Vassalboro planners OK ReVision Energy plan for community solar farm

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by Mary Grow

The four Vassalboro Planning Board members at the Oct. 1 meeting unanimously approved ReVision Energy’s plan for a community solar farm on Eileen Flanagan’s property, at 1026 Webber Pond Road.

As first presented in November 2023, the plan required a waiver from boundary setback requirements. A revised plan, submitted at the planning board’s February 2024 meeting, relocated the solar panels so no waiver was needed.

At the Sept. 3 meeting, ReVision spokesman Annalise Kukor said a final plan should be ready for Oct. 1. By then, she said, ownership might have changed; and it did.

The applicant is now Community Solar of New England, LLC (CSNE). This organization, Kukor said, is staffed and run by ReVision Energy employees; its eight community solar farms include one on Main Street, in Vassalboro.

Planning board members found that the application met all requirements in Vassalboro ordinances, including the recently-added amendments tailored specifically to solar farms.

The project still needs four out-of-town approvals, Kukor said:

— A new Maine Department of Transportation highway entrance permit, because although the solar farm will use an existing driveway onto the property, the purpose has changed.
— From the state Department of Environmental Protection, a stormwater permit and a decommissioning permit.
— From Bangor Savings Bank, confirmation of a letter of credit to cover decommissioning costs.
Board members made their unanimous approval of the community solar farm conditional on receipt of these four documents, plus a copy of the lease that allows CSNE to use the land.

Kukor expects construction to begin in the spring of 2025.

The decommissioning plan was the only requirement discussed at length by planning board members. Several thought the estimated cost, $33,714, low.

Dan Bradstreet wanted assurance that “removal” of components once their useful life ended included taking them off the property, as the ordinance requires. Others discussed recycling possibilities. Kukor said she would find the answer to Bradstreet’s question.

Town Manager and acting Codes Enforcement Officer Aaron Miller reminded board members that the letter of credit was only a back-up to fund decommissioning, in case CSNE and ReVision were out of business or otherwise unable to cover the costs.

The town ordinance says the financial guarantee is to be 125 percent of the estimated decommissioning cost. It is to be updated after seven years and every five years thereafter.

VASSALBORO: Nine residents hear select board on three local ballot questions

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro select board members began their Oct. 3 meeting with a public hearing that drew nine residents to learn about three Nov. 5 local referendum questions.

The first question asks residents to approve matching funds to be available if the town receives grants to help replace the Dunlap Bridge on Mill Hill Road. Specifically, if voters approve it, select board members will be allowed to appropriate $360,000 from TIF (Tax Increment Financing) money or from the town’s undesignated fund (surplus), as they choose.

The second question asks voters to amend the Vassalboro TIF program to allow TIF money to fund “environmental improvement projects” in town.

As Town Manager Aaron Miller explained, the two questions are related. Amending the TIF document under the second question will allow use of TIF money for the Dunlap Bridge under the first question.

Select board member Chris French talked about three alternative bridge plans. The currently preferred option, dependent on more grant money, would cost a total of $1.8 million, of which the town would pay $360,000, he said.

Last summer, Vassalboro received a $200,000 Municipal Stream Crossing Grant to help with the bridge. An application for a larger grant has been filed and is awaiting approval or rejection.

Resident Douglas Phillips asked why the proposed TIF amendment is limited to environmental improvements. Miller replied that authority to use the money for the Dunlap Bridge is needed urgently, because the sructure is in such poor shape. A more comprehensive overhaul of the TIF program would take “a tremendous amount of time.”

Holly Weidner asked for a clearer explanation of local funding. Board members and Miller said they are working on explanatory background documents, and discussed ways of making it easy for residents to obtain them before Nov. 5.

During previous discussions, and on Oct. 3, board members emphasized that approving the bridge funding is appropriating money the town already has, not asking taxpayers for more money.

The third ballot question asks voters to amend the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s charter, specifically how the district’s trustees are chosen, their organization and their duties and responsibilities. There were no comments on this question. Copies of the proposed changes are attached to the local ballot and available from Town Clerk Cathy Coyne.

