BUCKFIELD – A proposed ban on new applications for residential subdivisions received mixed reviews at a public hearing Tuesday night.
Planning Board member Dick Piper said last month that the board is asking for time to “catch up.” The town lacks an approved comprehensive plan and adequate public facilities, he said, and the moratorium would protect the health, safety and welfare of residents.
Piper said the 50 residential lots ready to be developed could increase the town population by 10 percent immediately. The town had 1,750 people in 2004-05, according to the 2006 edition of the Maine Register.
The moratorium on applications would be in effect from March 1 to Aug. 25, according to the proposal going before voters at a town meeting at 7 p.m. March 14 at Buckfield High School.
Town Manager Glen Holmes told the residents Tuesday night that the Planning Board considered that more building permit requests than usual have been coming in. The comprehensive plan is nearing completion, and the Planning Board wants to make sure it’s doing things according to the plan.
Kennard Hicks, a new member of the Planning Board, said the board has many new members and they don’t all have their training, which they felt was necessary to do the best job for the town.
Holmes said some members had already taken classes from Androscoggin Valley Council on Governments, and others are scheduled to do so.
Everett Ayer asked how the subdivisions would overburden the public facilities.
“The roads are terrible. You need money for roads, schools and to lower taxes. Houses will give us this tax break,” Ayer said. “If you restrict home-building, you shoot yourself in the foot. You are putting a knife in the tax base. Your timing stinks because the months (that) building is shut down is right during the best construction season.”
Marilyn Ackley said she doesn’t think 180 days is a long time to hold up on applications if it is best for the town.
The moratorium, if enacted, could be extended by selectmen for another 180 days after notice and a public hearing.
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