Camp expansion OK’d by Vassalboro planning board

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by Mary Grow

At their Sept. 5 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members used their revised shoreland zoning ordinance for the second time since the June town meeting, approving an application to enlarge a camp at 138 Park Lane on Three Mile Pond.

Donald and Linda Lathrop got approval at the board’s August meeting to put a roof over an entrance. At the time, Codes Officer Richard Dolby told them they are now allowed a 15 percent expansion, in addition to the previous expansion in 2006.

The Lathrops therefore applied to add a screened porch to the side of the camp.

Board members found the proposed 218-square-foot expansion met the 15 percent limit and did not extend any closer to the high-water mark and unanimously approved the project.

Red Cross helping Vassalboro family

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A Disaster Action Team from the American Red Cross of Maine is working with a family of five Friday to ensure that they have food, a safe place to sleep and other essentials after a tree fell on their home, making it unhabitable.

Over the next several days, the Red Cross will remain in contact with the family to provide financial assistance and community referrals as they begin to make their road to recovery.

The American Red Cross provides food, clothing and emotional support to people affected by home fires and other disasters. Individuals wishing to support Red Cross Disaster Services can call (800) RED-CROSS or visit MaineRedCross.org.

Scavenger hunt in Vassalboro

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Vassalboro Days is adding a Scavenger Hunt this year to the events planned for Saturday, September 9. Gather together a group of family and friends to make your Scavenger Team. The use of a cell phone to capture pictures is encouraged to record that your team members have scavenged and found all of the places and things that the organizers have placed on the list.

There is no cost to play! Teams will report to the Vassalboro Business Association booth Saturday morning, from 10-11 a.m., to obtain the Scavenger Hunt list. Teams will have until 5 p.m. Saturday to report back with their completed list of 20 sites or objects that they have scavenged in Vassalboro over the course of the day.

The point system will be moderately complicated (in a fun way!). Points will be given for the number of people in your team. Judges will award points for both style, and a demonstration of having fun which contestants will convey with their pictures. A bus will be available at 2 p.m. to take team members (children must be accompanied by an adult) to sites that are outside of the village areas. Prizes will be three $25 awards and a Ducky Derby Hat for all team members. Call Lauchlin Titus, 207 314-2655 with questions or for more details.

Vassalboro Tax rate set at 14.55 mils

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen have set the 2017-18 tax rate at 14.55 mils, or $14.55 for each $1,000 of valuation, an increase of 50 cents per $1,000 over the 2016-17 rate.

Town Manager Mary Sabins told board members at their Aug. 10 meeting the 14.55 mil figure is the lowest recommended by assessor Ellery Bane. With selectmen’s approval, she expected Bane to make the figure official on Aug. 15; tax bills would be prepared and mailed as soon as possible thereafter.

By town meeting vote, the first quarterly tax payment is due Sept. 25.

Sabins has arranged to include in residents’ tax bills a notice of Kennebec Explorer bus service now available to Vassalboro and China residents through the Kennebec Valley Community Action Program.

The bus picks up people in the two towns Monday and Thursday mornings and brings them home in late morning and early afternoon. One-way fare is $1.25. Scheduling is done in advance through a toll-free telephone number, 1-800-542-8227 opt. 2.

The other major business Aug. 10 was awarding the contract to survey the new section of the Cross Hill Cemetery. After discussion with Cemetery Committee Chairman Jane Aiudi, selectmen approved Thomas A. Stevens’ bid, conditional on satisfactory review by Sabins and the Cemetery Committee.

Stevens offered various prices depending on the size and type of plot markers. The accepted figure is $5,170.80.

Aiudi commented that all bids were less than the committee had expected to pay. In other business, selectmen reviewed the history of the road section off Pleasant Point Road, on Webber Pond, now called Kilburn Lane and voted unanimously to take no action on a resident’s request to change the name.

They discussed proposed culvert work and paving plans with Road Foreman Eugene Field and encouraged him to proceed as he planned.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Sept. 7.

VASSALBORO: Planners approve three applications

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members spent two hours Aug. 1 approving three applications that were on their agenda and one that wasn’t.

Richard Behr’s application to amend the plan of a subdivision off Riverside Drive has been on previous agendas, when Behr did not have a complete plan. It was not on the Aug. 1 agenda because, Codes Officer Richard Dolby said, he did not know Behr was ready.

Behr still needs to fill out an application and provide a final plan, but the plan he presented was enough for board members to approve the change. Behr is dividing one lot in the subdivision into two to provide access to his property outside the subdivision. Part of the former lot five will be offered for sale, he said; the rest will give him a driveway.

