NEW GLOUCESTER – Residents at the annual town meeting Monday approved in 90 minutes all but one warrant article dealing with a land use ordinance amendment.
Moderator Donald Libby fielded questions, mostly dealing with clarifications, from roughly 80 voters.
Voters approved the gross budget at $3,319,720. That amount is offset by revenues of $1,872,500 and a general fund balance of $416,000. Taxpayers must raise the remaining $1,031,220, an increase of $23,000 from last year.
Voters turned down, 46-34, an amendment to the town’s Land Use Ordinance that would have required applicants to notify all adjacent landowners and owners within 250 feet of changes dealing with site plans or expedited site plan reviews by the Planning Board.
Board of Selectmen Chairman Steve Libby recommended that residents turn the amendment down. “This goes too far by including expedited site plan review,” he said.
Town Planner James Isaacson said the change would have made the procedure a requirement for applicants in certain zones, including the historic district, lake district and resource protection zone.
“I don’t think we need all this red tape when we build a deck,” Steve Scotia said.
Beverly Cadigan spoke in favor of the new amendment. “I think abutters should be notified. It gives out more information. That is not a bad thing.”
Voters also approved Article 17 authorizing the discontinuance of Valley Farm Road’s public easement, 60-7. The request was initiated by October Corp., which owns Pineland Center.
Other action focused on the town’s efforts to revitalize its Town Hall. Voters made it clear that the $100,000 spent to renovate the exterior include wooden clapboards instead of vinyl siding.
Cadigan, who amended Article 8 to include wooden clapboards, is a member of the New Gloucester Historical Society and said the building is in the National Register of Historic Places.
Carlton Wilcox opposed the expense and supported using vinyl siding instead.
“I don’t see what’s historic about the building. I consider it a Home Depot of its day, built without a basement and built cheaply, ” he said.
To date, the town has spent $280,000 in recent years to renovate the town hall. Improvements include a new roof, front porch, windows, electrical system, with an air exchange system, new flooring, a new furnace with a furnace room and fresh interior paint. The repairs also dealt with a water drainage issue.
Voters also approved a capital improvement spending plan of $839,000, mostly from funds within reserve accounts. These include a plow truck at $115,000; Meeting House roof, $15,000; Fire Department pickup truck, $24,000; Fire Department pumper tanker, $260,000; water holes, $12,000; electrical work at the Town Hall at $20,000; Town Hall outside work at $100,000; recreation at $28,000; and fairgrounds fence at $18,000.
And, capital reserves of $392,320 were approved for future spending needs for highway equipment, fire equipment, transfer station, water holes, future building needs and future land purchases.
Voters authorized selectmen to sell nine foreclosed properties. This sets the stage for selectmen to act on an ordinance procedure in which delinquent taxpayers get a last chance to make a plan to pay up before the town sells the property to recover taxes owed plus penalties and interest.
“We take tax collection seriously,” said Selectman Steve Libby.
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