Talking trash at the China Transfer Station

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by Irene Belanger
China Transfer Station Co-Coordinator

We are excited about the Maine Department of Environmental Protection providing approvals to the Fiberight/Municipal Review Committee proposal to build a municipal solid waste processing facility in Hampden. Post 2018, China will be sending municipal solid waste to that plant. Organics will be a significant ingredient in processing at that plant. Those of you who like to compost are encouraged to continue doing more locally, either at home or at the China transfer station.

Please, please secure your trash loads on the way to the China transfer station. It is a State law that loads are to be secure and also a law not to litter roadsides. We have received complaints of full bags of trash having fallen off a truck and smaller items being blown around and not anyone returning to pick up the messes. Those who toss beverage containers and fast food packaging and napkins out the window are encouraged to re-think their habits and not use the roadsides as trash receptacles. Please be considerate and dispose of your trash in the proper place. Thank you!

We continue to work on making more efficient changes at the China transfer station, focusing on reducing, reusing and the recycling of more items, thus saving tax dollars. Please consider bringing clean items to our “free for taking” or “good stuff” area at the transfer station. If any of you would like to volunteer to help in the free for taking area, please call Irene at 445-2349, we need your help keeping things cleaned and arranged in good order.

We are now involved with the “Paint Care” initiative that provides residents with another disposal option for paints. Please see the transfer station attendants for instructions on how we will accept paint products. Some paints may be reusable, let us know.

Finally, we are very pleased to be working with Palermo residents and Palermo town officials to allow Palermo residents the full use the China transfer station facilities.

Reducing, reusing and recycling saves tax dollars. The transfer station budget this year is less than it was ten years ago, thanks to your efforts…thank you!

China North Minor A champions

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China North Minor A baseball team

The China North Minor A baseball team recently won the league championship with an undefeated season. Front, left to right, Parker Bellows, Dylin Breton, Ryan Tyler, Tristan Anderson, Duncan Bailey, Parker Studholme, Hayden Chase, Keenan Clark, Kyle Burrill and Ayden Michaud. Back, coaches Chad Bailey, Kirk Studholme and Adam Chase.
Photo courtesy of Katie Bailey

Lack of rain affecting local lake levels

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One six-inch plank on one side of the control gates at the dam is open to minimize water runoff. Photo courtesy of Frank Richards

With very little rain in May, June and so far in July, folks residing on Webber Pond have been wondering about the low water level on the pond.

Webber Pond Association President Frank Richards commented, “My own dock is barely useable.”

Richards went on to explain, “the pool is four inches below the spillway [at the dam]. Normal would be two inches.

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A ruler indicates Webber Pond’s water level is four inches below the spillway. That is twice as much as normal for this time of year.

“The lake is being drained by one six-inch plank on one side of the control gates. We are trying to keep at least a drizzle going into the outlet stream.”

He also noted that the inlet at Seaward Mills Stream is “dewatered.”

Attempts to contact China Lake Association President Scott Pierz for comments on that lake were unsuccessful.

Two committees disagree on park logging plan

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by Mary Grow

At their June 27 meeting, China selectmen directed the Thurston Park Committee II and the Forestry Committee to work together and report back.

Two Forestry Committee members and eight Thurston Park II Committee members talked for two hours July 12 without making much progress.

Tim Basham and Elaine Philbrook said they and Anita Smith, who was unable to attend the joint meeting, consider themselves co-chairs of the forestry committee, which also includes Leslie French and Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux.

Basham wants to use part of the park that the 2007 park plan designates for managed forestry as a logging and teaching area where local young people starting out as foresters would gain experience and get mentioned in the town report.  His goal is to increase the supply of young commercial foresters.

His main target would be youngsters who are committed enough to have bought a skidder or other equipment and to have insurance, but who lack experience.  He suggested they be authorized to draw up and carry out their own forestry plans, and implied that income from harvesting would be theirs, referring for example, to the possibility of earning enough to pay for forestry courses.

Philbrook was noncommittal, though she did say that in her years teaching in China – she just retired – she knows of only one student who went into a forestry career.

