CHINA: Rte. 3 local water source closed to public use

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by Mary Grow

China selectmen discussed multiple ongoing issues and one new one at their Sept. 14 meeting.

The new issue was a letter asking if the town would provide a public water supply in South China. The spring in a Route 3 front yard from which area residents have taken water for years has new owners who closed it to public use.

The letter-writer said her well, and other wells she knows of, have water that is undrinkable. She used to take multiple jugs from the local spring and would like to avoid paying store prices. She would be willing to make a token payment for use of a town water supply, she said.

Selectmen were not in favor of the proposal. Wayne Chadwick said a public water supply would be highly regulated and expensive. Board Chairman Ronald Breton added that if something went wrong, the town could be liable.

Discussion turned instead to how to help people with unsafe wells. Donna Mills-Stevens, participating in the meeting via Zoom, suggested state or federal agencies might help. Breton said he would forward suggestions to the letter-writer.

In other business, selectmen reviewed Town Manager Becky Hapgood’s proposed 2021 town meeting dates and resulting timelines for starting budget preparations for the 2020-21 fiscal year. They did not want to hold the meeting so early they would be lacking financial information, nor so late that if voters rejected some or all of the budget they would be delayed moving into the new fiscal year.

Breton’s recommendation of Tuesday, May 18, was unanimously approved. Board members have already decided the meeting will be by written ballot, as in 2020, not an open meeting.

Resident Tom Michaud said the test borings added to the causeway project have been done; the contractor, McGee Construction, is waiting for the results. He has asked McGee for an estimated timeline for this fall’s work, which is to install runoff controls and a walkway at the head of China Lake’s east basin.

Scott Pierz, president of the China Lake Association and the China Region Lakes Alliance, emphatically seconded the request. Work along the causeway will be correlated with the annual fall drawdown of China Lake’s water level, mandated by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The original purpose of the drawdown was to remove phosphorus that feeds algae in the lake; outflow down Outlet Stream also affects the Maine Rivers alewife restoration initiative (ARI). Pierz wanted to be sure construction needs did not override environmental goals.

Selectmen unanimously appointed Danny Boivin a member of the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee. Breton said TIF Committee Chairman Frank Soares has resigned for health reasons and thanked Soares for his long service on the committee.

Hapgood reported Kevin Rhoades has resigned from the transfer station staff. The town office staff will be back to full strength when new part-time employee, Tammy Bailey, starts work Sept. 28, she said.

A new sign is to be installed at the transfer station. Grant money is paying for it, Breton said.

On the Nov. 3 local ballot, Hapgood reported there will be five candidates for three seats on the Board of Selectmen: incumbents Breton and Janet Preston, and Blane Casey, Brent Chesley and Jeanne Marquis. There are no contests for planning board or budget committee positions. Absentee ballot applications may be filed any time, she said; ballots will probably be available about Oct. 5.

The manager reported that finances for the current fiscal year are “looking good so far,” except for the elections budget. Because of changes in schedules and procedures caused by Covid-19, money appropriated for elections is more than half spent already, she said.

The next regular China selectmen’s meeting will be Monday evening, Sept. 28.

Sept. 28 meeting to be preceded by public hearings

The Monday, Sept. 28, China selectmen’s meeting will be preceded by two public hearings, at 6 and 6:15 p.m. in the town office meeting room.

The 6 p.m. hearing will be on state amendments to the appendices to the town’s General Assistance Ordinance, an annual requirement. The selectmen will act on the amendments during their meeting after the hearings.

The 6:15 p.m. hearing will be on proposed amendments to the Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance and the Solid Waste Flow Control Ordinance. The amendments, which can be read on the town website under Elections, will be on the Nov. 3 local ballot.

Changing of the guard at Albert Church Brown Memorial Library

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Carla Gade and Miranda Perkins, the new librarians at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, in China Village. (photo by Jeanne Marquis)

by Jeanne Marquis
On Tuesday, September 8, the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library, 37 Main Street, reopened after closing as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The opening will be an important step of returning back to familiarity, yet with some new changes: two new librarians, additional hours and procedures to keep the community safe.

