NEW GLOUCESTER – A special town meeting will be held Jan. 14 to ask voters to approve an ordinance on paying bills and an amendment to the land use law.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Lower Gloucester Meeting House.

Town Manager Rosemary Kulow requests that a disbursement warrant ordinance be approved so she, as town treasurer, can make payments for bills.

Now selectmen must approve warrants for payments at a public meeting and when there are several weeks between meetings it’s problematic, she said.

If the ordinance is OK’d, Kulow can disburse money if a majority of selectmen see and sign the warrant acting individually.

The proposed amendment to the land use ordinance would change the lot standards for multiuse commercial buildings in the Residential C District along Route 100 from White’s Corner to the Auburn town line.

Now, a minimum lot size of one acre is required for each nonresidential use and two acres for each residential dwelling.

Under the amendment the minimum lot size for multiuse commercial buildings would be one acre or the acreage required to comply with other requirements such as parking, buffers and well/septic setbacks, whichever is greater.

Road frontage would be reduced to 150 feet for a lot of less than two acres and 250 feet for two acres or more.

If voters approve the change, a day care learning center could be located in the former Ace Hardware store on Upper Village Road.

Elderberry Lane, as a town road, was rejected from the special town meeting warrant. Selectmen said written certification by a professional engineer is required to show that the road was built to town road standards. In addition, underground utilities along the road have not yet been certified by Central Maine Power Co. as required locally. A copy of the deed is required.

Selectmen heard Sabbathday Lake Association members’ request for $2,000 to resume the work of the Sabbathday Lake Youth Conservation Corps next summer. The lake group is working with the nonprofit Yarmouth-based Friends of the Royal River to fix nonpoint source pollution problems caused by land issues along the lake and river shores.

Selectmen initially indicated they were reluctant to provide donated money to private groups and talked about public access instead.

In recent years, Sabbathday Lake received two federal grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection to protect the lake.

Kulow will check into funding and in-kind help through additional study before the board makes a final decision on whether to assist in the project. Area communities are also asked to contribute to the project along the Royal River corridor.

New Gloucester’s Water Resource fund of $850 and Conservation Commission appropriation of $200 have not been used in several years.

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