BUCKFIELD – Selectmen voted Tuesday night to hold a public hearing Feb. 28 for voters to consider instituting a 180-day moratorium on new residential subdivision applications.
“The Planning Board is not anti-subdivisions, but we need to hold back and catch up,” said board member Dick Piper. “There are 50 lots ready to go and when filled could increase the town’s population 10 percent overnight,” he said.
A hearing is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28. Residents will vote on the issue at a special town meeting, and if they approve they would also decide how long it would last and when it takes effect.
The Planning Board asked for the moratorium because the town lacks an approved Comprehensive Plan and adequate public facilities. The moratorium is to protect the heath, safety and welfare of Buckfield residents.
“My patience is growing thin on the lack of an approved Comprehensive Plan,” Selectman Lawrence “Skip” Stanley said. “This has been in the works too long, and I can’t express urgency enough to get it going.”
Piper said he thinks a Comprehensive Plan should be ready for a vote at the annual town meeting in June.
Town Manager Glen Holmes said there are four new subdivisions in Buckfield. The Bell subdivision on Route 140 near the high school is set and ready to go with 14 lots, Holmes said. The Beaudoin subdivision on Old Sumner Road has 20 lots, and Ricker on Percus Road has one with 12 lots and one with four. All of these have been approved and will not be affected by the moratorium.
In other business, Holmes updated the board on approximate increases in the SAD 39 budget necessitated by repairs at the elementary school involving a boiler, air ducts and asbestos under carpeting.
Holmes said the SAD 39 Budget Committee is looking at a 5 percent increase with new programs that may include a full-time literacy teacher, an aide in the fourth grades and the mandated gifted and talented program. There was concern over the third grades being too large this year. Stanley asked what too large meant, but Holmes couldn’t remember the numbers.
Without the new programs the increase could be 1 to 2 percent, but this does not reflect teacher salary increases.
A new personnel policy presented by Holmes was approved.
Holmes said the public should be encouraged to attend the SAD 39 committee meetings. One is at 6 p.m. tonight at the Sumner town office and one at 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, in the Hartford Town Hall.
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