During the meeting that followed the hearing, select board members talked briefly about the bridge. Board chairman Frederick “Rick” Denico endorsed French’s statement at the Sept. 19 board meeting: board members should postpone further action until they hear from voters on Nov. 5.

Board members made three unanimous decisions.

— They accepted the lower of two prices for a new pole barn for the public works department, $141,140 from All Season Home Improvements, of Augusta. Miller said, in response to concerns about a nearby wetland, that someone from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection had visited the site. Work is not scheduled to start for six to eight months.
— They prepared an instruction for K & K Land Surveyors, of Oakland, expected next week to survey the tax-acquired property on Lombard Dam Road adjoining the transfer station. Board members want them to draw a lot line 25-feet from the property’s westernmost building, unless a well or other structure is in the way. The goal is to maximize the transfer station lot to allow for future expansion.
— They appointed Cara Kent a new member of the Vassalboro Cemetery Committee.

The next Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Oct. 17.

Vassalboro trustees summarize library progress to select board

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by Mary Grow

Two Vassalboro Public Library trustees, board President Elizabeth McMahon and secretary Valerie Sugden, summarized library progress and plans for town select board members at the Sept. 19 select board meeting.

They said recent changes include expanded hours – the library is open six days a week, all but Sundays – and conversion of two former storage rooms to study and meeting rooms. The rooms are used by individuals for activities including job searches and interviews and by groups for meetings (including town committees occasionally, Town Manager Aaron Miller said).

The library works cooperatively with Vassalboro Community School, the town recreation program and other local organizations to present programs and activities.

The state interlibrary loan system, now back in business after a shutdown to change vendors, is well used.

McMahon said the library’s summer reading program and fund-raising book and bake sale were successful. Pending fund-raisers this fall are a play in October and, in November, a silent auction and pre-Thanksgiving pie sale.

The play, she explained, is a comedy written by Canadian playwright Laura Teasdale, supported by Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny, specifically for public libraries. The script can be adjusted to add references to each local town.

Vassalboro’s presentations will be Oct. 19, at 7 p.m., and Oct. 20, at 2 p.m., at the Grange Hall, in East Vassalboro. Refreshments will be on sale. More information is available on the library website, vassalboro.lib.me.us.

The next major project, Sugden said, is installing heat pumps. Since the library is a non-profit organization, it falls into neither of the categories (residence and business) eligible for state rebates, so state funding is uncertain.

Library fund-raising will pay some of the costs; the library is likely to request town ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds. Miller said select board members will probably talk about remaining ARPA money at their Oct. 3 meeting and urged Sugden and McMahon to get a library request in promptly.

The heat pumps would be especially useful in reducing summer heat and humidity, which are hard on staff and on books, McMahon said.

The other major topic at the Sept. 19 select board meeting was, again, the Dunlap Bridge over Seven-Mile Stream, on Mill Hill Road. The deteriorating culvert has led to preliminary plans for a replacement and a search for grant funding to pay for it.

Miller said Vassalboro public works crew members cleared debris and did some repairs, hoping to prolong the culvert’s life. He said the town’s chosen engineer, Eric Caldwerwood, of Calderwood Engineering, is more concerned about the destructive potential of a major rainstorm than about traffic over the bridge.

Board members again discussed various alternatives. Chris French, acting chairman in Frederick Denico, Jr.’s, absence, said while he sympathized with the three families and the gravel pit owner who depend on the bridge, he saw no way to act until after Nov. 5.

The first of three local referendum questions on Vassalboro’s Nov. 5 ballot asks if voters will authorize using TIF (Tax Increment Financing) or undesignated fund balance (formerly called surplus) money to match a grant intended to help fund a new bridge.

Board member Michael Poulin agreed the voters’ decision needs to come first. Further discussion of the Dunlap bridge was tabled to the first select board meeting after Nov. 5 (currently scheduled for Nov. 14).

