Five referendum questions on China ballot (2024)

by Mary Grow

China voters have a two-sided local ballot on Nov. 5, local elections on one side and five referendum questions on the other.

For elections, there is one contest on the ballot: five men are running for three seats on the select board, incumbents Blane Casey and Brent Chesley and Edwin Bailey, Tod Detre and Thomas Rumpf. For more information, see the recording of the Oct. 9 candidates’ forum, available on Youtube; or the summary in the Oct. 17 issue of The Town Line, p. 2.

There is one other name on the ballot, Timothy Basham for re-election to the budget committee, unopposed.

There are three declared write-in candidates for China local offices, as of Oct. 21. Melissa Cowing and John Soifer are write ins for the Regional School Unit #18 board of directors, and Jo Orlando is a write-in candidate for one of three budget committee vacancies.

The referendum questions are as follows:

The first question asks if voters want to amend the town’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing District) Ordinance. Proposed changes would eliminate some originally-listed uses for TIF money that have been appropriated once or never; add funding for an extension of the causeway work at the head of China Lake’s east basin, the first local TIF project to be finished; and rearrange other allocations.

The second question proposes amendments to China’s Budget Committee Ordinance. The main substantive change would eliminate the districts from which four of the seven committee members are now elected, and eliminate elections in favor of appointment by the select board.

The third question asks voters to add a Development District map to the land use map. Wording describing the district is in Appendix A of the Land Development Code; if voters approve, the map will be added.

The fourth question asks approval of amendments to sections of the Land Development Code prepared primarily by planning board members. A copy of the ordinance, with changes in red, is on the town website, chinamaine.org, under Planning Board, under Officials, Boards and Committees.

Board chairman Toni Wall and codes officer Nicholas French have described almost all the changes as non-substantive, aimed at updating and clarifying the ordinance language, including incorporating revised state requirements.

One change shortens the ordinance, by eliminating a section on regulating timber harvesting in shoreland, resource protection and stream protection districts. With voter approval, regulatory authority will be transferred from town officials to the Maine Forest Service.

The final question, presented by citizens’ petition, asks approval of a 180-day moratorium on any new power lines through China. A response to the proposed north-south line to bring power from Aroostook County windmills to this area, the moratorium is intended to give local officials time to develop appropriate ordinances to regulate such development.

China’s Nov. 5 voting will be in the former portable building behind the town office, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Vehicle access will be from Alder Park Road, south of the town office complex; the driveway off Lakeview Drive will be closed for the day.

The China town office will be closed all day Nov. 5.