by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, with an agenda that includes discussions with Codes Officer Richard Dolby.

Dolby has drafted revisions to the Building Permit Ordinance (last revised in 2012), which need selectmen’s review and ultimate approval by voters. He is also scheduled to talk about two ongoing violations of town land use ordinances.

Other items on the Dec. 14 agenda are final action to sell a foreclosed-upon subdivision on Ilona Drive, a report on the cost of mailing town meeting notices to voters, discussion of solid waste disposal and cemetery maintenance and a preliminary schedule for selectmen’s and budget committee deliberations in preparation for the June 2018 annual town meeting.

Vassalboro selectmen’s meetings are held in the town office meeting room and are open to the public.

by Mary Grow

About 30 people gathered in the East Vassalboro Grange Hall for a Nov. 29 update on the Alewife Restoration Project (ARI), aimed at restoring alewife runs from the ocean into China Lake. Speakers focused on two obstacles, the Ladd and Box Mill dams.

Presenters were Landis Hudson and Matt Streeter of Maine Rivers, Nate Gray of the Maine Department of Marine Resources and Peter Abello and Ben Naumann of the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Other groups involved in or assisting with ARI include the China Lake Association, China Region Lakes Alliance, the towns of China and Vassalboro, the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust, Maine Rivers, the Nature Conservancy and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Outlet Stream, which runs from China Lake into the Sebasticook River, had six dams that obstructed fish passage. The Masse dam in East Vassalboro has been removed; the Lombard dam between East and North Vassalboro is also to be taken out. The Outlet dam in East Vassalboro will have a fishway. Plans for the Morneau dam between East Vassalboro and Lombard dam are incomplete.

Plans discussed Nov. 29 include a fishway at the Ladd dam, along the west bank, with the existing impoundment to be maintained and Ray Breton’s recreational area on the east bank to be undisturbed.

Naumann said an archaeological survey is pending. Engineering plans are due this winter. If funds are available, construction of the fishway could be a 2018 project. An informational sheet distributed at the meeting said a Denil fish ladder is planned; it would allow an annual alewife harvest to benefit the town, like the harvest at Webber Pond.

The partly-collapsed Box Mill dam is a “complex site, highly modified over the years,” Gray said. Naumann agreed, saying the dam is nicknamed “Swiss cheese” because it has so many holes.

Numerous engineers have come up with more than a dozen conceptual designs over the last three years, Naumann said. The experts are moving toward consensus on a plan; if they agree, construction is possible in 2018 or 2019.

Gray said removing the dam is not an option. Outlet Stream was diverted when it was installed, and without the dam significant upstream erosion would threaten the Oak Grove Road bridge.

Once a plan has been made, Naumann said residents will be invited to another meeting for an updated progress report.

Abello, NRCS district consultant based in Augusta, explained that the agency’s main role in the project is to assist with funding. The landowner – Ray Breton for both the Ladd and Box Mill dams – applies; Abello helps develop plans that meet the landowner’s goals and preserve natural resources.

The funding process is highly competitive, Abello warned.

Before the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers were dammed in the 1800s, Gray said, alewives and other fish used to travel well inland to spawn in lakes and ponds. The Edwards dam on the Kennebec was removed in 1999 and the Fort Halifax dam on the Sebasticook in 2008; by the spring of 2009, alewives were sighted below Box Mill dam.

The small fish are valuable for lobster bait. They might also play a role in removing the algae that are over-abundant in China Lake and other area lakes; scientific studies are not unanimous, but Webber Pond Association President Frank Richards gives alewives some of the credit for improved water quality.

China Lake has been stocked by trucking in alewives since 2012, Gray said.

In addition to alewives, a Denil fish ladder can accommodate other small fish, including Atlantic salmon and perhaps small striped bass, Gray told an audience member. Unwelcome fish like pike, white catfish and carp, which are present in the lower Kennebec, will probably be deterred by shallow water in Outlet Stream between North Vassalboro and the Sebasticook, he said.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro selectmen will not meet Thursday, Nov. 30. They had already moved their meeting from evening to afternoon so board members can attend a training session for elected officials, and have now canceled the meeting due to lack of pressing business. Their next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday evening, Dec. 14.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members approved two complete applications on their Nov. 9 agenda and scheduled a special meeting for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, to deal with an incomplete one.

The incomplete application was from Michael Chick for an addition on a commercial garage on Burns Road, off Church Hill Road. Chick did not include the site plan required by town ordinances.

Engineer Jim Coffin said he could provide one within a week, leading to the special meeting. Chick’s wife said the planned 16-by-60-foot addition is to provide more work and storage space, not to increase traffic or other possible impacts of their construction business on the neighborhood.

Applications approved were for Brent Hall to build a three-car garage at 35 Sheafer Lane, on Webber Pond, and Kisten Crowell-Smith to open a doggie day care at 331 Stone Road.

Hall needed a planning board permit because the garage site is within the 250-foot shoreland zone. However, the building will be more than 100 feet from the water and meets all other ordinance requirements, so board members quickly approved the permit.

Crowell-Smith’s project was challenged by neighbor Earl Vannah Jr., leading to almost two hours’ discussion and approval with four conditions.

Crowell-Smith intends to add outdoor dog runs with stockade fencing and designate five parking spaces, two for employees and three for customers, at an existing house. The business will accommodate a maximum of 20 dogs, usually daytime only but sometimes boarding for long weekends or holidays.

Vannah was concerned about noise, waste disposal and odor, dogs getting loose, children wandering onto the property and other possible problems. He pointed out that the house is on a small lot and neighbors are fairly close.

Town Clerk Cathy Coyne and Animal Control Officer Peter Nerber said Crowell-Smith will need a license from the state Animal Welfare Program as well as the town permit. Nerber said the state license is conditional for the first six months and sets strict standards that are backed up by inspections.

In addition, he said, the provisions of Vassalboro’s Animal Control Ordinance would apply. They include measures concerning dogs whose persistent barking leads neighbors to file written complaints.

Vannah warned Crowell-Smith that before investing in the changes needed for the doggie day care, she should remember that if it bothers neighbors, she will lose her license.

The planning board made a state license one of the conditions for the local permit. They also required:

• No disposal of animal waste in the building’s septic system;
• Waste in Crowell-Smith’s proposed underground waste compost bins be covered and sealed, in response to Vannah’s suggestion that a child wandering onto the property might fall into one; and
• No dog be left alone on the premises; if a dog is staying overnight, Crowell-Smith or an employee must be there too.

Crowell-Smith said she planned to do all those things anyway, and to empty the waste bins as necessary. She described the planned six-foot fencing as having inward-slanting tops so dogs could not jump over. She said before accepting a dog, she requires an application and a play date to make sure the dog will get along with others. If a dog barks a lot outdoors, the dog will come indoors; and if a dog is a persistent barker, she said, the customer will be asked to go elsewhere.

In the only other business Nov. 9, Codes Officer Richard Dolby told the board state officials have approved the revised Shoreland Zoning Ordinance Vassalboro voters adopted at the June town meeting.