The Sept. 19 meeting began with the annual hearing on state-proposed amendments to local general assistance ordinances. There were no public comments; French closed the hearing and he and Poulin accepted the changes.

The next regular Vassalboro select board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 3. It will be preceded by a public hearing on the three Nov. 5 local referendum questions, which are on the town website, vassalboro.net, under the heading on the main page “NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING 10/3/24.”

China planners approve two agenda items

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by Mary Grow

At a short Sept. 24 meeting, China Planning Board members approved two agenda items, with almost no discussion.

As promised, Ironwood Maine representative Wade Bedsaul brought a map showing locations of two new small buildings and a parking lot expansion (from four spaces to seven) at the South China residential facility for troubled teen-agers. At their Sept. 10 meeting, board members postponed a decision on the additions (See the Sept. 19 issue of The Town Line, p. 2, for more information.)

The second request, from Michael Littlefield, was to combine two lots in an existing subdivision that board chairman Toni Wall said is at the intersection of Neck and Stanley Hill roads. Board members signed a revised subdivision plan for the Registry of Deeds.

Codes Officer Nicholas French and board members talked briefly about town ordinances that need to be updated. They plan to work on them over the next few months, with the goal of asking voters to act on revisions at the June 2025 annual town business meeting.

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8.

CHINA: Nine attend select board’s “apple crisp” public hearings

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by Mary Grow

The promise of fresh-baked apple crisp with ice cream drew nine people to the China select board’s Sept. 23 public hearings on Nov. 5 local warrant articles and on amendments to the town’s General Assistance Ordinance. Six stayed for at least part of the select board meeting that followed.

The apple crisp was praised.

China’s Nov. 5 voting includes local elections and five referendum questions that were topics of the first public hearing. The municipal ballot is on the town website, chinamaine.org, under the Elections tab in the green box on the right-hand side of the main page.

The referendum question that drew most discussion was the proposed new Budget Committee Ordinance. If approved, it will replace the present system under which four of China’s seven budget committee members are elected, one from each of four districts. Instead, select board members will appoint budget committee members.

Voters approved a similar change for the planning board at the annual town business meeting in June.

The main reason for proposing the change, Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said, is the lack of candidates for budget committee seats. On the Nov. 5 ballot, Timothy Basham is running unopposed for re-election from District 4; write-ins (if any) will fill the District 2, secretary and at-large positions.

Write-ins complicate ballot clerks’ lives, Hapgood said. If there is a tie between write-ins, the clerks must contact each person to see whether he or she wishes to serve. Anyone who does not wish to serve must sign a sworn (notarized) oath turning down the office that must be filed with the town clerk.

If more than one person tied for a position is willing to serve, there would need to be another election for the position.

Hapgood said when a town official asks someone to volunteer for a committee position, the answer is more likely to be yes, perhaps because there is no need to collect signatures on nomination papers.

Tod Detre, one of five Nov. 5 candidates for three seats on the select board, and former select board member Joann Austin expressed concern about the five select board members appointing members of all other major town committees.

Current board chairman Wayne Chadwick said he thinks China select board members have never “stacked” committees they’re empowered to appoint on the basis of beliefs, geography or any other factor.

A broader discussion of the lack of civic engagement and related topics followed.

Select board member Brent Chesley said in two years on the board, he’s not received a single call from a resident about town business, though his cellphone number is on the town website.

Austin argued in favor of returning to the pre-Covid open town business meeting in the spring, so voters can ask questions and know what they’re voting on. Detre and Chadwick said a written-ballot meeting lets more people participate.

The second public hearing, on the state-presented amendments to the local General Assistance Ordinance and its appendices, drew no comments. Select board members adopted the amendments at their meeting following the hearing.

Three ongoing issues on the select board agenda were the planned storage vault for town records; the South China boat landing; and the revised solid waste disposal agreement with Palermo.

Sheldon Goodine, chairman of the town’s building committee, outlined Plan No. 4 for the new storage area. This plan calls for an addition to the town office building on the south side, at the east end (farthest from Lakeview Drive) rather than the west end as an earlier plan proposed.

