by Mary Grow

Parris and Catherine Varney have withdrawn their controversial application for a permit to allow commercial gatherings and events in their barn at 701 Neck Road.

In a Jan. 9 letter to Codes Officer Paul Mitnik, Palermo attorney Matthew Evans, representing the Varneys, said, “In light of the irrational, to the point of being delusional, opposition to the Barn Venue,” the couple decided to make no additional financial investment in the project.

“Unfortunately, the process has been dominated by a mob mentality,” Evans added.

He wrote that the Varneys will continue to use the barn as a private venue. They have plans for a different use and will apply for appropriate permits.

The Varneys first applied for a planning board permit in September 2016. Neighbors expressed a variety of concerns, arguing that traffic, noise and lights from the proposed activity would disrupt a quiet rural area and create inconvenience and hazards.

Subsequent proceedings involved the planning board, board of appeals and Kennebec County Superior Court.

At their Dec. 2017 meeting, planning board members agreed they needed to begin re-reviewing the application. They had scheduled a Jan. 16 public hearing to give neighbors and other interested residents another chance to comment; the hearing was deleted from the Jan. 16 agenda.

Because China has minimal zoning, commercial development is allowed almost everywhere in town if the developer can meet ordinance criteria. The criteria include traffic safety, lack of adverse effects in adjacent property values and the most discussed in the Varney case, the requirement that the project “will not have a significant detrimental effect on the use and peaceful enjoyment of abutting property as a result of noise, vibrations, fumes, odor, dust, glare or other cause.”

by Mary Grow

China selectmen turned a short agenda into a variety of discussion topics at their between-holidays meeting on Dec. 27.

Called primarily to pay biweekly bills, the meeting included updates on the road crew’s work in the Christmas storm and on the new Neck Road fire pond; proposals to record selectmen’s meetings and to change the meeting time; ways to find a successor to Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux, who is retiring at the end of June; and plans to look into increased police service.

L’Heureux said the town road crew put in more than 50 hours during the Christmas storm, with satisfactory results. The new plow truck, which cost $77,000 plus trade-in, was in service, he said.

Board member Jeffrey LaVerdiere asked about progress on the fire pond, for which voters appropriated up to $8,500 in November. L’Heureux said the state Department of Environmental Protection approved the project, and digging to enlarge the existing pond started.

He doubts it will be possible to build a parking area for fire trucks to load water until spring. Also, he said, the town needs to get land and water easements from the two landowners involved.

Selectman Donna Mills-Stevens asked for further clarification from the state DEP on an old unresolved issue of alleged dumping on nearby land. The letter approving the fire pond does not appear to address the question, she said.

Mills-Stevens was the board member who proposed recording meetings. Board Chairman Robert MacFarland asked L’Heureux to look into the idea. Based on experience with written records, the manager doubted many residents would ask to hear recordings if they were made.

L’Heureux intends to present the draft 2018-19 budget at the board’s Jan. 8 meeting – he is still waiting for a small number of requests to arrive, he said. To allow time to begin budget review, board members agreed to start the Jan. 8 meeting at 6 p.m. They then discussed whether to change the meeting time permanently. Mills-Stevens said people tell her the meetings start and end too late; Irene Belanger said starting before 7 p.m. would not leave much time for working people who wanted to attend to eat supper first. No decision was made.

LaVerdiere told the board he knows an area resident with experience running offshore drilling rigs who might be interested in the manager’s position. His comment sparked discussion of ways to advertise the position. After the meeting, L’Heureux asked the Maine Municipal Association, of which China is a member, what assistance its staff can provide.

MacFarland reported that he and L’Heureux plan to meet with Oakland Police Chief Michael Tracy and Sergeant Tracey Frost, two of the Oakland officers who serve China, to talk about possibly increasing hours of coverage.

The China Board of Appeals is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 4, to hear two administrative appeals from Bio Renewable Fuels Corp. on Dirigo Road. On Saturday, Jan. 6, the Four Seasons Club sponsors a rabies clinic from 11 a.m. to noon. More information on these and other meetings and events is available on the town website.

by Mary Grow

At their Dec. 12 meeting, China Planning Board members heard pieces of two applications that will be before them again in January 2018 and later.

One they have already reviewed at length, Parris and Catherine Varney’s controversial application to use their barn at 701 Neck Road for weddings and other private, community and public events.

The second was a preliminary presentation on the proposed Dollar General store at the intersection of Route 3 and Windsor Road. Board members had numerous questions and suggestions for project representative Chris Nadeau, who said he plans to bring in a formal application in the spring of 2018.

Given the long history of reviews of the Varney project, which involved the town planning board and board of appeals and Kennebec County Superior Court, board members decided last month they need to rehear the application from the beginning. On Dec. 12, they voted unanimously that the application is complete and heard a short presentation from attorney Matt Evans, of Palermo, representing the Varneys.

Half a dozen interested residents were in the audience, and Board Chairman Tom Miragliuolo said he and the rest of the board had received numerous emails – 10 or 12, member Toni Wall estimated – supporting the application, some arriving just before the meeting.

The board therefore voted unanimously to hold a public hearing to consider public concerns and answer questions. They scheduled it for Tuesday evening, Jan. 16, a week later than their usual second-Tuesday meeting.

