by Mary Grow

At their May 11 meeting China Planning Board members approved a one-year extension of SunRaise Investments’ permit for a solar development on Route 3.

At their April 27 meeting, SunRaise representatives explained delays in starting construction as due to factors outside their control. Planners postponed action in case neighbors wanted to comment; on May 11 they approved the extension promptly and unanimously.

SunRaise representatives said in April construction might start late in 2021 or early in 2022.

Planners spent most of the rest of the meeting continuing to wordsmith their proposed ordinance to regulate solar developments. They also agreed tentatively to take on another project, revising the China Land Use Ordinance to conform to state requirements.

Revisions to the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance are by now primarily for clarity and for consistency with older town ordinances, rather than for content. Board members intend to continue working on it at their May 25 meeting.

China received a May 10 letter from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) saying China’s April 6, 2019, revision of the Land Use Ordinance has been conditionally accepted. Conditional acceptance means, Codes Officer Jaime Hanson said, that the 2019 update is not yet enforceable; from DEP’s perspective, the 2017 version remains in effect.

DEP has asked mostly for two types of revisions to bring the town ordinance into compliance with state regulations, Hanson said. One set of changes involves definitions: DEP has changed some of theirs, and expects municipalities to match the changes.

Other DEP objections point to places where China rules differ from state rules. Board members discussed one example, the provision in China’s ordinance that says for purposes of calculating lot coverage (the percentage of a lot covered by impervious surfaces), driveways and parking lots do not count.

This exemption makes China’s ordinance less restrictive than state regulations, which do include these areas. Board members agreed that municipalities are not allowed to have regulations that are less strict than the state’s.

Board Chairman Randall Downer asked that the DEP letter be made public so residents can see reasons for changes the local board proposes. It is now on the town website, www.chinagov.org, under Planning Board, with the title “DEP Department Order #07-2021 Ordinance Approval.”

The draft Solar Energy Systems Ordinance is directly under the DEP order.

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 25. Barring unfortunate pandemic-related developments, it will be in person in the former portable classroom behind the town office.

by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members focused on various forms of recycling at their May 11 meeting, talking about China’s Free for the Taking building; regional hazardous waste disposal and alternatives; and additional recycling possibilities.

They also got an update on plans to reopen the Fiberight disposal facility in Hampden from Michael Carroll, executive director of the Municipal Review Committee (MRC). MRC consists of representatives from Maine municipalities that contracted to bring waste to the Fiberight facility, which closed a year ago. The committee owns the land on which the facility stands, has contracted to supply waste and is named on the waste permit, Carroll said.

The building in which Fiberight intended to process waste, until the company ran out of funds, is owned by bond-holders, Carroll said. Fiberight did the “configuring and dial-setting” for the process that separates and reuses recyclables; the components are off the shelf and can be used and replaced as needed by a successor.

MRC plans to have Pennsylvania-based Delta Thermo Energy (DTE) reopen the plant. Restart date remains undetermined. Meanwhile, most of China’s mixed waste is being landfilled in Norridgewock, to the dismay of local environmentalists.

China Committee Chairman Larry Sikora questioned whether DTE was the best buyer for the closed plant.

Carroll said the MRC didn’t have a choice: two other potentially interested parties dropped out. To Sikora’s questions about how thoroughly DTE had been vetted. Carroll replied, “We did our due diligence.”

DTE has experience with other waste facilities, has more capital than Fiberight started with, is inheriting a building and equipment and when the transfer is final will get rights and operating manuals from the bondholders. The company’s lack of experience with the Fiberight process is not a unique problem, Carroll said, because the process is new; no one has experience with it.

Fiberight “has kind of disappeared on us,” he added. The MRC has been “keeping boots on the ground” to maintain the facility.

Proposed changes in the contract between the plant operator and MRC include giving DTE the option to buy the land, which Carroll said the company is unlikely to exercise for at least two years; and “resetting the clock” so the building lease and the waste supply agreement, now more than a year old, will start over as 15-year arrangements.

After Carroll zoomed out of the meeting, committee members turned to the selectboard’s decision not to participate in the annual hazardous waste disposal day, in Winslow, this year. Winslow charges other towns, and in recent years too few China and Palermo residents have disposed of hazardous waste to justify the cost, selectmen said.