Goodine expects more information in a week or so.

Hapgood said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has approved a permit for proposed run-off controls at the South China boat landing. The next step, she said, is acquiring the needed concrete planks. One company will have none until spring; she will contact other companies.

Select board members approved the agreement with Palermo to allow that town’s residents to continue to use China’s transfer station. Hapgood said Palermo’s town meeting to act on the revised agreement is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 17.

Hapgood announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $51,436.15 to reimburse China for cleaning up roadside debris after the December 2023 storm. She is still talking with FEMA officials about reimbursement for other storm-related expenses.

The manager announced that China’s 2023 town report received an award from the Maine Municipal Association. She thanked Town Clerk Angela Nelson for her work on the report, and Jason Rushing for his cover photo.

MMA’s letter, published with the select board meeting agenda, begins: “I am pleased to announce that China has been selected as the ‘supreme’ first place winner of the 2024 Annual Report Competition in the 2,500 to 4,999 population category.”

The report will be displayed, with other winners, at the MMA convention in Augusta Oct. 2 and 3. Select board members appointed Director of Public Services Shawn Reed as China’s voting delegate at the convention’s business meeting, with Hapgood his alternate.

The next China select board meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Oct. 7. Hapgood announced other events early in October: absentee ballots for Nov. 5 will be available Monday, Oct. 7; town departments will be closed Monday, Oct. 14, to observe Indigenous Peoples’ Day; and the docks at the boat landing at the head of China Lake’s east basin are scheduled to be removed the week of Oct. 14.

Vassalboro school board updated on final summer renovations, other building related projects

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Vassalboro Community School (contributed photo)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Community School’s new staff for 2024-25 include two people with experience in Alaska, Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer said. One of them spoke with school board members at their Sept. 10 meeting.

Seventh- and eighth-grade science teacher Tracy Hodge said his previous jobs included five years teaching in Alaska, three in a Yupik village and two in Kodiak.

He has also been in Maine before, he said, a brief stay as a youngster plus visits with friends in the Belgrade Lakes area.

Also speaking at the meeting was Cory Eisenhour, director of facilities for Winslow and Vassalboro schools, who updated board members on final summer renovations.

Pfeiffer expects more comprehensive information on plans for the VCS building from Thomas Seekins, co-president of Portland-based Energy Management Consultants, Inc. (EMC), later this fall.

School board members in June authorized Pfeiffer to agree with EMC “to perform an energy audit and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] infrastructure analysis of the Vassalboro Community School.”

Seekins said at the Aug. 13 board meeting that the audit will include expert inspections of everything about the building – heating, lighting, electrical and mechanical systems, roofs, windows, even the driveway paving and drainage.

His team will evaluate needed updates, replacements and repairs and do a comprehensive budget, balancing costs with expected savings. After school board members decide on priorities, EMC personnel will develop a schedule, help arrange financing, select contractors and oversee work.

As of the Aug. 13 meeting, Seekins said EMC staff had begun inspecting the building. Pfeiffer expects a report at either the October or the November school board meeting. Board members proposed inviting Vassalboro Budget Committee members to Seekins’ presentation.

Another topic at the Sept. 10 meeting was VCS student enrollment, which Pfeiffer and Principal Ira Michaud were pleased to report is growing. Michaud reported 425 students, up from 411 in June.

Pfeiffer said so far there are three new secondary-school students, for whom Vassalboro will pay tuition to the high schools they choose. The state education department announces the 2025-26 secondary school tuition in December; Pfeiffer hopes the six percent increase in Vassalboro’s school budget will be enough for the first half of 2025.

The superintendent urged families who have not yet filled out and returned their “green sheets” – officially, the Household Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals – to do so. They are no longer needed to save families money, since school meals are free, but the state uses the information to calculate Vassalboro’s share of state funding.

VCS still needs substitute educational technicians, food service workers and bus drivers, Pfeiffer said. Shortages are state-wide; the mutual aid agreement among Vassalboro, Waterville and Winslow is helpful.