China’s library follows the safety protocols as advised by CDC, American Library Association, and Maine State Library. The protocols are similar to what the public is already accustomed to at other public facilities. In addition to wearing a mask and practicing social distancing, visitors are requested to use hand sanitizer upon entering and limit their handling materials. There will be a limit of three patrons or a family of up to six for a 30-minute period. To help facilitate access, China’s library has added two hours on Saturdays.The new hours are Tuesday and Thursday 1 – 5 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

After selecting their books, visitors will experience a safe check-out procedure. Curbside pick up will continue for those who prefer to utilize that service. Books can be ordered for pickup on the Maine State Library website https://www.maine.gov/msl/ or by simply sending an email to Albert Church Brown Memorial Library at chinalibraryacb@gmail.com. Returned books will be quarantined following the Maine State Library guidelines before they are returned to the shelved. These protocols are designed to maintain a safe environment so the community can continue to enjoy the library despite the pandemic.

The library itself hasn’t physically changed except for the installation of a black top circular drive out front. Inside, visitors will find the same inviting warm atmosphere of a vintage home in which each room offers a different genre of reading material. Visitors will be assisted by two new staff, Librarian Carla Gade and Assistant Librarian Miranda Perkins.

“Mary Grow, who has been our librarian for over 30 years, has just retired. She has been a wealth of knowledge for our community for all of these years. Her knowledge of the local history is astounding and she has written a number of local historical documents that will remain in our library indefinitely.”
– Tom Parent, China Library Association president

The community may know our new librarian by the books she writes under the name Carla Olson Gade. In total, she has 11 books in print. She writes inspirational romance stories, which she describes as “adventures of the heart with historical roots.” A native New Englander, many of her novels are set regionally. Carla is also a webmaster, blogger and genealogy instructor.

New Library Assistant Miranda has been a library volunteer for many years at the Albion Public Library. She is involved in her community and possesses exceptional organizational library skills. Both librarians have been busy preparing the library for the new safety protocols and learning the systems with Mary Grow. Carla and Miranda discovered their talents compliment one another and the division of responsibilities fell naturally under their preferences, but they know they have a big role to fill. Mary Grow has taken the reopening of the library as her opportunity to transition to retirement after decades of dedicated service.

Carla Gade said, “The library has Mary’s unique imprint on it. We hope to honor her legacy through thoughtful management of the library’s collections and by continuing to connect to the community in meaningful ways. I admire her greatly.”

One of the unique offerings of the library under Mary Grow that will be continued are the community events. The two librarians realize they will need to be creative to bring events to the community during Covid, but they are up to the challenge. On Sunday, September 20, the library will host Maine Memories, an afternoon of reminiscing — featuring stories from our patrons. In October, they are considering an Antiques Appraisal Fair. Information about events will appear on the library’s website at chinalibrary.org and on the Friends of China Facebook page.

A note from Tom Parent, China Library Association President:

Mary Grow, who has been our librarian for over 30 years, has just retired. She has been a wealth of knowledge for our community for all of these years. Her knowledge of the local history is astounding and she has written a number of local historical documents that will remain in our library indefinitely. Patrons to the library often asked her if they had read specific books. Mary seemed to remember what everyone had read and possibly when. Mary has been helping us make a significant transition in how we provide library services. That initiative will continue with our two new staff, Carla Gade and Miranda Perkins. Our library board of trustees and our local community will miss having Mary function as our librarian, but we’re going to select her to be on our board of trustees, so she won’t be far!

PAGES IN TIME: Remembering China Village’s two-room schoolhouse

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China Village two-room schoolhouse, 1888-1949. It was located across from the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library. (photo courtesy of David Fletcher)

by Richard Dillenbeck

I attended grammar school in a two-room schoolhouse in the village of China at the northern end of the lake. It had two rooms, each with four grades, the younger kids on the ground floor and the older children on the second, each room with its own teacher.

The rooms were arranged by rows of desks, each row having children in the same grade, and each row a different grade. The teacher would move from row to row while keeping an eagle eye on the other rows. In the rear left corner, there was a large wood-burning stove, the only heat source in winter; a bank of single pane windows on the right side of the room admitted light to the whole room, supplementing the bare light bulbs on the ceiling. The teacher’s desk was at the front, with a large blackboard behind it with the United States’ flag in one corner. Every morning, we children stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance, to which “under God” had not yet been added. (Those two words were added in 1954 during a time when we were locked in a cold war with the Soviet Union and we wanted “them atheistic Russkis” to know we were a God-fearing nation.) In winter, the older boys would go down the back stairs and bring up a large “junk” (Mainer-speak) of wood to fill the fuel box.

Photo of students at China Village Schoolhouse sometime in the mid-1930s. (Contributed by Robin Adams Sabattus.) Picture includes: Carolyn James, Paul Boivin, Frances Black, Paul Fletcher, Muriel Harding, Richard Starkey, John McKiel and Donald Black.