Both the selectmen and the Transfer Station Committee members discussed ways to inform residents about alternative legal disposal places (which probably charge fees), so hazardous wastes will not be combined with mixed waste or dumped into the environment.

Sikora raised the desirability of recycling all batteries, not just big ones. Committee members Ashley Farrington and Karen Hatch think providing separate boxes for small batteries is feasible; they will look into options.

Town Manager Becky Hapgood would like to see the Free for the Taking building reopen in June, but protective measures need to be in place first. She and committee members talked about ways to limit the number of people in and around the building and to limit donations.

Hatch, who manages the building, said sometimes so much is dropped off she can’t get in the door until she rearranges things. She proposed no longer accepting clothing, because, she said, people looking through clothing spend more time inside.

Farrington suggested limiting hours, to provide time to sort items without customers; or charging a deposit that people could get back only by reclaiming items no one else had taken.

Sikora approved Hapgood’s idea that she, Farrington, Hatch and Transfer Station Manager Ronald Marois become a subcommittee to propose procedures.

Farrington has already taken on the project of analyzing information from the Radio Frequency Identification system to detect usage patterns, busy and slack times and other useful factors. Palermo resident Chris Diesch, attending at the invitation of Palermo committee member Robert Kurek, volunteered to help; her offer was accepted with enthusiasm.

The RFID system does not identify users by name. It can record how many times the same person comes in, but not who the person is.

The next regular Transfer Station Committee meeting would have fallen on election day, so members tentatively rescheduled it to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 9.

by Mary Grow

China Road Committee members, plus Town Manager Becky Hapgood and Selectman Wayne Chadwick, discussed 2021 paving plans at an April 23 meeting.

Committee Chairman and Public Works Manager Shawn Reed led the discussion. He explained that China should do about six miles of repaving every year to keep up with maintenance, although, he pointed out, some roads need more frequent work than others.

Last year, he said, concerns about the impact of coronavirus on the economy meant only about four miles were done. This year’s preliminary plan includes the postponed work plus four miles, to get back on schedule.

Reed proposed continuing work on Deer Hill Road and doing most of the roads in the South China Village area. He added Arnold Road off Windsor Road, which hasn’t been done in 15 years and is “pretty broke-down overall” and Meadow Wood Drive off Arnold Road. Focusing on one section of town at a time, so that equipment needs less moving around, should help control the cost, he said.

Committee members nominated several stretches of Dirigo Road as in bad condition. They concluded about a mile of the road should be repaved, without specifying which mile.

They have scheduled a road tour beginning at 8 a.m. Friday, May 7, to come to final decisions.

At the April 23 meeting, Reed did not know how much paving mix will cost per ton this summer. That figure will impact how much the town can afford to do.

As in past years, he intended to combine bids with Vassalboro; he hoped to have them out by the end of April. Having more miles to offer is likely to generate a lower price, he said.

Reed and Hapgood said the budget voters are asked to approve for paving for 2021-22, which will pay for summer 2021 work, totals $563,250. Of that amount, $45,000 is allocated for crack sealing, striping and patching.

Reed emphasized the value of sealing cracks, as a preservative between repavings, to keep water from freezing under and breaking up road surfaces. Lane Road and Weeks Mills Road are two he nominated for crack sealing this summer.

Weeks Mills Road was returned to town maintenance from the state. Reed said the part the state rebuilt is holding up well, the other mile and a half less well than he had hoped.

He would like a one-inch overlay on the entire two miles, but recommends delay because other roads need attention first.

Another issue committee members discussed was the chip seal resurfacing used last year on South and Deer Hill roads. Reed said it is rougher than asphalt paving, and after plowing there was more slush on the surface than on asphalt. But, he said, it is holding up, and overall he is “kinda pleased.”

Chadwick and committee member Dale Peabody said the chip seal should have been swept more than once, to make it easier for motorcyclists. The need to sweep loose material into ditches makes chip seal less desirable in some areas, Reed said.

Chadwick asked whether the chip seal had been hard on cutting edges on the snowplow. Joshua Crommett, committee member and public works employee, said not enough to make a difference between one plow and another.

All States Asphalt, of Richmond, is the only company offering chip seal, Reed said. He will continue using it on Deer Hill Road if committee members approve.

Committee members did not schedule another meeting after their road tour. They hope they will not need to meet again until fall, when they start considering the 2022-23 budget.