China planners continue work on two draft ordinances

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members continued to work on two draft ordinances at their June 15 meeting. The proposed new Solar Energy Systems Ordinance they decided is almost in final form. The proposed additional section of the shoreland ordinance, governing shoreline stabilization projects, is barely started.

Board members reversed an earlier decision to have the Solar Energy Systems Ordinance include its own definitions. Instead, definitions specific to the ordinance will be added to Chapter 11, on definitions, in China’s Land Use Ordinance.

Kevin Corbett and Scott Anderson, of SunRaise Investments, the New Hampshire solar development company with two recent projects in South China, asked planners to reconsider their decision to count solar panels as impervious surfaces for the purpose of calculating lot coverage.

China’s ordinances limit lot coverage, as one part of controlling run-off from developments. The draft ordinance counts solar panels as impervious, but allows adjustments for their tilt.

Corbett and Anderson argued that the rainwater that drips off the lower edge of each panel is not like the sheet of water that runs off a building roof or a paved driveway; run-off from solar panels falls onto the grass below and is absorbed on site.

The state Department of Environmental Protection does not count solar panels as structures, nor do most other Maine towns, Anderson and Corbett said.

Planning board members were not sympathetic, though they agreed to rediscuss the question at their June 22 meeting.

Toni Wall said the vegetation under the panels might take a long time to grow after they were installed. Chairman Randy Downer said counting panels as structures limited the area that could become mostly panels; he has heard many comments about the large solar array off Route 3 east, of August.

Board member James Wilkens said China’s lakes that are vulnerable to run-off and residents’ concern about the appearance of the landscape justify regulations that are more stringent than the state’s.

The proposed shoreline stabilization ordinance will also be on the agenda for the June 22 board meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m., in the portable building behind the town office.

The only non-ordinance issue presented June 15 was a question from Codes Officer Jaime Hanson: do Mike Marchetti and Iris Savernik need planning board review of their proposed changes on Fire Road 19? Planning Board members said yes; the lots are part of a subdivision, and board approval is needed to change a subdivision.