By Winslow Durgin,Special to the Sun Journal

MINOT – The State Planning Office has determined that the town’s proposed comprehensive plan meets the requirements of state law, Town Administrator Rhonda Irish told selectmen this week.

The next step, Irish noted, is for townspeople to vote on the plan by secret ballot Friday, March 3.

The plan is intended to guide the town’s growth for the next 10 years.

The town’s Comprehensive Plan Committee, which has worked for a year and a half to develop the plan, has fine-tuned it in response to comments from the 40 townspeople who turned out at a public meeting last August, as well as in response to findings from the State Planning Office review.

In response to Hersey Hill Road resident George Buker’s inquiry on how his petition to have Old Buckfield Road reopened will be handled, Selectman Dean Campbell said there will be two articles in the town meeting warrant to address Buker’s request.

The first will ask voters whether they will give selectmen permission to take steps to open the road, and the second will ask them to come up with the money to pay for the road.

Campbell said the money would cover legal expenses for taking the land by eminent domain, paying property owners for their land and constructing a road from Brighton Hill Road to the end of Hersey Hill Road.

The total cost to develop and contract the 0.63 mile stretch to town specifications is estimated at between $450,000 and $500,000.

Fire Chief Steve French told selectmen he has sent out bid proposals for a new pumper tanker to three firms and, since responses are due Feb. 28, he expects to be able to tell voters at the March 4 town meeting how much the new vehicle would cost.

The new pumper tanker, French explained, will replace Tank 4, which has already been taken off the road, and Engine 1, which is 24 years old and about ready to retire.

Road Manager Arlan Saunders told selectmen that due to the string of small storms, his sand pile is running low.

“I think we could make it the rest of the season. To be on the safe side, however, we will be putting up an additional 200 to 300 yards,” he said.

Saunders also noted that the cost to clear roads after a small storm isn’t a lot less than dealing with a large storm.

“The time the crews are out on the road isn’t that different,” Saunders said.

Saunders estimated that a small storm cost the town about $4,000 to $5,000 and the large storm about $7,000.

In other business, selectmen authorized advertising for bids on a three-acre parcel of tax- acquired land that lies on, and sometimes in, the Little Androscoggin River. Selectmen said that they have been unable to reach the heirs of the deceased owner.

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