On the first floor, attached to the school’s northern side, was a divided girl/boy outhouse with a built-in plank with three holes for the girls and a three-holed plank for the boys. In the dead of winter, no one enjoyed sitting there when the icy wind blew up through the hole, but when we had to go, we would raise two fingers and the teacher would either nod to us or signal for us to wait. (One raised finger meant we needed to use the pencil sharpener installed at the front of the room.) I don’t know how she did it, but Mrs. Stewart handled it all with aplomb and kept us in our places. We wouldn’t think of misbehaving.

That is until one day there suddenly was a loud commotion in the rear corner of the room and all heads shot up and turned in time to see Mrs. Stewart slam one of the biggest boys in the room up against the stove. She admonished him to, “Sit down and don’t do it again!” He meekly went back to his desk and sat down, and we didn’t hear a peep out of him for the rest of the school year. We never knew what he had said or done, but we sure knew how Mrs. Stewart, who probably weighed no more than 110 pounds, handled it. Our respect for her soared even higher.

The school day included a daily recess when we all had to go outside. Dodge ball and hide and seek were popular. Most of us, except the kids who lived in China village and walked to school, were transported by buses and everyone brought a lunch box. It was always fun to compare lunches with what others brought and to sometimes trade. My favorite sandwiches, a different kind made by my mother every morning, were either a baked bean sandwich or a Spam sandwich with lettuce and ketchup. It always seemed a long time since the small bottle of milk we received mid-morning.

At some point in the seventh grade, we started getting hot soup for lunch, at least those who paid for it did. It was made down the village street by a woman at her home, and two of the bigger boys would be sent to her house to bring back a bucket of soup between them.

Once a week, we were allowed to go to the China library, which was directly across the street. I got hooked on the Tarzan books and read every one in the library, enjoying the description of the jungle, Tarzan’s animal friends and enemies, and his exciting adventures. I can still recall how thrilling it was to later see Tarzan come to life in movies starring Johnny Weissmuller, the former Olympian swimmer, who portrayed Tarzan in the movies for many years, even long after he had aged and lost his svelte shape. His jungle-call in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novels could carry for miles through the jungle and was used when he needed to exult about some kill or to summon help from his animal friends. Each movie managed to put that jungle call in every movie more than once. I was amused to hear it recently on the internet – just look up “Tarzan yell.”

In 1948, we learned a new combined community school would be built for the Town of China, halfway between the villages of China and South China. Construction of the first classrooms was completed by the spring of 1949. We were all excited and perhaps a bit anxious because attending a bigger school with kids we didn’t know led to much discussion. Mrs. Stewart gracefully handled it by letting us ask questions and verbalize our feelings, and she assured us the new school would be much nicer and would have real bathrooms – with running water, real toilets and a real furnace for heat. The school in China Village was converted to rearing chickens rather than children and then it burned down. (No one seems to know how the chickens fared.)

LETTERS: Rejection is correct

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To the editor:

The People’s Referendum to block using Ranked Choice Voting for President was recently ruled, by a lower court, to be put on this November’s ballot even though the Secretary of State, Matt Dunlap, ruled the signature collectors did not have enough valid signatures. “Just under 1,000 signatures had been rejected because they were collected by circulators who were not registered to vote when they were collecting signatures, which is required under the Maine Constitution.”

This rejection is correct. From a logical point of view, say you went hunting or fishing without a license and were caught by a Maine Game Warden. You’d say, “Wait, while I run up to the town office to get my license.” Ha! The warden would laugh at you and give you a ticket. I hope the supreme court in their wisdom sees the logic of this and reverses the lower court ruling. Full Disclosure: It was a cold day in January a few years ago that I collected signatures outside our transfer station in favor of ranked choice voting.

Bob O’Connor
South China

Volunteers sought for watershed survey

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photo by Eric Austin

A watershed is the area of land that drains to a water body. The China Lake Watershed covers approximately 26 square miles of land in China, Vassalboro, and Albion. Changes to the land in a watershed can affect the water quality of the lake.

What is a Watershed Survey?

A watershed survey helps identify and prioritize current sources of soil erosion and stormwater runoff on developed land in the watershed. This includes shoreline properties, state, local and private roads, stream crossings, agriculture and forestry, and commercial properties. The last watershed survey for China Lake was conducted as part of the previous 2008 watershed-based plan. Current information is needed to develop long-term planning strategies that will improve the water quality in China Lake, which is currently listed as an “impaired lake” in Maine and has had annual algal blooms since 1983.

