Vassalboro board rules they have no jurisdiction on appeal

by Mary Grow

Three members of the Vassalboro Board of Appeals found they lacked jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a June 4 planning board decision.

On June 4, planning board members approved most of an expansion plan for Sidereal Farm Brewery, at 772 Cross Hill Road. (See the June 13 issue of The Town Line for details.) Neighbors Peter and MaryBeth Soule, who spoke repeatedly at the planning board meeting, filed an appeal of the approval.

When board of appeals members Rebecca Lamey, Kevin Reed and John Reuthe met July 30, they had a memorandum from attorney Cameron A. Ferrante, of the law firm of Preti Flaherty, saying they had no jurisdiction to hear the appeal.

Ferrante explained that state law lets municipalities create local boards of appeal. It limits such boards’ jurisdiction to subjects the municipality has specified.

Vassalboro’s Site Review Ordinance says people may appeal planning board decisions to Superior Court. It does not authorize appeals of planning board actions to the board of appeals; nor, Ferrante wrote, does any other Vassalboro ordinance authorize such appeals.

Board members voted unanimously and without discussion that they lacked jurisdiction to hear the Soules’ appeal. They therefore did not discuss any details of the case.

Other actions taken July 30 were election of Reuthe as board chairman and Lamey as board secretary.