| Joanne Cole |
Plans for the Town’s 250th celebration were unveiled at the Select Board’s February 5 meeting, along with an official proclamation. On a less grand note, the board decided to demolish the former salt and sand shed in the Upper Village, provided voters approve the expenditure at town meeting in May.
The board also discussed the work ahead for the new Ad Hoc Municipal Complex Advisory Committee’s work and filled its remaining open seats. They heard public support for the Library budget, declined to create a committee to study senior housing and approved a snowmobile trail on town land near Swamp Road, among other items.
Celebration of Town’s 250th. Semiquincentennial Committee Chair Linda Chase and Vice Chair Tom Blake were in the Meetinghouse to announce celebratory events from March to September this year, bookends chosen to reflect Massachusetts’ March 8, 1774, recognition of the town’s incorporation and its subsequent ratification here at a first town meeting on September 7, 1774.
The festivities will kick off with a traditional bean supper—or “suppah,” as Chase put it—on Saturday, March 16, at the Amvets, 1095 Lewiston Road. A cake decorating contest is also planned that day.
Also ahead: a photo contest, community dance, talks and tours, events for kids, a parade for all, and much more. At the February 5 meeting, the board contributed to the kickoff, signing a proclamation recognizing the Town’s 250th.
Old salt and sand shed in Upper Village may meet wrecking ball. Repeated attempts to sell or give away the former salt and sand building on Lewiston Road in the Upper Village have proved unsuccessful over several years. Board members have called it an “eyesore” and a “liability” and have discussed at length whether the town-owned parcel would be more attractive to potential developers if the structure were gone, including at town expense.
At this meeting Chair Paul Larrivee commented, “It’s time to do something with it.” The board made the call to proceed to demolition, provided voters agree. Almighty Waste of Auburn had quoted $29,380 to make the tired structure go away. Member Stephen Hathorne thought that the buyer or developer should deal with it, not taxpayers. His was the lone dissent.
The board decided to put a figure of $40,000 to voters, elbow room for cost increases or unforeseen contingencies. Before the May town meeting warrant is finalized, they will settle whether to tap the town’s surplus or use taxation to cover the cost.
Board declines to create committee to study senior housing options. The Land Management Planning Committee (LMPC) asked the board to consider creating an ad hoc committee to study options for senior housing. Development of affordable housing, “including housing for seniors and those with disabilities,” is a goal in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan (Goal 19). The Plan, approved by voters in 2021, tasks the Select Board with developing affordable options, including for seniors and the differently abled, with “a goal of 10% of new housing being affordable” (Strategy 21).
LMPC has been discussing housing not just because of the Comprehensive Plan but also because New Gloucester’s zoning ordinance is under revision to comply with a recent state law, LD 2003, by July 1. The law allows denser development, applies statewide and is intended to increase housing supply.
So the question of a new committee to study housing options was timely. After hearing from Town Planner Kathy Tombarelli, who would have to staff the new committee in addition to staffing LMPC and the Planning Board—research, coordination, meetings, agendas, minutes—the board decided against forming a new committee. Tombarelli has already begun looking into housing and recommended keeping the topic at LMPC and bringing in experts as needed. The board concurred.
Floodplain management ordinance moves forward. Also in the planning/zoning realm, a lengthy proposed floodplain management ordinance received board approval. It goes to voters next. Because municipalities must have a floodplain management ordinance or regulations in order for residents to be eligible for flood insurance, approval was a foregone conclusion.
The wrinkle was that new flood maps had gone into effect without the board’s or Planner Tombarelli’s knowledge. FEMA updates flood maps periodically to reflect changes in flood risk due to development, new construction, changing weather patterns and other factors. The agency publishes a formal notice, starting a 90-day appeal period in which residents can contest the flood risk finding for their property.
In December 2023, Tombarelli and Larrivee received certified letters from FEMA notifying the Town that revised maps were set, residents’ appeal period had closed, hazard determinations and rates were now final – and please also remember to adopt floodplain management plans within six months if the town wants to participate in the federal flood insurance program.
As a result, a model floodplain management ordinance was before the board and swiftly approved. It mitigates potential flood damage by addressing permitting, construction design standards, location of structures, prevention of contamination in flood hazard zones and more. The proposed ordinance will go before voters at May town meeting and on to referendum in June.
Municipal Complex Advisory Committee gets members, guidance. The board discussed the work ahead for the newly created Ad Hoc Municipal Complex Advisory Committee and filled the last of its vacant seats.