School has started smoothly, the administrators said, except for a major problem with the VCS intercom system. Pfeiffer expressed thanks to Marc Nabarowsky for getting it running again and said a part is being ordered for a full repair.

The next Vassalboro school board meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Novel Energy granted one-year extension on project

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members approved one request at their Sept. 10 meeting and postponed action on another, probably to Sept. 24.

Novel Energy, represented virtually by Ralph Addonizio, received a one-year extension to begin construction of a solar development on the section of Parmenter Hill Road called Moe’s Mountain.

Board members approved the project at their Nov. 28, 2023, meeting. Codes Officer Nicholas French said it expires Nov. 28, 2024, if the project has not started.

Addonizio explained that a redesign (which planning board members approved at their July 30 meeting) and “supply chain delays” were holding up beginning work. He expects another 10 months’ wait.

“We want to start, believe me,” Addonizio said.

The other application was from Ironwood Maine LLC, doing business as The Ridge RTC, represented by Wade Bedsaul and Alexander Blackstone. They applied to add two small buildings and expand parking on their property at 24 Pond Hill Road, between Route 3 and Three Mile Pond.

The property is a residential facility for teenagers needing therapy and support as they deal with mental, behavioral and emotional health issues. The planning board approved it in April 2018.

Blackstone said a 12-by-10-foot trailer would be used to store tools and sports equipment. A 12-by-20-foot one would provide extra meeting space. The proposed additional parking area would be about 6-by-20-feet.

Because a resource protection district is involved, board members decided they needed additional information on setbacks and tree removal (for the parking area) and a map. Bedsaul and Blackstone indicated they should have the information in time for a revised application at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 24.

China transfer station committee discusses relations with Palermo

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by Mary Grow

Relations between China and Palermo were a major topic discussed, in a friendly way, at the Sept. 10 China Transfer Station Committee meeting. Only one of Palermo’s two committee members, Bob Kurek, was present.

He reported that the Palermo select board is “all set” with the draft revised agreement between the two towns, but town voters need to accept it. He hoped a special town meeting could be scheduled in October. (See the Sept. 12 issue of The Town Line, p. 2.)

Meanwhile, he, China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood and staff in both town offices continue to contact Palermo residents who do not abide by regulations, mostly by not using the required blue bags. Kurek reminded the group that requiring Palermo residents who use the China facility to buy and use special bags is a measure of fairness to the many residents who use dumpsters or other alternatives.

Kurek, as he has done at previous meetings, summarized conversations with residents identified by the transfer station staff or security camera recordings and reported to him.

Committee member James Hsiang, resenting the staff time spent on a few individuals, proposed increasing Palermo’s annual payment to China in compensation, to cost Palermo taxpayers and “put peer pressure on the cheaters.”

James Hines doubted the plan would work – “Some people just can’t change,” he said. Benjamin Weymouth preferred China try to be a good neighbor to Palermo. And committee chairman Chris Baumann pointed out that the issue is not systemic; only a small minority of Palermo residents are uncooperative.

At previous meetings, committee members have noted that an occasional China resident challenges regulations, too.

Hapgood added that town officials can ban repeat offenders from the transfer station.

“I think some of your stories investigating this stuff are the best part of the [committee] meetings,” Hines told Kurek.

In other business, transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio reported two summer projects, lighting in the free-for-the-taking building and an improved compost area, are essentially complete. More signs promoting and explaining recycling have gone up, and still more are planned.

Hapgood is planning the 2025 transfer station stickers that will be required for vehicles registered in China or Palermo to enter the transfer station beginning Jan. 1. The new ones, she promised, will adhere properly to windshields, unlike the 2024 ones that generated many complaints.

Committee members scheduled the rest of their 2024 meetings for 9 a.m., the second Tuesday of each month, Oct. 8, Nov. 12 and Dec. 10.

Vassalboro planners approve CMP shoreland permits to rebuild transmission line

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members had two agenda items at their Sept. 3 meeting.

