HANOVER – Seeing how quickly the neighboring towns of Bethel and Newry are developing may have been one reason residents overwhelmingly approved adoption of a new subdivision ordinance at a special town meeting last week.
John Maloney, an employee of the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments, who has been working with the town Planning Board for the past six months on a revision of the ordinance, said Thursday that although there is not a lot of activity in Hanover right now, there could be later.
“Hanover is right on the edge,” he said.
Bethel is just south of the tiny town of about 250 people, and Newry is north and west.
Town Clerk Clem Worcester said Thursday that the vote last week was virtually unanimous. He said 13 voters and six non-voters attended the public hearing and special town meeting.
Worcester said the 24-page document may have passed because of prior difficulties with private roads and because of inquiries the town has received about possible development of at least two large parcels. Worcester could not identify the potential developers nor the current landowners, although one parcel was once owned by MeadWestvaco.
The newly adopted subdivision ordinance includes specifications for the construction of roads into a subdivision, spelling out such things as width, materials, culverts and intersections. Also, all lots in a subdivision of three lots or more must be 40,000 square feet.
Provisions are included that require developers to absorb some or all costs for such things as school needs, emergency services, road upgrades and other potential effects on the town.
He said no one attending the special meeting spoke against the ordinance. It was last updated in 1987 and believed to be inadequate for today’s needs, he said.
Most people were concerned about the costs the town would have to absorb whenever development occurred, Worcester said.
He, along with Maloney, has observed the development in neighboring towns.
“We see what’s happening and we want development done with the least cost to the town,” he said.
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