BUCKFIELD – Selectmen on Tuesday night signed the June 22 annual town meeting warrant.
Town Manager Glen Holmes said that Article 6, if approved, will ask selectmen to change voting on town meeting warrants to secret balloting. Voters will also be asked to approve a revised building permit ordinance.
Holmes said Article 64 will ask voters to increase the property tax levy limit from $366,772.31 to $491,557.72, in case the earlier articles result in a tax commitment greater than the current limit.
A public hearing was held on Monday night concerning Article 5, which would revise the building permit ordinance, as recommended by the Planning Board. This proposal differs from the 2003 ordinance in several ways, including:
• Clarifying the number of principal buildings permitted on a single lot, and specifies minimum lot sizes for principal, secondary and multiunit dwellings or businesses.
• Permitting a separate, secondary dwelling to be built on a lot of 60,000 square feet or less.
• Giving the Board of Appeals the ability to grant waivers for more than 10 feet beyond the 25-foot setbacks, if certain conditions are met.
• Giving the Board of Appeals the ability to grant setback variances for public buildings, dwellings or businesses used by disabled persons.
• Reducing the duration of a building permit from five to three years.
• Permitting family compounds with clustered housing to be divided into lots of less than minimum size under certain requirements.
Holmes projected a tax rate of slightly more than $20 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The municipal landscaping project is being delayed by rain, and access to the center is presently limited due to muddy conditions. Selectman Oscar Gammon asked if there was a way to drain some of the standing water and was told there was. He asked Holmes to call Skip Stanley, the contractor, and see that it was done.
Selectmen approved the town’s obtaining a loan of $107,000 for the municipal landscaping project. This amount was approved at the 2004 town meeting.
Gammon asked Holmes to check on trash that may be coming into the Sumner/Buckfield waste station from Hartford.
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