China TIF committee discusses pending project at China Village boat launch

by Mary Grow

Members of China’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Committee approved a funding application, discussed a pending project and heard updates on on-going ones at their June 29 meeting.

The committee’s job is to make recommendations to the select board and voters for spending revenue in the TIF Fund. The money comes from taxes on Central Maine Power Company’s north-south line through town and the company’s substation in South China. Recommendations are within the limits set in the TIF plan, approved by town voters and by state regulators.

China Community Days asked for $10,000 for fireworks and other purposes for this summer’s celebration, scheduled for Friday, Aug. 5, through Sunday, Aug. 7. TIF Committee members unanimously approved.

The pending project is doing something about the China Lake boat landing in South China Village, which has limited access, shallow water, erosion problems and undefined lot boundaries. The first step is to define the lot lines; new committee chair Brent Chesley said Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood is seeking a surveyor.

Depending on how much land the town owns, options include providing more parking and maintaining a full-service boat landing; limiting parking and allowing hand-carry (canoes and kayaks) launches only; or discontinuing use as recreational lake access. If the area were no longer a boat landing, committee members discussed ongoing access by town firefighters.

Resident Scott Pierz, executive director of the China Region Lakes Alliance, reported briefly on four major programs, partly TIF-funded, aimed at improving water quality in China Lake and other area water bodies:

• The Courtesy Boat Inspection program is intended to keep invasive plants out of local waters by inspecting boats before they are launched. The program currently has too few employees to cover all boat landings, Pierz said.
• The Gravel Roads Rehabilitation Program helps road associations make environmentally sound improvements to camp roads.
• The LakeSmart Program, run in cooperation with the Maine Lakes Society and the local China Lake Association, helps shoreland property owners minimize runoff into water bodies.
• The Youth Conservation Corps employs local young people to work on environmental improvement projects.

Four Seasons Club President Tom Rumpf reported on work done on trails in town and on plans for continued work. He discussed state grant possibilities and revised state regulations and oversight. Misuse of ATV trails, including incidents like the recent vandalism to bee hives in Albion (which had nothing to do with Four Seasons Club trails, Rumpf said), discourages landowners from allowing trails on their property and increases state involvement.

After electing Chesley TIF Committee chairman, succeeding Tom Michaud who declined to continue in the position, committee members elected James “J. J.” Wentworth vice-chairman.

The next committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday evening, Aug. 24.