Select Board Meeting ~ March 4, 2025

2025-03-04 · Select Board · 2:15:30 · watch on YouTube →

The select board met on 4 March 2025 with one member excused, mainly to finish the two land use ordinance amendments going to the April town meeting and to settle the town meeting warrant. It adopted the draft amendments applying contract zoning to large battery energy storage and solar projects, having raised the solar threshold to 400,000 square feet of panels, over the objection of the Conservation Commission, which argued solar should not be treated like battery storage. It also adopted the historic properties amendments, which extend advisory review to subdivisions and commercial projects abutting listed properties and repeal the existing historic district, with one member disagreeing about whether the district is legally unenforceable. A public hearing on the general assistance ordinance drew no comment, five ballot clerks were appointed, and the warrant was reordered and approved for the annual town report. The board also agreed to put a straw poll on the April municipal election ballot asking whether it should explore refurbishing or replacing the war memorial band stand for up to $30,000 from the municipal buildings reserve, with a decision to follow by its first June meeting.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 2:27
   Call to order and agenda amendment

   The meeting opened at the fire station at 6.30 with a quorum and Joe Tom (?) excused. The chair added a discussion of the war memorial gazebo to new business, saying it was his own oversight not to have put it on the agenda, that the town's lawyer had confirmed items can be added from the floor, and that the board had received a lot of feedback asking for it.

2. 2:27
   Public comment on the fiscal year change

   Jeff (?) of Brook Road (?) said he was taken aback to learn from the news blast that the town is changing from a calendar year to a fiscal year, with no public hearing, referendum or town meeting on the change. He accepted it appears to be within the select board's authority but questioned the legality of the board changing the date of the town meeting, which he believed was set by a town meeting vote.

3. 8:01
   Minutes and contract zoning amendment

   The minutes of 25 February were approved. The board then took up the redrafted amendment on contract zoning and battery energy storage systems, with the changes requested at the last meeting highlighted: the solar threshold raised to 400,000 square feet of panels, and wording in 5.8.5 making the tier 3 battery storage requirements apply unless otherwise specified in a contract zoning agreement. The absent member had emailed to say the draft met his concerns.

4. 13:21
   Conservation Commission asks that solar be removed

   Mike Friendley (?) of Runaround Pond Road, speaking for the Conservation Commission, said the commission does not object to battery storage being in contract zoning because of the chemical spill and fire risks, but that solar carries no such risks, would broaden a tax base with almost no industry, and is already controlled by the ordinance's visual impact studies and buffering. He said no other development, a supermarket or a gravel pit of hundreds of acres, has to go to town meeting, and pointed to Topsham's overlay maps with mitigation fees as a siting tool the commission is working towards.

5. 18:33
   Board's response and the 400,000 square foot threshold

   The chair said contract zoning is the best tool available now and a holding place while a siting tool is developed, and that his concern is a project landing on high value agricultural soils. The threshold was explained as panel area rather than site area: 200,000 square feet is about 9.6 acres of panels and 400,000 about 19 acres, so community solar and on-farm production are unaffected. The commission had asked for a 20 acre threshold and the planning board had set 10; the board doubled it as a compromise.

6. 24:04
   Siting maps as future work

   Board members said the commission's mapping work matters regardless of what happens to solar in contract zoning, because they will want to know whether a proposal sits in a high value area before deciding, and that a ranking of areas for commercial or industrial development would be useful for all development types. The chair said this could be a goal for the coming year alongside the comprehensive plan.

7. 29:21
   Vote on the battery storage and contract zoning amendments

   The board approved part two of the draft amendments as written, unanimously. The chair noted the work was done under a moratorium and drew on the Conservation Commission, the planning board and public feedback.

8. 34:33
   Historic properties: subdivision and site plan review

   The redraft adds that a subdivision or a commercial or non-residential project in or abutting a site of historic or prehistoric importance identified in the comprehensive plan, or designated under section 5.14, the National Register or the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, triggers an advisory review by the historic commission. The town planner confirmed section 21.B.2 covers subdivisions and 8.6 site plans.

9. 34:33
   Historic commission's written comments on timing

   The board addressed a written comment from the historic district commission about review periods, which the chair and town planner said rested on a misunderstanding. Abutters get 15 days notice before the meeting, the commission has 45 days from a complete application to make its recommendation, and the 12-day newspaper advertisement applies only to demolitions and is in addition to the abutter notice.

