China planners vote unanimously to forward new version of appeals board ordinance, following another fight

by Mary Grow

At a March 2 meeting, China Planning Board members unanimously voted to forward their recommended version of the Board of Appeals Ordinance to the select board, scheduled to meet March 6.

The decision was not reached without yet another argument – they started in January – about the relationship between the select board and the planning board, with planning board co-chairman James Wilkens and select board member Brent Chesley squaring off again.

Chesley first proposed amending the ordinance. The rest of the select board endorsed it at a Jan. 3 meeting, leading to the ongoing argument about what town body recommends ordinance changes.

[See related story: More discussions take place on appeals board ordinance]

Voters have the final say. Select board members intend to have an amended Board of Appeals Ordinance (Chapter 9 of the China Land Development Code) on the June town meeting warrant.

Planning board members generally approve Chesley’s suggested procedural changes, but their final draft, as co-chairman Toni Wall explained it March 2, rejects three of his substantive points.

• The existing and proposed ordinances allow the Board of Appeals to vary some dimensional requirements (setbacks from property lines, for example) within limits. Chesley proposed allowing relaxation of the 20 percent limit on setback variances with written consent from the abutting property-owner; planning board members deleted the provision.
• The planning board’s draft ordinance includes the existing prohibition on variances that would allow new or enlarged principal structures on lots less than 20,000 square feet in resource protection, stream protection and shoreland zones, a prohibition that Chesley’s draft deletes.
• The planning board draft includes a list of nine standards for approving a variance that Chesley’s draft removes. The standards say that the Board of Appeals should find that approval would not cause “unsafe or unhealthful conditions,” water pollution or other harmful effects and would protect shoreland vegetation, public access to the water body and other benefits.

Two other proposed additions are a requirement that the landowner register an approved variance at the Kennebec County Registry of Deeds and a paragraph authorizing disability variances.

During the March 2 meeting, resident Scott Pierz recommended town officials register variances and pass the cost on to the landowner, rather than assuming the landowner will do it. Without a record, future title searches are apt to lead to confusion.

The disability variance would be included in a permit issued by the codes officer and would be only for equipment or a structure to make a building accessible for a handicapped resident or frequent user – for example, a handicapped ramp that needs to encroach into a setback area.

The second major topic at the March 2 meeting was China’s comprehensive plan. Wall had excerpted references to planning board responsibilities under the plan.

Board members agreed they should review China’s Phosphorus Control Ordinance (Chapter Four of the Land Development Code), first educating themselves on new water quality information. The town website, china.govoffice.com, dates the ordinance June 5, 1993.

Planners also intend to return to discussion of a solar ordinance to govern future siting of commercial solar developments.

The comprehensive plan calls for an implementation committee to supervise carrying out plan recommendations. Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood said March 3 that the select board created a new implementation committee in July 2022; she is waiting for residents to volunteer to become members.

The next regular China Planning Board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 14.