Thurston Park Committee II members said repeatedly the park should be managed as much as possible to benefit everyone in town, not just for a few people starting careers; and any income from timber harvesting is required to be reinvested in the park or, if voters direct, another town project. Cutting should be bid out, and the bids awarded and work done with assistance from and supervision by a licensed forester, they said.

Basham reported “acres” of white pine flooded by beaver dams on the west side of the park, which is not designated for logging, and recommended cutting it while it has value.  Thurston Park II Committee members Judy Stone and Christian Wilkens cited the value of dead trees for wildlife habitat; fellow committee member Philip DeMaynadier said park management seeks to achieve many goals, including recreation, aesthetics, wildlife habitat and water quality, not just making money by selling stumpage, especially on the west side.

Reviewing June 27 recommendations from district forester Morton Moesswilde, Stone concluded the committee had met them, with the exception of establishing a relationship with a forester who would help plan and carry out timber harvesting and related activities.

Committee members agreed they wanted to talk with more than one forester.  They scheduled a park tour with one candidate for July 26, and talked about others with whom to seek to make arrangements.

The Thurston Park II Committee succeeded the Thurston Park Committee to oversee implementation of the 2007 management plan for the 400-acre parcel in northeastern China.  Under the chairmanship of recently-resigned committee member Bill Seekins, the committee has developed recreational trails and a picnic area and preserved historic areas inside the park boundary.

Committee member Steve Nelson, who lives in Albion adjacent to the park, said hooliganism and littering have diminished as recreational use of the park has increased.  The next meeting of the Thurston Park II Committee is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Aug. 9.

South China Library looks towards the future while preserving the past

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Friends of the South China Library

Friends of the South China Library. Photo by Bob Bennett

With the recent purchase of the Abel Jones house, the South China Library has taken the next step in the journey to find a new location for the library. The Abel Jones house, located on Jones Road, in South China, is the birthplace and boyhood home of Rufus M. Jones. The historic home, built in 1815, and its adjacent property, offers many possibilities for the expansion of the library and its programs for community members of all ages.

While there will not be immediate changes at the library, the library directors and volunteers are excited about planning for the future and including ideas and input from the community.

The public is invited to the South China Library annual meeting on Monday, August 1, at 6 p.m. at the library, 247 Village Street in South China. Please join us to hear highlights of current programs and continue the conversation about the future of the library. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.

South China Library is the oldest continuously operating library in Maine. Established in 1830, the library is a nonprofit organization run by dedicated volunteers. Please call 445-4188 or visit southchinalibrary.org for more information.

Submitted by South China Library committee

New home for the South China Library will be at the Abel Jones house located on Jones Road, in South China

New home for the South China Library will be at the Abel Jones house located on Jones Road, in South China.
Photo by Bob Bennett

Selectmen tackle doubts about alewives, speeding and transfer station

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen heard from residents and committee members on a variety of topics at their July 11 meeting, finding time to make a few decisions afterwards.

Resident Al Althenn asked selectmen to be more involved in the proposal to introduce sea-run alewives into China Lake, a plan he thinks has potential bad results.

Half a dozen China Village residents asked for enforcement of speed limits on Main Street and Causeway Road before someone gets hurt or killed.

Transfer Station Committee member Paul Lucas attended to join in discussion of transfer station issues.

Althenn argued that “the state is pushing alewives on us” without a risk-benefit analysis or adequate unbiased research.  Nate Gray of the Department of Marine Resources, a proponent of alewife introduction, is acting in the interest of the Gulf of Maine fisheries, not China Lake, Althenn alleged.

He fears an unlimited number of alewives will eat everything else in the lake.  Already, he said, China Lake is no longer a natural lake, because of what he has claimed for years is state Department of Environmental Protection mismanagement of the water level; alewives he fears will be the final disaster.

Selectmen listened and asked questions, but proposed no action.

Kyle Pellerin, speaking for himself and neighbors, told selectmen drivers speed on Main Street and Causeway Road and around the sharp corner where those two roads and Neck Road meet.  With a dozen young children now living in the area, plus other pedestrians going to and from the lake, he fears a fatal accident.

“It’s getting very, very scary,” he said.

