At Wednesday night’s meeting, the Planning Board briefly reviewed findings of fact for the new Sunday’s River Well restaurant, which it approved earlier this year.

Chairman Joseph Aloisio said the board customarily reviews the findings of fact after granting approval for projects to go forward. However, action determining that the findings of fact were complete was tabled until the board’s next meeting because two conditions had been inadvertently omitted.

These included conditions requiring the owner of Sunday’s River Well to notify abutters with letters should there be any minor moderations to the project, and that anything happening within 50 feet of the property lines is considered a minor modification.

Planners also signed the Mylar project sheets for Baker’s Acres, a 2-lot subdivision that had a larger lot divided within the last five years, Aloisio said.

Newry:

School, county account for hike

Increased school and county taxes accounted for a half-mill hike in the town’s tax rate late last month.

Previously set at $12.30 per $1,000 of valuation, the new rate is $12.80. That means a taxpayer with a $100,000 home pays $50 more in taxes than last year.

The SAD 44 school share increased by about $63,000 while the county tax was up $7,400 over last year.

Bethel:

Appeals Board seat still open

If at first you don’t succeed, appeal to the public again for an appellate body member. That’s this month’s strategy for selectmen who failed to find any takers for one vacant two-year appointment on the Board of Appeals.

The seat became available when board member Kathy Hooke resigned after moving away from the area, said Town Clerk Christen Mason.

“We didn’t get anyone the first time so we’re advertising for a second time,” she added.

The seat is a three-year term with two years remaining to be served. Applications, which can be picked up at the town office, must be returned by noon Friday, Aug. 15.

Lincoln Plantation: Resident notes traffic increase

Last year, for the first time in 17 years, Muriel Potter of Wilsons Mills did her laundry at a Laundromat because of the drought.

Blessed with an over abundance of rainfall this year, the drought is a distant memory that has been replaced with a more annoying problem: traffic.

But the bulk of it isn’t tourists.

“There is a lot of traffic – big trucks – going through,” Potter said Thursday morning. “This town is small so it’s not used to so much traffic. There’s empty trucks going toward Rangeley and empty trucks coming back, so I don’t know if they’ve just got lost or not. Traffic begins at 5 a.m. and keeps going until after dark.”

She attributed the increase to logging operations and someone “fixing up the road to Parmachenee.”

Other traffic that roared through town on area roads Saturday and Sunday were racers taking part in the Maine Forest Rally, of which “a couple of them had to be hauled out of the brooks,” she said.

Potter also shared some observations about wildlife in this scenic northern Oxford County community, which is located between Erroll, N.H., and Upton.

She said the area’s turkey population, which was overabundant during the winter, has been non-existent this summer. However, there has been a lot more foxes than usual.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link