Vassalboro Trails (photo by Laura Jones)

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Trails Committee members discussed maintenance work for 2025 at a Jan. 21 meeting. At chair John Melrose’s suggestion, they agreed by consensus to ask town voters for a $1,250 budget allocation for 2025-26, the same amount as in the current year.

Melrose said this year’s funds are two-thirds spent, and the rest will be used before the fiscal year ends June 30. Town funds are supplemented by a great deal of volunteer work, assistance from the public works department and gifts.

The meeting agenda listed trails for which the committee is responsible: Town Forest/Red Brook, Seaward Mills, Davidson Preserve, Spectacle Pond, Sturgis Sanctuary, Willow Walk and Vassalboro Wildlife Habitat, plus snowmobile trails.

Individual committee members reported on several trails they had checked recently. They found only minor storm damage and generally good conditions.

Proposed projects include widening parts of some trails by cutting brush; dealing with wet areas in various ways, from adding gravel to building bridges; and adding signs, both trail signs and, if possible, signs identifying different tree species.

Committee members endorsed working with the Kennebec Land Trust to provide additional parking for the Seaward Mills trail. Melrose said public works director Brian Lajoie intends to have the town crew improve parking at the Sturgis Sanctuary later in the spring.

From the audience, resident Dave Richard offered assistance with trail work in general and especially if committee members were interested in allowing mountain biking on some trails.

Committee members did not set a new meeting date. They will schedule a trails work day this spring; Melrose suggested in May.

CORRECTION: The January 30, 2025, issue of The Town Line contained an article on the Vassalboro Trails Committee Meeting. It was mistakenly reported the current appropriation at $1,250 which was reported as stated. The current year is set at $1,100 and that’s what they will be requesting in the upcoming budget. It was a source error.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning board members have approved a site review permit for R. L. Mercantile & Trading Post, with conditions.

Brea Willette, speaking for the business at 134 Brann Road, described it as an expanded farm market, selling products from the family farm and other local farms. Retail sales contribute needed income to help small farmers keep farming, she said.

The 10-by-24-foot building housing the market is already in place, and Willette said there is ample off-road parking. No water is planned.

Lighting will consist of two lights “like porch lights” by the door and one more over the deer hanger, where hunters can weigh deer during hunting season. Neighbors are not close, and trees screen them from the business.

Information attached to the application explains that the farm has been in the family for four generations. The store sells dairy products, meat, bread and local grains, soap and other products.

The “Trading Post” in the name means “if you don’t have money, bring us something you do have,” the document explains. Some people provided labor in return for food: “They learned something new and we got some stuff done.”

The farm sponsors occasional farming-related events, without music, Willette told planning board members.

Several neighbors attended the Jan. 7 meeting. When board chairman Virginia Brackett said to Willette, “Sounds like you’re good neighbors,” some nodded.

Willette replied, “We try to be.”

The unanimous board approval came with three conditions:

— R & L Mercantile must designate a handicapped parking space (Willette said a handicapped ramp is already being planned);
— Public works director Brian Lajoie must be asked to make sure there is adequate sight distance for vehicles turning out of the parking lot; and
— When events are held, no vehicles will be parked on Brann Road.

A side issue mentioned briefly was the farm’s ducks and geese that wander onto Brann Road. The descriptive document with the application says, “Don’t worry, their coops are going up as we speak.”

The second Jan. 7 agenda item, continued review of the proposed Hidden Acres subdivision on Seaward Mills Road, took up most of the meeting, as board members wrestled with the town’s revised planning board ordinance.

They had reviewed a sketch plan at their Dec. 3, 2024, meeting (see the Dec. 12, 2024, issue of The Town Line, p. 2), and found one step omitted. They invited a final sketch plan and a preliminary plan for Jan. 7, to be followed by a final plan in February. Surveyor Adam Ellis and landowner Jeremy Allen presented the preliminary plan, with supporting documents.

The 50-page town subdivision ordinance has a long list of requirements. One says if the subdivision has more than five lots (Allen requests seven) and is in the watershed of a great pond (the land is in the Webber Pond watershed), the application needs to include a stormwater management plan that meets state phosphorus control standards, and a maintenance plan for the phosphorus control measures.

Allen protested that the land to be subdivided is nearly enough level so water will soak in, not run off. He and Ellis pointed out that all run-off will be onto neighboring properties or into the ditch along Seaward Mills Road.

Nonetheless, board members said, the requirement’s in the ordinance. They and Ellis proposed various ways to meet it; they suggested Ellis consult an expert; and they considered whether they had authority to waive the requirement.

The hour and a half discussion ended with Ellis agreeing to send a proposed solution in advance of the February meeting.

Board members then unanimously approved the preliminary application, subject to the additional information that will go into the final application.

The next Vassalboro Planning Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, Feb. 4, in the town office meeting room. Board members agreed by consensus to change the meeting time to 5:30 p.m., an hour earlier than in past months.

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Conservation Commission members re-discussed a main topic from their Dec. 18 meeting on Jan. 8, after they got a higher than expected cost estimate for their December plan.

They agreed in December to improve buffering along the China Lake shoreline in East Vassalboro’s Monument Park, with the goals of increasing erosion control and providing an educational example of a buffer.

At the Jan. 8 meeting, commission member Steve Jones, owner of Vassalboro’s Fieldstone Gardens, presented a $3,084 cost estimate for about four dozen perennial plants. Commission Chairman Holly Weidner and member Matthew Pitcher pointed out other costs, like special mulch and ongoing maintenance.

Commission member Paul Mitnik urged planting trees instead, spaced far enough apart so they wouldn’t block views of the lake. They’d be less expensive and, he said, as effective.

Mitnik’s idea got more objections than support during a debate that ended with Weidner suggesting he talk with Jen Jesperson, the Ecological Instincts consultant who is advising on China Lake water quality issues.

In other business Jan. 8, commission members agreed they will not apply for a 2025 grant from the state program called Project Canopy to plant trees. The program paid for trees in the town’s new Eagle Park on Route 32 and Outlet Stream.

Pitcher said he does not have time to write a grant application this spring. Peggy Horner said the commission hasn’t chosen places to plant trees. Jones is still angry about some Project Canopy trees that were cut down last spring; he opposes asking for any more “till the town ‘fesses up.”

Project Canopy is a good program, they said, and if the town wants to apply, that’s fine.

Commission members agreed by consensus to partner with the Webber Pond Association as it seeks a grant to deal with blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria, in the lake water.

Wiedner said she had a request to support the grant application from Mary Schwanke, whom she later identified as lead biologist on the water monitoring and sampling team for the tri-watershed based management plan project that includes Webber Pond.

Commission members again expressed appreciation for the Vassalboro public works department’s help with Eagle Park landscaping. They need to discuss with Public Works Director Brian Lajoie and Town Manager Aaron Miller how much more work is planned – parts of the ground are still very rough, they said

Pitcher had talked with Rob Lemire, owner of Maine Adirondack Chairs, on Holman Day Road, about picnic tables. He reported Lemire is offering six-foot white cedar tables unfinished for $269, or with a natural finish for an additional $150.

Weidner thinks the to-be-constructed Eagle Park pavilion should have room for up to three tables. Commission members agreed they need to consult with Lajoie, for example about winter storage, and to see how their budget looks.

They had intended to discuss the commission’s 2025-26 budget request at the Jan. 8 meeting, but needed detailed updates on 2024 funding and expenditures first. Weidner intends to have more information at the next meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the town office meeting room.