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.

Vassalboro educator takes part in space camp

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Vassalboro Community School teacher Breanne Desmond recently took part in the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy, in Huntsville, Alabama.

Honeywell has announced the 2017 launch of Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA) where select educators from around the world – including a teacher from Vassalboro – will attend space camp at the United States Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in Huntsville, Alabama.

Vassalboro Community School teacher Breanne Desmond recently attended the camp in Alabama. Those selected to attend participated in 45 hours of classroom and laboratory instruction focused on science, space exploration and leadership skills development, including:

  • A high-performance jet simulation
  • Rocketry and a new coding mission to launch them
  • Scenario-based space mission
  • Land and water survival training
  • Interactive flight dynamics programs

The one thing they all have in common – they’re on a mission to learn new ways to bring science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to the classroom next fall.

But why? Only 16 percent of high school seniors are interested in pursuing STEM, according to the Department of Education, yet the National Science Foundation states 80% of available jobs in the next several years will require some math and science skills. HESA aims to re-ignite teachers’ passions for STEM and encourage students to seek a STEM career.

The teacher will be among more than 200 teachers from 33 countries and 45 U.S. states and territories accepted into the Honeywell Educators at Space Academy (HESA) for 2017.

Created by Honeywell and U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) in 2004, HESA is a scholarship program that inspires middle school math and science teachers to become more effective educators in STEM.

More than three million students have been reached and inspired by 2,776 math and science HESA alumni from 62 countries and 52 U.S. states and territories since 2004.

VHS to display prehistoric fishing roots in Vassalboro

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From left to right, Tony Jenkins, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Simone Antworth, VHS director, Jan Clowes, VHS president, Gary Shaffer, NRCS archaeologist, Stewart Corson, VHS director, Don Bassett, exhibit designer, and Russell Smith, VHS director.  Photo by Tom Kielbasa, NRCS

by Thomas Kielbasa
NRCS-Maine
A new exhibit at a central Maine museum is the fruition of a unique partnership between the local community and the USDA to preserve prehistoric artifacts for future generations.

On June 10 the Vassalboro Historical Society officially unveiled the “Remembered Vision” display at its museum in East Vassalboro, highlighting the area’s prehistoric fishing roots. The new exhibit – which features stone tool artifacts and a diorama depicting a native village – was created with the help of funding provided by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and volunteers with the Historical Society.

The “Remembered Vision” exhibit was funded in part by NRCS through a $5,000 National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers (NCSHPO) award to promote the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act. The Vassalboro Historical Society (VHS) matched the funds to complete the exhibit.

“It is amazing,” VHS President Janice Clowes said during a special reception at the opening of the exhibit. “The people who have seen it are amazed, and we are so excited about it.”

The exhibit was designed by freelance artist and former display coordinator with the Maine State Museum Don Bassett. Bassett incorporated into the exhibit more than 100 stone artifacts excavated from the nearby Cates family farm, which sits on the mouth of an outlet stream from China Lake and was the site of a seasonal fishing camp for prehistoric and native fishermen.

Bassett said his vision for the Vassalboro exhibit was to bring to the community “the knowledge base that for thousands of years there were people right here on the grounds, and it continued mostly around a seasonal fishing existence.”

“Remembered Vision” is quite literally a “window” into the past; the east-facing window in the exhibit looks out onto the Cates farm and the site of the prehistoric fishing camp.

Bassett explained that much of the farm’s soil is undisturbed and could provide “an enormous cache” of archaeological information, thanks to support from the local community. He said a water treatment facility had been planned for the site in the 1990s, but an outpouring of support from locals to preserve its integrity saved the China Lake site.

“Not only did they save the farm, but found property (elsewhere) for the water district to build their water treatment plant,” Bassett added. “…The community is very proud to have that site, and they are very proud of the museum.””