More law enforcement would help, he said, but only when law officers are there.  He and others asked for more permanent measures, like speed bumps, crosswalks, a second stop sign at the south end of Maine Street or more conspicuous speed limit signs.

Since Neck Road and Main Street are state roads, Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said state transportation officials should be consulted.
Selectmen promised more law enforcement, especially during hours when residents said there is the most fast traffic.  L’Heureux said costly speeding tickets have helped reduce speeding in other parts of town.

Transfer station issues included relocating the swap shop and adding Palermo residents as transfer station users.

The transfer station committee has proposed a new location for the swap shop intended to simplify traffic flow and reduce congestion near the waste hopper.  L’Heureux estimates the cost of the project at not more than $15,000, including ground preparation, a new building and transfer station employees’ labor as they help with the project.

Board Chairman Robert MacFarland suggested a variety of possible obstacles, like conformity with the phosphorus control plan for the transfer station lot and conformity with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Selectmen tabled action on the committee recommendation to their July 25 meeting.

Selectman Neil Farrington said Palermo officials plan to make the switch to China Jan. 1, 2017.  In the interim, they will prepare to provide bags for residents’ trash.  Under the agreement between the two towns, Palermo residents will pay a per-bag fee, and Palermo will pay China $18,000 annually.

Selectman Irene Belanger reported on a recent meeting of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC), the group sponsoring the proposed Fiberight trash disposal plant, and rebutted claims recently made in newspapers by the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC), which is competing with MRC for Maine municipalities’ trash.

In other business July 11, L’Heureux reported that the owner of a lot at the head of China Lake’s east basin across Causeway Road from the boat landing will consider selling it to the town, but has not set a price.  The lot is a little over six acres, mostly wetland, the manager said.

The proposed acquisition is based on a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee plan to expand recreational facilities at the head of the lake.  The committee wants “all the land we can get” in the area, L’Heureux said.

Selectmen unanimously approved a community policing policy L’Heureux prepared. They appointed David Crommett to the recreation committee; reappointed Belanger as representative to the Kennebec Valley Council of Governments (KVCOG) and the FirstPark board of directors; and appointed Selectman Joann Austin as the second representative on the FirstPark board.

Belanger and fellow Selectman Ronald Breton will represent China on the Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 cost-sharing committee, set up to review the formula under which costs are apportioned among the member towns (Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney).

As part of preparations for the 2018 bicentennial celebration of the creation of the Town of China, selectmen voted to acquire the copyright to the China Bicentennial History, appropriating up to $1,000 from their contingency fund for expected legal fees.   The history was originally published in 1975 to commemorate the bicentennial of the first settlement around China Lake.

Austin urged prompt action on the search for a coordinator for the bicentennial celebration.  L’Heureux proposes advertising the position, for which voters at the March town business meeting approved funds.  L’Heureux said assessor William Van Tuinen wants to talk with selectmen at their July 25 meeting about personal property taxes.

On Tuesday, July 26, the planning board holds a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. at China Middle School on proposed amendments to the town’s shoreland and sign ordinances.  Austin urged everyone to read the proposed changes carefully and prepare comments for the hearing.

Planners approve permit for solar farm

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by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members unanimously approved a revised permit for the community solar farm on Route 32 North (Vassalboro Road), allowing it to be four times as large as originally planned.

At the board’s June 28 meeting, Hans Albee of ReVision Energy, engineer who will oversee the project on land leased from Christopher Hahn of Three Level Farm, said since the original permit was approved in August 2015 the community solar farm has attracted potential owners who use more electricity than expected.

The new application is for up to 200 kilowatts of capacity, requiring up to 800 solar panels covering an area of about 42,000 square feet, 12,000 square feet of panels with aisles between them.

The array will be owned and managed by an association of not more than nine Central Maine Power Company customers, who will use the electricity generated and sell the surplus to CMP.  Although the project will be larger, it will still connect to the same already-existing CMP line.

The panels will be about 10 feet high, angled at 35 degrees so snow will usually slide off, with non-reflective glass to minimize glare and maximize solar intake.  Once the panels are in place and the owners’ association formed, mowing and other maintenance become the association’s responsibility, Albee said.