10. 40:10
    Demolition delay period

    The commission had asked for 120 days before a demolition could proceed, to document a building or find an alternative; a member suggested 60 days as a compromise. The board kept 30 days, noting it is a minimum that an owner can voluntarily extend, that a shorter building season and contractor availability make a long hold onerous, and that the ordinance already bars demolition of a historic resource unless a licensed structural engineer or the code officer finds it structurally unsound. The town planner questioned whether anyone has a legal right to enter and remove materials, citing the code officer's safety concerns at the Parker Schoolhouse.

11. 51:08
    Whether to wait for a historic survey

    The commission had asked that existing district protections stay in place until an architectural survey is completed. The chair said he is not willing to protect buildings on suspicion rather than through the official process, in which a survey goes to the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, which decides what is listed or eligible; Heather (?) said the concern is that buildings which would be identified by a survey could be lost in the meantime.

12. 56:29
    Whether the existing district is enforceable

    The chair said the town attorney has advised that the current district is not legally enforceable, so nothing is being removed. Heather (?) said her reading of the attorney's advice was that only the 1,500 foot radius was unenforceable and that the district itself had been properly created. The town planner said the attorney's concern was that only three of the buildings in the district are listed, which makes the basis for the district suspect, and that the current ordinance's contributing structure language is so unclear that staff and the commission had both been left uncertain when the church replaced its windows.

13. 1:06:46
    Proposal to cover municipally owned structures

    Heather (?) raised adding municipally owned buildings to the churches and schools covered by the demolition standards, so that the Eureka Center and the band stand would be included, arguing the area itself has significance beyond its individual buildings and that today's fire station may matter in a hundred years. The town planner said the question is whether that rises to exercising the zoning police power over individual property rights and that he did not think it does. The proposal was discussed but not moved to a vote.

14. 1:11:46
    Vote on the historic properties amendments

    The board approved part three of the draft amendments as written, unanimously, with the absent member's support noted. A member said the discussion showed the need for a historic survey and a fuller conversation about the town's resources ahead of the comprehensive plan.

15. 1:11:46
    Public hearing on the general assistance ordinance

    The board opened and closed a public hearing on updating the general assistance ordinance to the state's current figures. There was no public comment; members said it brings the town into compliance with state law and adds a small amount to the budget, with the figure garbled in the recording, and that the town rarely uses the programme because most applicants do not qualify.

16. 1:17:37
    Ballot clerks

    Five volunteers were appointed as a slate as ballot clerks. Members discussed whether volunteers could be listed in the town report, which one member described as a historical record of the year, rather than read out at town meeting.

17. 1:17:37
    Draft town meeting warrant

    The board reviewed the draft warrant, which runs to article 30 with placeholders for the ordinance articles, and includes article 19 on changing the town meeting date. The budget committee had voted the previous Thursday to approve all the fiscal articles as a slate, unanimously and without recorded objection. Article 23, authorising disposal of town-owned property no longer needed, was discussed; members were told it covers both real property and personal property such as the fire department's boat, and that state statute governs the process.

18. 1:23:22
    How to publicise major decisions

    Following the earlier public comment, the chair said the fiscal year change has been discussed for over a year and asked how better to reach people, noting that special meetings and ordinance hearings draw few attendees. Jeff (?) suggested a separate news blast announcing that a particular item will be discussed at a given meeting, which would catch people's attention where an agenda posting does not, and allow them to comment at that meeting.

19. 1:28:26
    Reordering the warrant

    The board voted to move article 30, accepting the cemetery, to the first of the business articles so it can be voted separately rather than swept into a slate vote, and to add the updated general assistance ordinance as the first of the ordinance warrant articles, which will renumber it as article 31. It then approved the draft warrant as amended for inclusion in the annual town report.

20. 1:33:44
    War memorial gazebo and band stand

    The town manager reported that the road commissioner had several contractors look at the structure. A new 14 by 14 structure delivered and in place would run somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000, and refurbishing the existing one close to $15,000 to $20,000. It sits high off the ground and is not ADA compliant, and the contractors found nothing original left from the 1860s, though some material may date from work in the 1900s.

21. 1:38:51
    How to get public feedback on the band stand

    The chair proposed a straw poll at the municipal election rather than a town meeting discussion, on the grounds that around 400 people vote at the election against about 150 at town meeting, and because the work is not in the ten year capital reserve plan even though the board could spend from the reserve without asking. Josh (?) said he wants to visit the site with the road commissioner first and that whatever replaces it should be built to last; members set a deadline of a decision at the board's first June meeting, and discussed inviting the historical groups directly and the possibility of donations or selling named boards.