They were not asked to act yet on Revision Energy’s revised plan for a solar farm on Webber Pond Road. It will probably be on the board’s Oct. 1 agenda.

They approved Central Maine Power Company’s application for shoreland permits needed to rebuild its north-south transmission line through Vassalboro.

Mike Banaitis, of Freeport-based POWER Engineers, consultant to CMP’s parent company, Avangrid, and Deborah Turcotte, an Avangrid outreach specialist, explained the project history.

In February 2020, the company got planning board approval to replace poles between the Augusta line and the McCoy’s Crossing substation at the intersection of Bog and Cross Hill roads.

New regulations delayed the work. Now, the company has expanded the project to run the rest of the way north through Vassalboro to a Winslow substation, a total of 22.8 miles.

A hand-out Banaitis distributed says the new line replaces one built in 1920. The new poles will be within the existing right-of-way, but not necessarily on the center line.

A map in the hand-out shows the line entering southern Vassalboro near Church Hill Road, going along the west side of Webber Pond and, farther north, the west side of Outlet Stream and entering Winslow just west of Route 32.

There will be minimal tree-cutting, mostly removal of dead or hazardous trees. The new poles will be “slightly taller steel monopoles” except on roadsides, where wood will replace wood.

In addition to the Vassalboro Planning Board permit, the project needs two other permits, Banaitis said. He has obtained a state Department of Environmental Protection permit; when the Army Corps of Engineers permit, expected this fall, is received, a copy will be sent to the town.

The current plan calls for preliminary construction steps to begin this November. The work is expected to take from 12 to 18 months.

Planning board members had a few questions, but no major concerns. Approval was unanimous.

ReVision Energy spokesman Annalise Kukor said after the company’s initial presentation in November 2023 and a discussion with abutting landowners, the plan for a solar development at 1026 Webber Pond Road was amended.

In February of this year, she presented a preliminary revised plan, to which board members did not object. She now plans to present a final plan.

ReVision has not started any work on the property, she said. A Webber Pond Road resident had questions about a solar farm under construction; that one is separate from and north of ReVision’s, Kukor said.

The next regular Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Oct. 1.

VASSALBORO: Ambulance director supplies newsletter explaining rate increase request

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by Mary Grow

Among reports shared at the Vassalboro Select Board’s Sept. 5 meeting was an August 2024 newsletter prepared by Delta Ambulance executive director Chris Mitchell to answer some of the questions from area town officials.

The ambulance service began asking for municipal support in the previous fiscal year, requesting $15 per capita from towns it serves. In the current fiscal year that began July 1, 2024, the figure is $25 per capita. Mitchell and his predecessor, Timothy Beals, both predicted increases continue.

In the newsletter, Mitchell wrote that as 2023 ended, “Delta was facing annual losses between $2.5 to $3 million and had exhausted its financial reserves.”

Since then, Delta leaders have sold their Augusta station and are leasing it. They have negotiated financial aid from the two hospital systems they primarily serve, MaineGeneral and Northern Light Inland. The state legislature has approved financial aid to ambulance companies, though only a small portion is available so far.

Consequently, Mitchell wrote, Delta now anticipates losing only about $570,000 in the 2024-25 fiscal year. If the per-capita fee charged to municipalities increases to $35 in the fiscal year that begins in July 2025, he expects a balanced budget for 2025-26.

Mitchell’s report explains Delta’s on-going needs, including replacing ambulances – the replacement schedule was disrupted during the pandemic – and finding and paying staff.

As he did in local meetings during municipal budget discussion earlier this year, Mitchell mentioned inadequate insurance reimbursement as a major problem for ambulance services, one that state and federal legislators need to recognize and remedy.

Mitchell’s chart of calls to 13 area towns for the first seven months of 2024 shows 254 Vassalboro calls, an average of 36 a month. Average monthly response time varied from 11 minutes, 40 seconds, in April (one of the busiest months, with 44 calls) to 15 minutes, 35 seconds (in July, the least busy month, with only 25 calls).