Two North Vassalboro projects were also approved, and one on Dunham Road. All were in shoreland areas, requiring board members and Dolby to make sure no construction would be within 100 feet of the high water line.

Peter J. Reny has approval to remove an old mobile home on a Main Street lot and replace it with a larger one. Reny explained that if the Vassalboro Sanitary District sewer line is extended to pass his property, as planned, he intends to replace the newer mobile home with a house. Since Vassalboro Planning Board permits have a one-year life, board members declined to expand the permit to include a hypothetical house several years in the future.

Raymond Breton’s application to tear down an old house on Willow Street and build a pole barn for horses and buy or build two microhouses (which he defined as 600 square feet) was approved, but not to his satisfaction. Board members agreed that each microhouse is a dwelling unit, no matter its size, and a dwelling unit in the shoreland zone requires a 40,000 square foot lot.

Breton did not want to devote 80,000 square feet to the two small houses, because, he said, he might want to redivide the land in the future for other projects. The board unanimously approved the pole barn and two houses provided that each house had at least 40,000 square feet of land and provided that all construction was more than 100 feet from Outlet Stream.

The Dunham Road application was from Barbara Pierce, represented by Whitefield contractor Rusty Peters, to add three bedrooms to the existing parsonage on the property.

Small streams crossing the property mean this project, too, is in the shoreland. Peters said the addition would come close to the 100-foot line. Dolby said he and Peters would measure distances and site the addition legally.

The addition will provide three more bedrooms, Peters said. The septic system is sized to accommodate the adjacent church, so it is more than adequate for the addition.

The next Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Sept. 5.

Vassalboro News: Planners accept applications under revised ordinance

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by Mary Grow

At their July 11 meeting, Vassalboro Planning Board members tried out the revised Shoreland Zoning Ordinance voters accepted at the June town meeting. They were able to approve two applications and tell one couple an application for additional work would probably be acceptable.

The change most relevant to the July 11 applications was the increase in allowed expansions of buildings in the shoreland, from 15 percent of the 1989 size to 30 percent. The way size is measured has also changed; now only the footprint of the building – the number of square feet it covers on the ground – counts.

The trick, veteran board member Douglas Phillips commented, will be knowing how things were in 1989. The two buildings in question had been previously expanded by 15 percent, and Codes Officer Richard Dolby had found the records.

Consequently, board members were able to approve permits for Don and Linda Lathrop to add a small roof over an entry stairway on the side of their camp at 138 Park Lane, on Three Mile Pond, and for Charles Backenstose to add a room on his camp at 59 Berry Road, on Webber Pond.

The Lathrop camp is just over 25 feet from the water, significant because the new ordinance divides shoreland into sub-zones with boundaries at 25 feet and 75 feet. Backenstose said the front of his camp is 30 feet from the water and the side of the camp 15 feet because of a cove that curves in beside it.

Dolby and board members were uncertain whether the Lathrop project even needed planning board action, or whether it could be categorized as maintenance and repair. They approved it anyway.

Dolby said the Lathrops can also apply for another 15 percent expansion, for example to add a porch, as long as they do not expand toward the water. (ep)

Backenstose intends to use the newly-allowed 15 percent to add a room on the opposite side of his camp from the cove, behind an existing deck. He is allowed a 10- by 12-foot addition; he plans, he said, to take 18 inches off the deck to add another foot and a half to the new room without enlarging the total footprint.

Vassalboro News: Selectmen, public get first look at fish passage plans at outlet dam

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen and interested area residents got a look at preliminary plans for a fish passage at China Lake’s outlet dam at the June 29 selectmen’s meeting.

The dam in East Vassalboro belongs to the Town of Vassalboro. The fishway will also belong to the town, board Chairman Philip Haines said. The Kennebec Water District, which draws its water from China Lake, plays a role in dam management, and the China Lake water level is governed by a state Department of Environmental Protection order.

Bryan Sojkowski, a fish passage engineer for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, designed the fishway. He does similar work from Maine to Virginia, he said.

Landis Hudson, of American Rivers, a leader of the Alewife Restoration Initiative (ARI) that is planning a clear route for migratory alewives from the Sebasticook River to China Lake, and Sojkowski explained the plans and the many issues they have considered and are considering.

The Denil Fishway Sojkowski showed has two four-foot-wide uphill tracks with baffles, located close to the east bank of Outlet Stream. Sojkowski explained how the location minimizes interference with dam operations and how migrating fish will be steered into the entrance to the tracks. Sojkowski emphasized that this plan is not necessarily final, and the group welcomes suggestions from area residents. The cost is not firm – the range is from $100,000 to $500,000. The capacity of the fishway is so far an estimate: with about four feet for the alewives to climb, the current plan should accommodate up to a million fish a year.