Planning board members found the revised project meets all criteria in China’s ordinances.  They decided no public hearing was needed.

Albee said the project should be built this summer and in operation by fall.

After acting on the solar farm, board members, Selectmen Ronald Breton and Joann Austin and Codes Officer Paul Mitnik reviewed some of the proposed ordinance changes that will be subjects of a July 26 public hearing.

Mitnik said the proposed changes are on the town website.  Board members asked Austin to submit her suggestions for additional changes in writing before the hearing, at which they intend to solicit residents’ input.

The July 26 hearing will be held at China Middle School to accommodate the expected crowd and will probably begin around 6:30 p.m.  It will be preceded by a 6 p.m. public presentation by Colin Clark, shoreland zoning expert with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

The planning board will not meet July 12, there being no pending applications.

Poster contest winners announced

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The China Lake Association sponsored its fifth annual poster contest for the fifth and sixth graders at China Middle School. They learned about alewives. Until the Dams in Vassalboro were built about 100 years ago, the alewives could naturally swim up the rivers to China Lake and stay for the summer months. In the fall, they swim out of the lake taking with them the phosphorous that fosters algae blooms, to return to the ocean. Alewives were a very important fish for our lake’s balance of nature.

In May, the students went by bus to see the alewives swim up the Webber Pond fish ladder. Nate Gray, a biologist from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Frank Richards, president of the Webber Pond Association, were there to teach the students and answer their questions. After learning about alewives, they were given poster paper to illustrate a theme about alewives. Some of the topics were:  Alewives life cycle, advantages to have alewives in China Lake, alewives migration from the ocean to the lake or how dams are preventing them from coming into China Lake and what we are doing to fix that barrier.  They were free to draw a picture, do poetry, write a slogan or write a story on the poster paper. Completed posters were judged according to the student’s imagination and presentation.

Winner for the fifth grade were: first prize, Lauren Tyler, second prizes went to Maddie Pacholski and Alexis Rancourt, third prizes went to Alivia Gower, Angel Bonilla, Cuden Clark and Reiana Gonzalez.

Winners for the sixth grade were: first prize to Cameron Speck, second prize Madison Lully, third prizes went to Julia Barber,  Emily Clark, Alonzo Michaud, Jacob William Fisher, Mackenzie Roderick and Cailee Elsasser.

Monetary awards will be presented at the China Lake Association’s annual meeting at the China Primary School 9 a.m., Saturday, July 23.

Selectmen rehash past issues at meeting

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen discussed multiple issues during their three-hour meeting June 27, most of them rehashing past events.

The major new topic was the Snow Pond Arts Academy (SPAA), a charter school opening in September at the New England Music Camp in Sidney.

Dean of Students David Holinger said the school presents a free alternative to the high schools currently available to China students.  It will provide a traditional high school education plus a focus on dance, music (instrumental and vocal) and theater (dramatic and musical).
Holinger said SPAA is the eighth charter school in Maine and the first based on the performing arts.  Students in grades nine through eleven will begin in September; school officials will apply to add grade twelve for the following year.

Buses will be provided within a 15-mile radius of the campus, and the school is seeking host families for students who live too far away to go home every night. Two China eighth-graders have already enrolled at SPAA, Holinger said.

More information on SPAA is available by calling 844-476-6976 or viewing www.snowpondartsacademy.org.

China selectmen spent more than an hour June 27 on forestry issues.  District Forester Morten Moesswilde, invited at Tim Basham’s suggestion, recommended an approach to town-owned land, especially Thurston Park: visit other towns’ forests to get ideas, develop long-term (20 to 50 years) goals and form a relationship with a licensed forester to help set and implement the goals.

Basham, a member of the town Forestry Committee, and several spokespeople for the Thurston Park Committee seemed to disagree over whether there are inter-committee disagreements that require a new plan.  Judy Stone and Philip DeMaynadier, Thurston Park Committee members, said the existing plan calls for developing roughly half the park for recreation and managing the other half for revenue-producing timber-cutting.