Watershed Survey Benefits:

• Raises public awareness about the need to protect China Lake from stormwater runoff and soil erosion.
• Documents current problems that affect water quality.
• Provides landowners with information about how to reduce or eliminate soil erosion and polluted runoff from their property.
• Provides the means by which to acquire state and federal grants to fund future projects that will improve water quality. Volunteers are needed for this monumental event!

For more information or to register:

Call the China Lake Association at (207) 968-1037, or call Dale at Kennebec County SWCD at 621-9000. For more information: www.ChinaLakeAssociation.org

A watershed survey for China Lake will take place on Saturday, October 3, 2020.

Become a Survey Volunteer!

Attend a free two-hour training presentation to learn about watersheds, how to identify erosion and other sources of polluted runoff, and ways to help improve the water quality in China Lake. Then, join us on Saturday October 3rd to walk the watershed and document erosion.

The China Lake Watershed Survey is a community effort to improve the water quality in China Lake now and for future generations.

Project partners include: China Lake Association, China Region Lakes Alliance, Kennebec SWCD, Maine DEP & Ecological Instincts. This project is funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under Section 604(b) of the Clean Water Act.

Two contests on China’s local ballot

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by Mary Grow

China voters have two contests on the Nov. 3 local election ballot.

For three seats on the board of selectmen, there are five candidates. Incumbents Ronald Breton and Janet Preston seek re-election, and Blane Casey, Brent Chesley and Jeanne Marquis also are running for a seat. Donna Mills-Stevens is not a candidate for re-election.

On the planning board, Chesley is challenging incumbent James Wilkens for the at-large seat. Toni Wall is an unopposed candidate for the District 2 seat she now holds; there is no name on the ballot for the District 4 seat held by Tom Miragliuolo.

For the budget committee, there is no candidate for secretary. Thomas Rumpf, District 2, and Timothy Basham, District 4, are unopposed for re-election.

Voters also have ordinance amendments to accept or reject, to the Solid Waste Flow Control Ordinance and the Solid Waste Disposal Ordinance.

China’s polls will be open Nov. 3 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the former portable classroom behind the town office. Absentee ballots are now available.

China School’s Forest gets ready for students

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China school teachers get the China School’s Forest ready for students. (photo by Anita Smith)

Six animal cutouts stolen from the grounds

by Eric W. Austin
A few weeks ago, a heinous act was committed in the China School’s Forest. Someone snuck into the outdoor learning center and stole six of the animal cutouts that were set up along the trails to teach children about wildlife in the Maine woods.

“Not only did you steal them, you stole the hard work of middle school children and volunteers who made the project happen,” admonished a post added to the China School’s Forest Facebook page on July 22, shortly after the incident. “You stole the grant money that was used to make them. You stole the enjoyment and learning opportunity from hundreds of children and visitors to the school forest. You stole the desire to continue to do projects like this that our whole community can enjoy. You stole the pride our community feels with the entire school forest project.”

Danica Ferris, left, and Anita Smith putting up a crow cutout. (photo by Katie Reed)

The China School’s Forest, founded in 1995, is located behind the China Primary school and is designed to serve as an “outdoor classroom with trails and learning stations to teach children about the Maine forest in a real-life, hands-on setting.” The trails are also open to the general public.

In the current age of COVID-19, the China School’s Forest has become an important place for local teachers to hold classes in a safer, outdoor setting, and the Forest has been scrambling to get ready for the upcoming school year.

Thankfully, since the incident, community volunteers have rallied to help with the work.

“There has been a huge outpouring of volunteerism in the forest this summer,” says Anita Smith, administrator for the China School’s Forest.

Of the six animal cutouts stolen, three have been returned, says Smith. Additional cutouts have also recently been supplied by local residents Jim Burke and Katie Reed.

Katie Reed says she reached out to Joshua Newhall, of Madison, owner of Gridiron Woodworks, to make them. “Scrolling through Facebook, I came across a post from China Forest…[and] my daughter asked me if we could help replace them,” Reed explains. Her daughter, Danica Ferris, is a sixth grade student at China Middle School. “We did this because my daughter loves spotting the cutouts on the trail. You can see anything from a cat, skunk, bears and more,” she says. “[We’re] hoping the community gets to enjoy them for years to come.”

