Planners forward land use ordinance amendments to select board

by Mary Grow

China Planning Board members’ Aug. 9 meeting was only two minutes longer than their Aug. 4 public hearing on proposed amendments to Chapters 4 and 11 of the town Land Use Ordinance (see The Town Line, Aug. 11, p. 3).

They voted unanimously to forward the amendments to the select board in time for that group’s Aug. 15 meeting, with the goal of having them on a Nov. 8 local ballot for voters to approve or reject.

Other planning board members agreed with Walter Bennett’s summary: “The lack of comment [at the Aug. 4 hearing] proves we finally got it right.”

Next on their schedule, chairman Scott Rollins suggested, is a return to the solar ordinance board members have discussed off and on for months, perhaps starting with a review of town attorney Amanda Meader’s comments on the current draft.

“The more we discuss it, the more we realize how complicated it is,” Bennett said. But the final ordinance needs to be clear and simple, so that voters will understand it and, if it passes, solar developers will know what they can and cannot do.

Rollins suggested yet another possible topic, review of other sections of the Land Use Ordinance to see if provisions need to be clarified.

The next planning board meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 23. Assistant Codes Officer Nicholas French said one or two pending applications might be ready by then.