CBC, land conveyance on select board special meeting agenda

by Mary Grow

China select board members had two main items on the agenda for their Aug. 8 special meeting.

• China Broadband Committee (CBC) members asked them to put on the Nov. 8 local ballot a memorandum of understanding leading toward expanded broadband service in town.
• Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood asked them to put on the Nov. 8 local ballot an agreement to convey a small piece of land at the head of China Lake’s east basin to owners of the abutting Landing restaurant.

China town manager Rebecca Hapgood. (photo by Eric W. Austin)

Board members discussed the CBC request for 20 minutes and Hapgood’s request for more than half an hour. They postponed action on both.

The CBC document is a preliminary step to an agreement between the Town of China and Idaho-based Direct Communi­cations and its local subsidiary, UniTel in Unity. It has been negotiated over several weeks with input from town attorney Amanda Meader. Board members approved it, with Wayne Chadwick dissenting, but did not vote to present it to voters.

Chadwick objects to the whole expansion project, which is intended to provide service to China residents who are “unserved or underserved” – have no internet service or service that is inadequate by state standards.

Many of the areas in town mapped as unserved or underserved are fire roads leading to lakes. Chadwick therefore defines the expansion as “a taxpayer-subsidized internet system for some of the wealthiest people in this town.”

Janet Preston

Janet Preston, who represents the board on the CBC, and Jeanne Marquis disagreed, pointing to the rural areas that would also gain new or better service.

While broadband expansion goes back only a few years, the status of the piece of shoreland in front of The Landing goes back decades, and Hapgood is tired of hearing it debated. Her proposed solution is a Nov. 8 warrant article asking voters to transfer the land to The Landing, LLC, new owners of the restaurant.

Jeanne Marquis

The main road used to go along the shore. When it was moved away from the lake, the legal status of the strip of shoreland was never determined – did it belong to the state, the town, abutting landowners?

Its size and shape are also undetermined, and one topic select board members discussed was whether it should be surveyed, and if so when and at whose expense.

Meanwhile, the town is not collecting taxes on this piece of shorefront.

Attorney Meader, joining the discussion virtually, said she is quite sure the town never owned the land; she thinks it is probably part of the abutting Landing lot. She recommends a quitclaim deed, under which the town surrenders any interest it might have, rather than a warranty deed, by which the town would guarantee the new owner a clear title.

Her opinion led board member Blane Casey to question whether voters should be asked to give away something they don’t own anyway. He had additional questions about the undefined bounds, wondering whether the town really owns the nearby boat landing and how abutters would react.

Chadwick asked what would happen if voters refused to convey the land.

Board Chairman Ronald Breton asked Hapgood and Meader to continue discussion, including the possibility of a boundary survey.

Select board members did three things:

• Appointed board member Blane Casey as the alternate representative to the Kennebec Regional Development Authority, after appointing board member Marquis the representative a week earlier.
• Appointed Tammy Bailey a licensed plumbing inspector for the town.
• Approved the lowest bid for reroofing the town office, from Williams Construction and Roofing Co., of Waterville, for $9,630.

Board members will have two and perhaps three more chances to decide what to ask voters on Nov. 8. Regular meetings are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 15, and Monday, Aug. 29. Hapgood said there might be a special Aug. 22 meeting to set the 2022-23 tax rate, if assessor William Van Tuinen can solve computer problems in time to provide the needed information.