China: Many residents oppose event center proposal

by Mary Grow

The China Planning Board has postponed action on Parris and Catherine Varney’s application to host commercial events in the barn on their Neck Road property to the Oct. 25 board meeting.

A public hearing on the application at the board’s Oct. 11 meeting drew more than two dozen people, mostly residents of Neck Road and fire roads off it. The majority of those who spoke opposed the application. Planning Board Chairman Frank Soares began the hearing by inviting the Varneys to respond to questions a neighbor submitted in advance. The Varneys said:

• They plan to host events like weddings, wedding and baby showers, birthday parties and conferences. They foresee a maximum of four events a month, mostly from May through November and mostly on weekends.
• Most events would last from four to six hours, after a day or two of preparations. They plan an 11 p.m. closing time for all events.
• The only thing outside the barn, besides the portable toilets they intend to provide, might be a tent, for example if a couple wanted to exchange vows outdoors. They plan no outdoor music and no fireworks, hayrides or other features that would extend beyond their property.
• They expect those attending to park in the grassy field behind the barn, not along the road.
• They would be willing to notify neighbors in advance of each event.

Most of the 20 or so people who spoke at the hearing expressed concerns about adverse effects on the neighborhood, including noise, erosion of the parking area, traffic congestion and the lack of local law enforcement to deal with problems that might arise. The project, they argued, did not belong in a residential and agricultural area on a narrow dead-end road.

Because the Varneys intend to allow liquor at their events, several neighbors fear guests who overindulge will drive recklessly or trespass on neighbors’ properties. Two of the three people supportive of the application asked if the applicants and the neighbors could work out a compromise to allow the business without undue disturbance.

After half an hour of testimony, Soares closed the hearing and board members voted to table the issue until Oct. 25, to give themselves time to consider issues raised and the Varneys time to consider modifying their plan.

Codes Officer Paul Mitnik presented a second, unrelated issue involving discomfort in a rural area, saying he had received numerous complaints about odors from Ralph and Linda Howe’s Dirigo Road property. He and former Codes Officer Scott Pierz said after the China Planning Board rejected the Howes’ application for a biodiesel plant on Dirigo Road in 2005, they received a permit for the plant in Oakland, and are storing waste from the Oakland facility in the barn on their China property. Soares asked Mitnik to seek legal advice on what, if any, authority the town has over the waste lagoons.

Planning Board members unanimously approved the only other application on their Oct. 11 agenda, giving Dylan Fortin a permit for an auto repair business at his home at 427 Pleasant View Ridge Road. The permit is conditional on a letter from China Village Fire Chief Timothy Theriault saying Fortin’s property has adequate access for emergency vehicles; Fortin said Theriault gave him a verbal assurance.