Lydia, left, and Luke Naegely test out the stump stools at the Geology outdoor classroom. (photo by Anita Smith)

That’s just the tip of the iceberg though, in terms of the work community members have accomplished in the last few months. Volunteers have been mowing and weed-whacking. Extra seating has been added to the Geology Station, and outdoor-themed art has been stenciled on the walls of the wooden classroom structures to remind children to practice social distancing.

In addition, Anita Smith says, “Nine new interpretive signs, manufactured by Leighton Signworks, in Oakland, have been installed to explain features from last winter’s harvest and thinning, and a few additional points of interest on the trails.”

The wood from last year’s harvesting is also being cut up and will be donated to local families. “At the end of July, we had a large crew of volunteers from Central Church,” says Smith. “They helped cut up trees that will be used for firewood for those in need this winter. They also stained picnic tables, water-sealed several structures, raked trails, trimmed brush, replaced the roof on the CPS entrance kiosk and donated two new tables to the outdoor classroom spaces.”

Danica Ferris, adding a hare and bunny. (photo by Katie Reed)

A “Firewood for Friends” event held last Saturday drew an additional eight volunteers who cut wood into workable sizes and stacked it for drying. “We got 1.5 cord cut today,” says Smith. “The wood will be distributed through the China for a Lifetime Committee or the town office as needed.”

Smith says another event will be held on Saturday, September 12, from 9 a.m. – noon. “People with chainsaws are needed as well as others to lug and stack the wood,” she notes.

Steve Childs, of SD Childs & Sons Excavation, in Palermo, has also donated gravel, which volunteers used to smooth and cover muddy areas of the trails.

It’s looking like, with the generous help from many volunteers in the community, the China School’s Forest is going to be ready to serve its purpose as an outdoor learning center when China schools open this month.

“I am so proud of our little town and grateful to those who have helped to make the Forest a place that everyone can enjoy and our students can use this fall,” says Smith. “The teachers and I are so appreciative of the help!”

For more information about the China School’s Forest or to find out how you can help, contact Anita Smith by email at chinaschoolsforest@gmail.com.

Contact the author at ericwaustin@gmail.com.

Local seed swap group forming

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Wealth management is a flourishing service provided by professionals who know the ins and outs of finance and investment. You may have noticed ads in magazines, on the internet, and in newspapers that promote investing in the stock market and other ways of growing your lifetime savings. The biggest wealth managers are called hedge fund managers. When times are good, clients and wealth managers both make lots of money. But ordinary people of modest means can expand their wealth in other ways, in times good and bad. They can grow gardens and save seeds for the following year and share them.

So what’s the connection between the stock market and seed saving? Historians and scientists have discovered that agriculture, especially grain production, promoted spikes in human development. Reliable sources of food from agriculture enabled families to grow. As populations grew, cities emerged, and trade developed – within and between cities. Wealth of farmers grew as their granaries swelled with extra grain to trade; entrepreneurs flourished, with their drive and imaginations, to allow them to get richer. Accumulations of assets of land for farmers, and money for businesses are similar. On a smaller scale, the same urge to expand infects gardeners; however, the urge is not to accumulate wealth but to follow their curiosities. These curiosities answer some timeless questions like: how will the new squash variety taste; how will they store and keep? Will the new dahlias grow well in my soil? What do I do with giant 14” radishes (daikon)? Where do I get vegetable seeds that I cannot afford?

Groucho Marx made a weekly offering in the 1950s: “Say the magic word and you get a hundred dollars”. Today’s magic word is VARIETY. One of the big advantages of seed saving and seed sharing is that you can save seeds from plants that you really like and share them with others. On the receiving end, the other advantage is that you can try new things without breaking the bank. Of course, if you are new to all of this, simply save seeds that you might enjoy sharing with others from this year’s crop and then join the China Area Seed Swappers.

This announcement of the formation of the China Area Seed Swappers is to help gardeners pursue your curiosities and save some money, too. The timing is perfect. It is now the harvest season. Veteran gardeners save some of their crops that make seed for the following years’ plantings. If you don’t know how to prepare your own seeds, simply search the internet. Jim Hsiang and Marie Michaud announce the formation of the China Area Seed Swappers, an informal group statement of purpose is: To build community network of gardners who enjoy sharing seeds and recipes, saving money, trying new varieties of flowers and vegetables.

If you are interested in joining the group please contact Jim Hsiang at tojameshsiang@gmail.com.

After signing up, you will receive monthly updates on what’s happening.

China board denies appeal over shoreland wall

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by Mary Grow

By a 3-2 vote the China Board of Appeals has upheld Codes Officer Bill Butler’s denial of Brent and Cathy Chesley’s application for a permit to build what documents call a retaining wall along the shore of China Lake.