The expectation is that construction costs would be paid by grants from federal, state and private agencies, not by the town. There could also be a maintenance fund, although maintenance work is expected to be minimal.

The major maintenance, Sojkowski told Public Works Director Eugene Field and the rest of the audience, would be a brief daily inspection to remove any branches or other obstacles. Either KWD personnel or Field’s crew could take that responsibility, Haines suggested.

Webber Pond Association President Frank Richards said when the pond’s fishway was installed in 2008, paperwork included a memorandum of understanding on maintenance with the state Department of Marine Resources. So far there’s been so little maintenance needed that he’s not had to look at the memo.

Selectman Lauchlin Titus said board members have a legal opinion that they need a town meeting vote to “alter” the town-owned dam, leading to an inconclusive discussion of whether the proposed plan would be an alteration. Sojkowski said there would be a big aesthetic change, but no change in the dam’s function – things like flow, flood capacity and water level control would remain the same.

Titus sees the fishway as an economic development project for Vassalboro, providing not only another place for trapping and selling alewives (as is done now at Webber Pond) but also an attraction for visitors comparable to Damariscotta’s or Benton’s alewife runs. Final plans will include places for people to watch the alewife run, not necessarily at the fishway.

Sojkowski expects to have a final design by this fall and to seek bids on the work probably in February 2018.

The rest of the selectmen’s June 29 business was mostly financial, including routine payment of bills.

They and budget committee members approved Town Manager Mary Sabins’ request to transfer $400 from the 2016-17 administration budget to the public safety budget, which would otherwise be slightly overdrawn due to the transition from one police chief to another.

Selectmen approved recommendations to carry forward 2016-17 funds for recreation, the East Vassalboro boat launch repair and a fire department project into the 2017-18 fiscal year.

The next regular Vassalboro selectmen’s meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, July 13.

Boat inspectors back in action

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Pictured here, from left to right, are Mallory Chamberlain (CBI Director), Gabe Ashey, Maggie Anderson and James Poulin.

The Courtesy Boat Inspectors (CBI) are on the job again. You will see them this summer at the boat launches at the Head of China Lake, the launch onto China Lake in East Vassalboro, and also at the Webber Pond and Three Mile Pond boat launches. Their mission is to inspect boats and boat trailers to look for invasive aquatic plant species such as milfoil, hydrilla, etc.

Photo courtesy of Scott Pierz

VCS students pages for a day

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In photo, from left to right, Alana Beggs, Lillian Dorval, Sen. Roger Katz, Ashton Erving and Robyn Brochu. Contributed photo

On June 7, students from the Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG) program at Vassalboro Community School visited the state house to serve as honorary pages for the day. During their visit they met with their state senator, Roger Katz (R-Kennebec).

Haley: school budget “coming in on fumes”

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by Mary Grow

The Vassalboro school department will end the fiscal year in the black, but just barely, AOS (Alternative Organizational Structure) #92 officials said at the June 20 School Board meeting.

“We’re coming in on fumes,” Superintendent Eric Haley said.

Finance Director Paula Pooler said with 10 days remaining in the fiscal year, she expected an extra payroll for non-teaching staff whose school year was extended because of numerous snow days, plus a few more bills for services and supplies. The 2016-17 budget should cover everything, she said, but only by spending everything authorized, including reserve funds.

When school board members approved the 2017-18 budget, they funded it partly with the remaining money in the reserve fund, hoping to add unspent money to it after June 30. Pooler thinks additions unlikely.

With the state legislature unable to agree on state school funding for 2017-18, that income sources is still an unknown quantity. The budget Vassalboro voters approved at town meeting takes $338,681 from local taxes to fund the school budget, and requires the school department to return to the town any unplanned state revenue up to the $338,681.

In other business June 20, board members approved two new hires, both warmly welcomed by Vassalboro Community School Principal Dianna Gram. Arielle Jurdak-Roy will teach first grade, and Kate-Lynn Tarr will teach kindergarten.

Board members authorized Superintendent Haley to issue contracts to staff hired between board meetings, since the board will not meet again until August.

They accepted the resignation of Guidance Counselor Erin Brousseau, who Gram said is accepting a new position out of the area. Gram called her departure “a loss to Vassalboro.”

They approved the 2017-18 school calendar, with Thursday, Aug. 31, the first day of classes. Three snow days are scheduled; if no more are needed, the school year will end Friday, June 15, 2018.

The next Vassalboro School Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Aug. 15.