Nadeau said the Dollar General store will be a 7,500-square-foot building, the smallest the chain builds. The lot on which it is to sit, currently site of a house Miragliuolo said is 173 years old, is a little under an acre, barely meeting China’s minimum lot size requirement of 40,000 square feet.

The plan includes about 30 parking spaces. The entrance will be off Windsor Road, as far as possible from Route 3. Nadeau said the state Department of Transportation requires the driveway be 125 feet from the intersection, but might approve a waiver if the distance were only a little short.

Planning board members commented that drivers turning right off Route 3 are often traveling fast, creating possible problems with traffic, especially delivery trucks, turning into the store lot.

Nadeau said Dollar General stores are usually open seven days a week from 7 or 8 a.m. to 9 or 10 p.m. Hours vary with location and customer demand, he said.

Board members queried plans for screening the property, lighting, the well and septic system and planned dumpsters. Miragliuolo suggested Nadeau talk with neighbors about their preferences for things like screening and lighting.

The board chairman asked Nadeau if there would be extensive blasting during construction. Nadeau said test borings will locate ledge, if there is any.

Nadeau plans to submit a formal application early in 2018. Assuming approval, the tentative schedule calls for construction in the summer and a store opening in the fall. The only other permit-related item on the Dec. 12 agenda was final approval of the application for Kennebec Community Church to run a satellite church in the former Fairpoint building on Route 3. After re-reviewing the findings of fact justifying the vote that the proposal meets all China ordinance criteria, board members unanimously approved the permit.

Board members were also unanimous in agreeing not to hold a Dec. 26 meeting. The Jan. 16 hearing will be their next meeting.

by Mary Grow

China selectmen spent their Dec. 11 meeting looking ahead, including considering a Transfer Station Committee recommendation to buy equipment.

Committee members recommended replacing the forklift and adding a new pre-crusher compactor in the 2018-19 fiscal year. Selectmen later discussed buying a new forklift immediately; the old one is rickety enough to create safety concerns, several board members said.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said he authorized immediate repairs to make sure the machine is safe to use.

Bob Kurek, Palermo’s representative on the Transfer Station Committee, said the pre-crusher would compact demolition and debris to make hauling it away more efficient. Currently, he said, transfer station staff spend a lot of time tamping down debris with the front-end loader, and still get an average of only 6.6 tons per load. The pre-compactor should increase the average load to at least 10 tons, saving almost $3,300 a year in hauling fees.

At that rate, Kurek said, the $53,000 machine (plus an estimate $3,000 installation cost) would pay for itself in about 17 years. The model he suggests has a 25-year life span.

The pre-crusher could also serve as a back-up disposal box when the transfer station is unusually busy.

A new forklift would cost a little more than $24,000 or around $26,000, depending on the chosen machine, with trade-in, Kurek said. A good used one would be only about $6,000 cheaper.

If selectmen were to buy a new one in the current fiscal year, part of the payment could come from the transfer station reserve fund into which Palermo’s annual fee for sharing the facility is deposited.

Selectmen intend to revisit the issue in January 2018.

In other business Dec. 11, Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley attended to repeat in person his prior written invitations to selectmen and other interested town officials to tour China’s two schools. No date was set.

Gartley said the RSU is applying again for state funds to enlarge China Primary School so that China Middle School could be closed. There are 84 applications for major construction being submitted, he said; the state typically funds about a dozen in a 10-year period.

Meanwhile, more than $2 million of the $14 million bond issue RSU voters approved in November will be spend on China schools, Gartley said.

Selectmen accepted board member Neil Farrington’s offer to serve as coordinator for China’s 2018 bicentennial celebration, a post Farrington has been filling informally for more than a year in the absence of any other interested person.

Farrington proposed selectmen enter into discussions with trustees of the Branch Mills Union Church about the town taking responsibility for maintenance of the 1857 building.

The town, unlike a religious unit, can apply for historic preservation grants, he said. In addition to preserving a historic building, his proposal would even out support for China’s four villages, now that South China has gotten sidewalks and help with the library relocation, Weeks Mills has had its schoolhouse repaired and China Village has the causeway project funded with Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money.

By consensus, the rest of the board approved a professional inspection of the church.

In the other end of town, board member Donna Mills-Stevens said the planned fire pond on Neck Road needs approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection before work to enlarge the existing pond starts. Mills-Stevens had also found a report of waste dumped on one of the properties involved, with no evidence the state had closed out the issue.

According to the holiday schedule on the town web site, on Friday, Dec. 22, the transfer station will be open as usual and the town office will close at 2 p.m. On Saturday, Dec. 23, the town office will be closed and the transfer station will close at noon. Both will be closed Sunday, Dec. 24 and Monday, Dec. 25, as well as Monday, Jan. 1, 2018.

Selectmen agreed to close the town office Tuesday, Dec. 26, to conform to the state schedule. L’Heureux said the transfer station will be open half a day, 7 a.m. to noon, on Dec. 26, to avoid a big rush at the end of the holiday week.

Because the next regular China selectmen’s meeting would have been Christmas Day, board members rescheduled it to 8 a.m. Wednesday, Dec, 27.