Vassalboro select board postpones marijuana business, discusses roads, sanitary district

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro Select Board chairman Chris French postponed the April 11 public hearing on the amended marijuana business ordinance to discuss, first, planned 2024 road work and second, the Vassalboro Sanitary District’s (VSD) financial problems.

Brian Lajoie, of the town’s public works department, and select board members discussed two road concerns: keeping up with the paving schedule, which calls for repaving about 4.5 miles of road annually; and paving Vassalboro’s few remaining gravel roads, short stretches that require extra winter maintenance.

The April 11 discussion was inconclusive, because Lajoie expected to open the bids on paving materials prices on April 16 and have a firm figure on a major part of the cost. He also volunteered to check out roads to make additional recommendations for repaving and paving.

Two other road issues are pending.

State Department of Transportation has revised its plan for a detour while the Bog Road bridge over Meadow Brook is rebuilt in the summer of 2025.

The bridge on Mill Hill Road over Seven Mile Stream needs to be replaced in the next few years, at a cost expected to be $2 million or more (see the Nov. 9, 2023, issue of The Town Line).

And, Town Manager Aaron Miller said, the state Department of Transportation has revised its plan for a detour while the Bog Road bridge over Meadow Brook is rebuilt in the summer of 2025. Miller expected a presentation at the select board’s April 18 meeting. (See the July 20, 2023, issue of The Town Line for an earlier discussion of this project, and of VSD finances.)

On a related issue, select board members unanimously awarded the bid for repaving the parking lot at the former East Vassalboro school, now the Vassalboro Historical Society headquarters and museum, for $36,000.

Three of the four sanitary district trustees talked with select board members about the ongoing effort to find a way to pay bills without raising already-high sewer rates even higher. The main issue is outstanding loans, money that funded the VSD’s connection with the Waterville Sanitary District’s disposal system, via Winslow.

Miller had a legal opinion that some of Vassalboro’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) money could help repay the loans. He, select board members and VSD board members talked about other possible funding sources. The topic will be on a future select board agenda.

The hearing on the Marijuana Business Ordinance lasted a little over half an hour. One obvious change is that the word “marijuana” has been changed to “cannabis” throughout the document, including in the title: it is now the Town of Vassalboro Cannabis Business Ordinance.

The current ordinance deals with commercial growing operations. It forbids any new ones in Vassalboro, and sets requirements and standards for those “grandfathered” operations that existed before voters approved the ordinance.

The proposed amendments are aimed primarily at providing more local knowledge about caregivers growing cannabis for medical use in town. By state law, a municipality cannot ban caregivers, but it can regulate them.

Two audience members had questions and comments.

An unplanned discussion April 11 was with Fire Chief Walker Thompson, who came to the meeting only to listen. When French asked if he wanted to speak, however, Thompson said his department is gaining six new members and could use money to outfit them.

A pair of “bunker pants” – the name for a firefighter’s turnout gear – and a coat cost around $3,500, Thompson said. In past years, grants have helped keep Vassalboro firefighters safely clothed; this year, the department’s application was unsuccessful.

French proposed allocating $15,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money for the fire department. He asked Thompson to get the required three price quotes for a purchase with town funds. Action is likely at the next select board meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18.

Thompson reported, with pleasure, that the Vassalboro volunteer fire department now has 31 members.