The Chesleys and their attorney, David Pierson of Eaton Peabody, told board members at their Aug. 27 hearing that run-off from the property is seeping through the rip-rap that currently is supposed to prevent run-off into the lake. As a remedy, the Chesleys had engineer A. E. Hodsdon, of Waterville, design a wall with steel sheet plates, concrete facing and granite blocks. Written testimony submitted by an abutter says the wall would be 34 feet long.

Brent Chesley is co-owner of a construction firm capable of building the structure. He provided details about materials and construction, which was planned to be done after the water level is lowered in the fall.

The state Department of Environmental Protection issued a Natural Resources Protection Act permit for the wall. One requirement of the NRPA permit is that the project meet all applicable local requirements.

Butler denied an application for a local permit, saying he lacked authority to issue it and the Chesleys needed to apply to the planning board. He also told the board of appeals he believes state regulators made an error when they issued the NRPA permit. During his 24 years as a DEP employee, he reviewed a lot of retaining walls, he said.

The principal arguments were over how the wall should be defined in relation to China’s land use ordinance, and what ordinance section or sections applied to the project. The answers the board majority reached determined that a planning board permit is needed.

Related arguments were over how high the wall is – the Chesleys said seven feet, Butler said nine feet – and whether it is below China Lake’s high-water mark. Butler’s nine feet include granite footings that are below the water level.

If the wall is defined as a permanent breakwater projecting into the water, as Butler argued, it needs a planning board permit.

Attorney Pierson called the project “shoreline stabilization.” China’s ordinance does not regulate shoreline stabilization, he said, so the state permit is all that is needed.

After an hour and a half of discussion, board member Virginia Davis summarized her view: the structure should be defined as a breakwater, because retaining walls are not allowed within 25 feet of water bodies; as a breakwater, its footings extend below the normal high-water line; therefore China’s ordinance requires a planning board permit.

Davis then made a motion to deny the appeal, because the codes officer was correct in saying that he lacked authority to issue the permit. The motion was approved with Davis, Lisa Kane and Anthony Pileggi in favor and Robert Fischer and new member Jeffrey LaVerdiere opposed. Michael Gee was absent, and Chairman Spencer Aitel abstained, as he habitually does unless his vote is needed to break a tie.

Aitel said the board of appeals decision did not require planning board action. The Chesleys can decide whether to seek a permit from the planning board. Their other option, he said, is to appeal the board of appeals’ decision to Superior Court.

China planners discuss proposed ordinance amendment

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by Mary Grow

At their Aug. 25 meeting, China Planning Board members discussed a proposed ordinance amendment that would make a special provision in lot coverage requirements for solar panels.

Their only decision was to continue the discussion, probably at their Sept. 15 meeting. If they recommend an ordinance amendment, it would take effect after selectmen put it on a local ballot and voters approved it. Barring a special meeting, the spring 2021 business meeting would be the earliest opportunity for voter action.

Attorney Tom Federle of Federle Law in Portland proposed the amendment. He represents SunRaise Investments, the company building two solar projects in southern China.

In reviewing and approving the SunRaise permits, planning board members considered the area of the panels as structures, as part of their lot coverage calculations. China’s land use ordinance limits the percentage of a lot that can be covered by structures to 20 percent in rural districts and 15 percent in resource protection, stream protection and shoreland districts.

Federle’s proposed ordinance amendment says in part that, “Provided that pervious ground is retained below solar panels, the area of the solar panels shall not be included in the lot coverage calculation.”

Paved areas, blocks and other bases on which the panels stand and “other impervious structures” (like a small building to house equipment) would still count toward lot coverage.

The proposed amendment would also add “solar energy system” to the town ordinance’s list of definitions.

The point Federle made, with which board members seemed to agree, was that when the meadow area below solar panels is properly maintained with infrequent mowing, the grass will absorb water running off the lower edges of the panels and the installation will not create run-off problems.

State environmental agencies and other municipalities review solar permits on this premise, he said.

He is not arguing that a solar array should be totally exempt from regulation that applies to structures, and he does not ask that the amendment apply to Phosphorus Control Ordinance discussions.

Board Chairman Tom Miragliuolo suggested it not apply in the more restricted resource protection, stream protection and shoreland zones, either.

The next planning board meeting is postponed from the usual second Tuesday of the month to the third Tuesday, Sept. 15, to avoid meeting the day after the Labor Day holiday.