DIXFIELD – By majority vote, residents at a special town meeting Monday night rejected a resolution that sought to create a Pine Tree Development Zone in town.
But they did agree to accept as a town way, the gravel Child Hollow Road that Robert Child built off Holt Hill Road.
Moderator Brenda Turbide conducted the standing-room only meeting with 45 people tightly packed into the fire station’s kitchen and dining area.
Voices were raised, at times, during the lengthy discussion about Article 3, which asked voters to accept a 14.3-acre site as part of a state-sponsored economic growth program.
The land, which is bordered by residential homes between North, Pine and Rowe streets and the Webb River, is owned by Irving Forest Products Inc. of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.
It was the only spot considered in Dixfield as being designated a Pine Tree Zone, said Rosie Bradley, assistant to the executive director of the River Valley Growth Council.
She said that if the town established the land as a Pine Tree Development Zone, it would help the town’s tax base, should a new business move into the location. It would also create much-needed jobs.
Many voters, however, didn’t understand how the town’s tax base would be helped if the new business were given a 15-year tax break incentive to move into the zone.
Several complained that their income taxes would increase. Others, including abutters Scott Carter of 7 Rowe St. and Wil Shurtleff of 4 Pine St., objected strenuously, saying the land is a mess and needs to be cleaned up before anything is done with it.
Carter, Shurtleff and others also did not want to see a manufacturing business like a textile mill move onto Irving’s property and said the area is highly residential.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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