Resident Terry DeWan, a landscape architect who was appointed, said he hoped the committee would look at all the properties as well as the surrounding land. “To me, the municipal complex is more than just buildings. It’s all the wonderful spaces we have around it,” including the land in back. The full area offers “lots of opportunities to work holistically to see what can be done for this property,” DeWan said.
Board members agreed that the committee should consider more than just Town Hall, where town operations and records storage are running out of room. The Meetinghouse and Library and the complex’s surrounds should also be addressed, they thought. As for Town Hall, its second floor is currently unused. Is the building sufficiently sound structurally to support an elevator? If not, board members want to know that too. All the structures at the complex as well as options for parking and for the land are in the mix.
In broad strokes, the board tasked the Municipal Complex committee with assessing what the town has, what the town needs in light of potential growth in coming years, what is and isn’t feasible structurally in the older buildings, and what’s permissible in terms of zoning. To determine needs, the board wants the committee to consult all staff who use the facilities.
A conceptual design from 2006 offers the group a starting point. Voters in recent years have set aside funds for the project, and engineering studies of Town Hall are a likely early step.
Earlier in the meeting, Manager Bill Kerbin said he was exploring the possibility of requesting a Congressional earmark to support the Municipal Complex project. Projects funded in nearby towns have included $598,000 for environmental, waste handling and safety improvements at Poland’s Transfer Station, $2 million for a wastewater treatment facility in Windham, $2 million for the Sabattus Fire Station and $278,000 for a new roof for the Maine State Building at Poland Springs Preservation Park.
Reportedly Senator Collins and Senator King have secured more than $600 million in earmarks for Maine municipalities, other governmental entities and nonprofits in FY24 – and Representatives Pingree and Golden yet more.
Support for Library budget. Manager Bill Kerbin’s proposed FY25 budget includes a new library position and money for an interlibrary loan system, the Maine InfoNet Library System or MILS. During public comment, three longtime residents spoke to support increased funding for the Library.
Heather Heston, on the Friends of the Library board but speaking only for herself, wanted the new staff position in part for coverage when one of the two current staff is on vacation or out for meetings and the like. “Perhaps this is my retail management background speaking out here,” Heston said, “but I feel strongly that this is a safety issue as well as a service issue, and there should always be a minimum of two people working at the library when the doors are open.”
Heston urged the Select Board to support the staff position and MILS system: “Give this library what it needs. It will flourish and the whole community will benefit from it.”
Annemarie Salzberg has been involved with the Library for nearly 25 years, she said, including as a Trustee. Long a gem, the Library has increased in value as an asset to the town in recent years, she said. Continuing to improve the library is a worthwhile investment for all, Salzberg said.
Salzberg said MILS in particular would represent “a significant step forward for our library,” a point made by Library Director Emily Martin in public budget presentations. Martin said joining the MILS network of libraries would give patrons access to one million items, compared with the 12,000 items currently in the Library’s catalog.
Library Director Martin also said patron visits are up and the library’s events and programs have proved increasingly popular – welcome but challenging for a two-person staff to keep up with. The new staff member would support events, programs and operations, provide coverage, and support implementation of the MILS system and its ongoing administration once it’s up and running. Annemarie Salzberg concurred, calling an added staff member “essential.”
CeCe Sullivan Rohrbach, current chair of the Trustees but also speaking as a resident, said, “This proposed budget – with the increased support, staff, the collection and services – isn’t for me,” Rohrbach said, “but for all these new patrons we’ve had, for future patrons” as the library’s use continues to grow.
“Of course there will always be matters that seem more pressing. I know you guys are making big decisions for the infrastructure of the town,” Rohrbach told the board. “But as the old adage says, ‘A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under whose shade they will never sit.’”
The Manager’s budget requested the new library position be 36 hours per week at $18 per hour plus benefits. Since then, the Select Board has proposed reducing the position to 28 hours per week, eliminating its health insurance benefits. Nothing is yet final, however, as the board’s proposed budget goes next to the Finance Committee, which will make its own recommendations. Then it’s back to the Select Board for final decisions.
Snowmobile trail crossing approved. The board unanimously approved allowing the Royal River Riders Snowmobile Club to create a trail across a small town-owned parcel on Chandler Mill Road near the turnpike overpass and Swamp Road. The crossing will allow snowmobilers to avoid driving about 500 feet on Chandler Mill Road, “a long ways to ride on the road,” Larrivee said. No trees need to be cut to make the trail, Royal River’s Mark Butler said.
All that’s needed now is snow.
— View the video of the Select Board’s February 5, 2024, meeting at this link. Find contact information for Select Board members and links to meeting agendas, minutes and related documents at this link.