22. 1:44:30
    Wording of the straw poll

    Members worked through the wording so residents would not think they were voting to spend the money, settling on asking whether they support the select board exploring refurbishment or replacement of the war memorial band stand, also called the gazebo, at a cost not to exceed $30,000 to be expended from the municipal buildings reserve. The road commissioner set out the ADA requirements he had looked up: a ramp at least 36 inches wide at a 1 in 12 slope and enough turning radius inside. The clerk confirmed the poll would be on separate coloured paper, and it was noted early voting means it must be ready quickly.

23. 1:55:00
    Straw poll adopted

    The board voted to add the straw poll to the municipal election ballot. Members agreed that if the answer comes back no, they will not simply let the structure decay but will look at other options such as the historical society taking it on, since at some point it becomes dangerous.

24. 2:00:37
    Town manager report

    The trifold explaining the changes is being addressed and stuffed for mailing by the end of the week, and the road commissioner will post the roads on Monday 10 March.

25. 2:00:37
    Mortgage escrow and the fiscal year change

    Responding to comments circulating in town, the board explained that the first bill under the new cycle falls around 15 October rather than 1 August, so escrow accounts will hold about 14 months of payments by then and will carry the surplus into the following instalment. Members said claims that banks will not know how to manage this are false and that other towns have made the same change.

26. 2:00:37
    Communicating the town meeting material

    The warrant and budget material will go on the website, with a text message to follow the following week pointing to the link, staged so town staff are not overwhelmed by calls when the mailing arrives. The chair said the feedback that follows will shape a recorded question and answer video with the town manager.

27. 2:06:27
    Board member reports

    One member praised town staff for handling difficult feedback professionally. Another (?) reported on a conference on real estate and commercial development in municipalities and offered to write up a synopsis. Heather (?) raised feedback that the board does not always follow up with residents who make public comments, and members discussed a communications plan for the revaluation, which the board agreed to start work on after town meeting.

28. 2:11:57
    Consent agenda and upcoming meetings

    The consent agenda was approved unanimously. Upcoming dates given were the planning board on 5 March at the fire station, the agriculture committee on 5 March at the Eureka Center at 6.00, the solid waste committee on 10 March at the Eureka Center at 6.30, a public hearing on the land use articles on 19 March at the fire station at 6.30, and a select board meeting on 25 March. No executive session was needed.

What was decided

• 8:01
  Approve the minutes of the 25 February meetingpassed
• 29:21
  Approve part two of the draft amendments applying contract zoning to large battery energy storage and solar energy systems, as written; unanimouspassed
• 1:11:46
  Approve part three of the draft amendments on historic properties, as written; unanimouspassed
• 1:11:46
  Open and then close the public hearing on the updated general assistance ordinancepassed
• 1:17:37
  Appoint the five volunteers as ballot clerks as a slatepassed
• 1:28:26
  Move article 30 on accepting the cemetery to the first of the business articles and renumber the warrant accordingly; unanimouspassed
• 1:28:26
  Add the updated general assistance ordinance as the first of the ordinance warrant articlespassed
• 1:28:26
  Approve the draft town meeting warrant as amended for inclusion in the annual town reportpassed
• 1:55:00
  Add a straw poll to the municipal election ballot asking whether residents support the select board exploring refurbishment or replacement of the war memorial band stand at a cost not to exceed $30,000, to be expended from the municipal buildings reservepassed
• 2:11:57
  Approve the consent agenda; unanimouspassed
• 2:11:57
  Adjournpassed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 2:27
  A resident objected in public comment that the shift from a calendar year to a fiscal year, and the accompanying change to the town meeting date, were made without a public hearing, referendum or town meeting vote, and questioned whether the board can change the meeting date at all.
• 13:21
  The Conservation Commission asked the board to take solar out of contract zoning, arguing solar carries none of the fire and chemical risks of battery storage, would broaden a tax base with almost no industry, and that no other development, including gravel pits of hundreds of acres, has to go to town meeting. The board kept solar in but doubled the threshold to 400,000 square feet of panels, about 19 acres.
• 56:29
  The board was advised by the town attorney that the existing historic district is not legally enforceable because only three of the buildings in it are listed. Heather (?) disagreed with that reading, saying she understood only the 1,500 foot radius to be unenforceable.
• 1:33:44
  Contractors put a new 14 by 14 band stand at roughly $20,000 to $25,000 and a refurbishment at $15,000 to $20,000. Nothing original from the 1860s survives in the structure, and it is not ADA compliant. Residents will be asked in a straw poll at the municipal election about spending up to $30,000 from the municipal buildings reserve, with a decision due by the board's first June meeting.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 14 passages of motion language, against 11 decisions summarised.

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