A carving at the new exhibit, which features stone tool artifacts and a diorama depicting a native village.
Photo by Tom Kielbasa, NRCS

Through the window of the exhibit a visitor can also see the siding of the High Tunnel System on the Cates farm that NRCS assisted with installing nearly two years ago.

The project began in 2014 when the Cates family sought NRCS assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to install a High Tunnel System to help prolong their growing season. NRCS-Maine Cultural Resources Specialist Dr. Gary Shaffer knew the significance of the site since previous excavations over the years had recovered prehistoric artifacts primarily from the Middle and Late Archaic periods; especially from about 6,000 to 4,500 years ago. Shaffer believed the installation or use of the high tunnel at the farm would only minimally disturb the archaeological site (the setting of stakes to anchor the structure to the ground), but future usage could impact the site. His own excavation recovered several ceramic sherds and metal artifacts from the 18th to 20th centuries, as well as a flake of Kineo rhyolite from prehistoric tool manufacture. Importantly, troweling of the B horizon soils in one test pit revealed the dark soil of a prehistoric fire pit. After removal of the black, greasy silt loam from the pit, Shaffer carefully screened the soil to collect even the smallest of artifacts and biological items. As a result, he found a calcined (burned) bone and several pieces of charcoal.

This bone was later identified as a mouth apparatus of an anadromous alewife fish in a charcoal pit that was around 4,000 years old; this “confirmed the presence of significant prehistoric archaeological resources in the footprint of the high tunnel” at the Cates’ farm, according to Shaffer.

It was this project that helped solidify the historic importance of the site and confirm the location’s eligibility for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), a list with more than 90,000 properties of historical significance across the nation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s NRHP is part of a program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.

“The Natural Resources Conservation Service was proud to be a part of this project in Vassalboro,” Shaffer said. “The Historical Society has truly done a great job with putting together this exhibit and ensuring generations to come will learn about the rich prehistory of this area of Maine.”

Vassalboro News: Planners rule boat landing work as maintenance

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Planning Board members agreed unanimously that the planned reconstruction of the China Lake boat landing in East Vassalboro can be considered maintenance for which no permit is needed, rather than expansion.

At a short June 6 meeting, five board members and Codes Officer Richard Dolby reviewed A. E. Hodsdon Engineers’ application for half an hour, squinting at 8-1/2-inch by 11-inch diagrams and wishing the engineering firm had sent a representatives with full-scale plans.   They concluded the reconstruction will involve a new concrete abutment, additional gravel and crushed stone and new, stronger cement bars that should create a longer-lasting ramp.

Board members expect the work will be done after the fall drawdown of China Lake.  Their vote to define the project as maintenance included the condition that the engineers notify residents before the ramp is closed for the work, so boats can be hauled out for the winter.

At their June 5 town meeting, Vassalboro voters approved using $28,700 in previously-appropriated funds as matching money to go with state contributions to the reconstruction.  The second application on the June 6 planning board agenda, involving a minor change to a subdivision on Trisha Lane, was not ready for submission, Dolby told board members. Since the first Tuesday in July is Independence Day, the July planning board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, July 11.

Titus re-elected Titus re-elected in Vassalboro

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by Mary Grow

Vassalboro voters re-elected Selectman Lauchlin Titus for another three-year term in the only contest on the June 13 local election ballot.

Titus received 191 votes to challenger Larisa Batchelder’s 56.

In other election results, according to Town Clerk Cathy Coyne:

  • Rebecca Goodrich, running unopposed for the Sanitary District Board of Trustees, was elected with 217 votes. Numerous other people got one, two or three votes for the other open seat on the board.

For two three-year terms on the School Board, Erin Libby Loiko was reelected with 208 votes.  Among write-in candidates, incumbent Susan Tuthill received seven votes, more than anyone else.

  • Jessica Clark was elected with 212 votes for a two-year term on the School Board, finishing a term from which two previous board members resigned.  (ep)

Voters re-endorsed the 2017-18 school budget approved at their June 5 open meeting by a large margin, 208 in favor to 46 opposed.