invited to contact Goodine or the town office.

In other business Sept. 11, by a series of unanimous votes:

• Board members added Licensed Plumbing Inspector to new codes officer Zachary Gosselin’s titles; Hapgood said he has received his certification.
• They accepted the only proposal for the electrical work needed to connect the town-donated generator at the Community Forest building behind the China schools, from Finley Electric, of Windsor, for $3,515.
• They refused to help Albion pay for repairs to Libby Hill Road. Even though it is China residents’ access to Thurston Park, they could not justify spending China taxpayers’ money on a road in Albion.
• After a discussion with contractors Tyler and Peter Bragdon, of Brag’s Sewer and Septic, of Augusta, they reaffirmed the $5,000 fine for violation of town ordinances during work at 42 Pond Road.

One item on the agenda for the Sept. 25 select board meeting will be a Sept. 12 recommendation from the Transfer Station Committee to go back to the system of requiring stickers, instead of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, for admission to the facility.