Vassalboro planners take up three issues

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro planning board members discussed three very different issues at their Feb. 6 meeting, none needing a yes or no decision.

— The consideration of a new state law might lead to recommended amendments to town ordinances, which would need voter approval.
— An application for a commercial solar development is unlikely to re-appear until May or June.
— Planned repairs to a seasonal home on Webber Pond appear to be in the codes officer’s jurisdiction.

The state law, still widely called LD 2003, was passed in 2022 and is intended to provide more housing by allowing greater density. Vassalboro board chairman Virginia Brackett sees it as applying primarily to towns with zoning restrictions, which Vassalboro does not have.

After considering what the law and various words and phrases in it mean, board members asked codes officer Jason Lorrain to draft any amendments he thinks Vassalboro ordinances need.

Board member and former codes officer Paul Mitnik mentioned other ordinance changes he would like to have considered.

Annalise Kukor, of ReVision Energy, presented a revised preliminary plan for a solar development on Webber Pond Road. The site is on land owned by Eileen M. Flanagan, at 1026 Webber Pond Road, south of Vassalboro Community School.

The original plan, presented to the board on Nov. 14, 2023 (see the Nov. 23, 2023, issue of The Town Line, p. 3), asked for a waiver of setback requirements to allow the solar panels to be close to the rear boundary.

After discussion with the abutting landowners, Kukor said, the waiver request is withdrawn and the solar panels moved south to meet boundary setback requirements.

Board members had no objections to the preliminary plan. Kukor expects to need several months to have a final plan ready for board review.

Ron Blaisdell brought up the camp repairs. He explained that he is caretaker for several summer places on Webber Pond, and one needs a deck replaced, with minor changes including the addition of stairs.

He also needs to dig out and replace some overgrown shrubs on the property, he said.

Planning board members established that the rebuilt deck will not be closer to the lake than the original one. They decided that Blaisdell’s replacement projects fall under Lorrain’s jurisdiction, not theirs.

In other business, board member Marianne Stevens reported on some of the suggestions for slowing traffic through East Vassalboro Village that were discussed at a recent meeting of local residents.

Lorrain reported that he knows of two sheds crushed by fallen trees in the shoreland zone that need to be replaced. He anticipates applications to the planning board.

Lorrain asked about an issue involving enforcement of covenants in a board-approved subdivision. Mitnik and Brackett said the issue needs to be settled by subdivision residents; it is not the planning board’s business.

The next regular Vassalboro planning board meeting will be Tuesday evening, March 5.