by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members heard more information about the proposed solar development off Windsor Road, plus comments from neighbors, at their Feb. 11 meeting. They scheduled a Tuesday, Feb. 25, public hearing on the proposal to let more residents weigh in; the hearing will be at 6:30 p.m. in the town office.

Spokespeople for SunRaise Development explained the plans. They included project manager Joe Harrison; Joe Marden, of Sitelines, a Brunswick engineering and surveying firm; attorney Tom Federle, of Federle Law, in Portland; and Lisa Vickers, Senior Project Manager with Atlantic Environmental, in Woolwich.

The solar array will consist of 17,800 panels, about 3-by-5 feet each, slanted to catch maximum sunlight, with spaces between them. They will occupy a leased portion of Michael Willette’s 51-acre lot accessed from Windsor Road. The lot is mostly meadow; about two acres of timber in one corner will be clearcut. The field under the panels will be mowed no more than twice a year.

An access road will run through the middle of the solar array, seldom used, because the facility is unmanned and needs inspection and perhaps repairs only a few times a year. There will be 10-foot buffers around the edges of the property, and a high fence will keep out unauthorized people.

The solar array is expected to produce about seven megawatts of electricity and to have a 20-to-30-year lifetime. After its lifespan is complete, the panels, supports and other structures will be removed.

The developers and some planning board members have a major disagreement that was not resolved: whether or not solar panels are structures. If the panels are considered structures, then under China’s land use and phosphorus control ordinances, they must conform to lot coverage and phosphorus runoff limits.

Planning Board Chairman Tom Miragliuolo said by China’s ordinance definition, and according to planning board precedent (the 2015 approval of the smaller solar array at Three Level Farm, on Vassalboro Road), he thinks the panels are structures. SunRaise has been dealing with state Department of Environmental officials; Federle, Harrison and Marden all said by state rules, only the concrete footings count as impervious surface.

Miragliuolo reminded them they need to meet local ordinance requirements as well as state rules.

Two couples living close to the site had a variety of questions about possible impacts, from groundwater pollution risks (very slight, Vickers said) to the effect on property values (no data available, Vickers and Harrison said; Harrison added some people would welcome such a neighbor, others wouldn’t).

In the only other action at the Feb. 11 meeting, planning board members agreed unanimously that the planned Phase Two of the causeway project at the head of China Lake’s east basin is a separate project from Phase One and will need a new application. Phase One was construction of the new bridge; Phase Two involves shoreline work, mostly east from the bridge.

by Mary Grow

China selectmen spent almost two hours Feb. 10 doing a semi-final review of the warrant articles for the April 4 town business meeting. Their work was to be submitted to the budget committee on Feb. 12 for its members’ final review and recommendations.

The selectmen intend to sign the warrant at their Tuesday, Feb. 18, meeting (moved from the usual Monday because of the Presidents’ Day holiday).

At the Feb. 10 meeting, selectmen again discussed pay increases for Town Clerk Rebecca Hapgood, Transfer Station Manager Tim Grotton and Public Works Manager Shawn Reed, the three town employees Town Manager Dennis Heath has designated as managers. Selectmen agreed on different levels of increase for each, based on amount of responsibility and length of service with the town.

Looking at the annual article setting tax due dates and authorizing interest charges on late payments, they unanimously recommended reducing the interest rate from the state maximum of 9 percent to 4.5 percent.

Two public hearings scheduled

Two public hearings on budget requests in the April 3 town meeting warrant are scheduled for Sunday, March 22, at 2 p.m. at the Albert Church Brown Memorial Library in China Village, and Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at the town office on Lakeview Drive.

The warrant includes two articles that deal with Heath’s proposal to hire a full-time town policeman.

One asks if voters want to establish the position and fund it at over $113,000 for 2020-21. The new officer would work in addition to the present part-time people, and China would continue to run its own vehicle.