The second goal has been less emphasized recently, they said, because so much time and energy have gone into recreational development and because in 2007 forester Vite Vitale recommended delaying cutting for five to 10 years, due to heavy losses after the 1998 ice storm.

Robert MacFarland, chairman of the selectmen, closed the discussion by encouraging the two committees to work together and to report back to the selectmen.  Selectmen also revisited the issue of transfer station charges.  After another 20 minutes’ argument, they voted 3-2 to accept the Transfer Station Committee’s recommendation to leave the fee charged to local haulers who go over the scales at two cents a pound.   The fee increases approved May 2 for demolition and debris will still be implemented July 1.

Transfer Station Committee members have not yet made a recommendation on the other issue selectmen referred to them, where to relocate the swap shop to alleviate traffic congestion near the hopper.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said Palermo selectmen expect to know by the end of the month when they will stop using the Tri-County transfer station and begin sharing China’s.  China selectmen are invited to the Palermo selectmen’s next meeting, he said.

In other business, selectmen voted unanimously to ask voters in November to approve two purchases, a lot adjoining the town office lot and the portable classroom beside China Primary School.  They did not make a decision on whether to recommend buying the former Fairpoint building on Route 3.  They made five appointments: Adam Ellis as superintendent of cemeteries, Frank Soares as a member of the Tax Increment Financing Committee, Sheri Wilkens and Christian Wilkens as members of the Thurston Park Committee and Brian Plato as a member of the recreation committee.

Selectman Irene Belanger said she did not know the town had a superintendent of cemeteries.  L’Heureux said Ellis’s job will be to make sure people are buried in the right plots.

Selectmen unanimously rejected two bids to replace the handicapped access ramps to the old town house and the former portable classroom on the town office lot.  The lower bid was $19,000, a figure selectmen considered too high

They unanimously approved the manager’s plan to have the new access driveway from Alder Park Road to the town office parking lot paved.  L’Heureux expects the work to be done within a few days.

Following up on the June 13 discussion of making China more friendly to senior citizens, they voted unanimously to spend up to $500 for a demographic survey.

Items tentatively on the agenda for the selectmen’s July 11 meeting include a recommendation from the TIF committee on recreational development at the causeway at the head of China Lake, continued discussion of solid waste issues and draft ordinance amendments from the planning board dealing with shoreland zoning, seasonal conversions and signs.

China school third trimester honors

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GRADE 8

Dean’s list: Kathryn Bailey, Julia Basham, Alyssha Gil, Annika Gil and Richard Winn. High honors: Alec Baker, Derek Beaulieu, Norah Davidson, Lydia Gilman, Alyssa Hale, Ashley Huntley, Eleena Lee and Hunter Praul. Honors: Vincent Emery, Jada Fredette and Serena Sepulvado.

GRADE 7

Dean’s list: Ian Oliphant and Courtney Paine. High honors: Nicholas Barber and Aiden Pettengill. Honors: Brooke Allen, Madyx Kennedy Jonathan Martinez, Eban Pierce and Brandon Way.

GRADE 6

Dean’s list: Emily Clark, Colby Cunningham, Cailee Elsasser, Jacob Fisher, Samantha Golden, Piper Mann, Sarah Praul and Mackenzie Roderick. High honors: Julia Barber, Emma Jefferson, Lili Lefebvre, Wes McGlew and Rebecca Morton. Honors: Isaac Baker, Clarissa Beyor, Trace Harris, Kaden McIntyre and Hannah Torrey.

GRADE 5

Dean’s list: Reiana Gonzalez, Elizabeth Hardy, Lily Matthews and Noah Rushing. High honors: Abigail Beyor, Kayla Peaslee, Gabriel Pelletier and Alexis Rancourt. Honors: Angel Bonilla, Aiden Clark, Breckon Davidson, Nicole DeMerchant, Lilly Fredette, Alivia Gower, Beck Jorgensen, Kaiden Kelley, Alexia Leigh, Brenden Levesque, Gwen Lockhart, Kolby Maxim, Ethan Ouellette, Madeline Pacholski, Samantha Reynolds, Kaden Soto, Sammantha Stafford, Sophie Steeves, Lauren Tyler and Colby Willey.