If voters defeat that article, they then decide whether they want to contract with the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office for police services. In that case, Heath said about $81,000 of the current police budget could be applied to the estimated $114,000 first-year cost, because China would no longer need part-time patrolmen or a vehicle.

Selectman Wayne Chadwick voted against recommending either proposal. He was surprised to find them presented as definite plans with price tags, since in his opinion much more discussion is needed.

The warrant Heath read aloud and selectmen approved has several articles that are capped, that is, written so that voters cannot legally increase the amount to be appropriated. Among them are fund requests for:

• China’s fire and rescue departments;
• Social services (out-of-town agencies like the Red Cross, Senior Spectrum and public radio);
• Community support organizations (in-town groups like the libraries, China Lake water quality groups and historic buildings, and this year including appropriations for fire and rescue that replaces the much-debated stipends); and
• Recommended spending from China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund.

There were no capped articles in the warrant for the 2019 town business meeting.

The Feb. 18 selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the town office meeting room.

by Mary Grow

China Budget Committee members reviewed the town manager’s and selectmen’s recommendations for 2020-21 municipal expenditures at their Jan. 30 meeting. Their discussion again touched on the controversial stipends for volunteer firefighters, and in other areas suggested potential disagreement with the selectmen.

Another question raised Jan. 30 is how warrant articles will be written for the April 4 town meeting. There are two types of articles.

A “capped” article has the amount to be appropriated in the body of the article. In that case, voters cannot increase it; they can approve it or reduce it.

An “open” article begins with “To see what sum of money,” with recommended amounts from the selectmen and budget committee printed below the article. Voters can increase, approve or reduce the amount(s) printed.

Town Manager Dennis Heath said he intends to cap all appropriation articles. Budget Committee Chairman Robert Batteese predicted voters would not like the format and pointed out most articles have been open for years. Heath said he would write open articles if the selectmen direct him to do so.

The firefighters’ stipends are moved out of the fire department budget into the community support agencies budget, with $10,000 recommended for each fire department and for China Rescue.

During a brief review of the proposed fire and rescue appropriation, South China Fire Chief Richard Morse told committee members he believes the line item his department calls “recruitment and retention” rather than “stipends” should be left in the fire department budget. He added that he had asked for $12,000 for 2020-21 because last year he went over budget.

Morse left the meeting before discussion of the community support lines. Budget committee member Tim Basham’s motion to recommend $12,000 for the South China department’s recruitment and retention line was not seconded.

Heath has also moved requests from the China Lake Association and the China Region Lakes Alliance from Tax Increment Finance funding to community support. He said as of Jan. 1 the town no longer does bookkeeping and payroll for the two organizations; like other organizations, they will do their own paperwork and report to him how they spend taxpayers’ money.

A major issue for budget committee members was salaries for Town Clerk Becky Hapgood, Transfer Station Manager Tim Grotton and Public Works Manager Shawn Reed. Heath proposes promoting them from hourly workers to salaried managers, saying that in his administration they are functioning as managers, for example, preparing department budgets and hiring new employees.

When selectmen reviewed the draft budget Jan. 27 (see The Town Line, Jan. 30), they proposed equal dollar raises for all three that resulted in somewhat lower salaries than Heath recommended. Budget committee members thought since Hapgood is qualified – and designated, Heath said – to step in as town manager in an emergency, she should be paid more than the other two. They voted unanimously for 10 percent raises for all three, giving Hapgood the highest pay and Grotton, who has been with the town the shortest time, the lowest.

Heath opened the budget committee discussion with a brief review of expected revenues. Since many major items, like road maintenance and town office expenses, are covered by non-tax revenues like grants and fees, he does not expect the municipal budget will need much more from taxpayers next year than this year.

As the Jan. 30 meeting ended, Heath and Batteese recommended the following schedule: a Feb. 10 selectmen’s meeting and a Feb. 12 budget committee meeting for each group to review draft town meeting warrant articles and a Feb. 13 joint meeting to make final decisions. All meetings are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the town office.